Errors/Goofs in 3 - 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (2004) Discussion

[–] jlg2701 19 years ago

Another goof I noticed (being a long, long time NASCAR fan) is incorrect sound effects. When they were running at Richmond, they were using sound effects from either Daytona, or Talladega, circa 2003-2004. The pitch is too high. The sound effects they were using were of engines running at around 8000-8500 rpm. Back in '86(?), they should ahve only been turning 7000 TOPS (more like about 6800). Not only that, but header and head design changes have changed the sound of the engines as well. The sound should have been a much lower tone, more of a deep, throaty roar, rather than the high pitched whine today's car emit.

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[–] Videoguy88 19 years ago

that is real nit picky stuff and I don't mean it in a bad way. You obviously know a lot about race cars.

I am only a casual observor of the sport meaning I rarely watch it from start to finish.

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[–] jlg2701 19 years ago

Another thing I noticed, was that the charactors referred to NASCAR's top division as "Winston Cup" throughout the whole movie. This is incorrect. The trophy might have been called "The Winston Cup" since long before I came around, but the top series was called "NASCAR Grand National" up until 1985, when it became "NASCAR Winston Cup."

Also, in some of the earlier NASCAR racing scenes (1978 in particular), several of the cars were missing back windows, among other things, thus making them illegal for competition in NASCAR Grand National.

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[–] FoxGeoff 19 years ago

uh, jgrace, I don't know how long you've been a NASCAR fan, but the premier series of NASCAR was called WINSTON Cup from 1972 until last year (2003). In a little cut & paste action from nascar.com
"1972 was a special year in NASCAR history. Not only did the organization get a new president as Bill France handed the reins to his son, Bill Jr., but the sanctioning body would have a new ally. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, through its Winston brand, would become the title sponsor of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (formerly NASCAR Grand National). Their involvement began the evolution of stock car racing and marked the beginning of NASCAR's ascent to major league status. More money was involved in the series and drivers now had more to race for. " (http://www.nascar.com/2002/kyn/history/dbd/02/06/1972/index.html <-- link to read it on nascar.com)

I don't want to start anything, I'm just correcting a mistake. (Plus this is my first post on a imdb.com board, so could you kinda take it easy on me?!)

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[–] TylerDurden13 19 years ago

NASCAR cars redline at 11,000+ RPMs and have for several years. Now Daytona and Talladega have had restrictor plates on them for about 6 years but at Richmond, the RPMs would be much higher. You'd never believe this unless you have worked on such sick horsepowered engines, but RPMs in Richmond back then were higher than they are at Daytona circa 2003-2004. Being to so many of these races at tracks that mandate use of the restrictor plates and regular open-carburetor race tracks, the sound is very distinctive.

That's why track records at superspeedways will never be topped in a restrictor-plate fitted full-body car. Of course changes may always occur in the rule book, but this is in the interest of safety and I sincerely doubt it.

The things you own end up owning you.

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[–] R_J_Firefly 19 years ago

I noticed the same thing about the sound. There weren't really any differences between the short track sound effects and the super speedway ones. It even seemed to be the same with the older cars on the dirt tracks. It stuck out at me throughout the movie.

"Where - is - my - super - suit?" - Lucius Best

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[–] dcoulombe 19 years ago

jgrace1294 You are an idiot!!!!!!

Big gulps huh? Welp see ya later!

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[–] bluzman 19 years ago

This is all pretty esoteric nitpicking. I try not to let myself get distracted by looking for these nonconsequential nuances. If they had shown Dale driving a #3 Ford, or something like that, I would be upset. But most of the little things should just go unnoticed.

The only thing that really did make me wince a bit was the constant short track contact going on at places like Daytona or Talledaga. They made it like a Rocky movie where knockout blows are routinely landed 10 times per round. The contact they supposedly showed on the bigger tracks would have caused devasting crashes, not angry scowls, especially in the pre-radial tire days and non-restrictor plate days with their much higher speeds

Plato said: True knowledge comes from the realization that you know nothing. But, what did he know?

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[–] xphilly 19 years ago

NASCAR fans tend to be quite nitpicky when it comes to the cars/paintjobs/numbers/sponsors, etc. I'm waiting for somebody to point out something like "Dale didn't have the Perdue Chicken sticker on the rear quarter-panel in that race, it was Mom-n-Pop's" Something else I noticed in the made-for-the-movie scenes, the painfully obvious empty grandstands. Just like an IRL race (I like IRL races, but they don't get pack 'em in like NASCAR)
I agree 100 % about the Martinsville style paint swapping in races that were supposed to be at Charlotte and Talladega.

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[–] rocknrollcrook-1 19 years ago

In the opening Daytona scene, the DEI cars had the white "E" on the doors. I thought those came out after his death. I could be wrong. Clarification?

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[–] SuperCore 19 years ago

The only thing that bothered me was Dale and Teresa kissed for the last time when he was sitting in the window of his car. I remember this to be so huge cause he just looked so happy, but then in the film they were both away from the car. I'm more a fan of the man then the sport, and just remember being so touched by that affection as if they both knew something that day.

I enjoyed the film, but wish they could've made it two parts or something, cause it was as fast as a race itself.

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[–] KK61034 19 years ago

This is for you xphilly. In the 2001 daytona 500, on the bottom ream corner panal should have been the sonic resturant decal. in was the first and only race that in was on the black number three car. sonic stayed on the car with harvick the 2001 and 2002 seasons. in the movie the decal was not there. also in the scene where dale is getting high fives from everybody after the 1998 500 win, you can see a outside pitwall, daytona doesn't have one. im pretty sure i heard they shot i lot of the on track scenes like that at north wilksboro speedway. that would explain that. also in the pre race scenes for the 01 500 the starting grid wasnt right and the was cars not in that race there, most noticably the 75 of rick mast sporting the remington arms paint sceme, the car the was getting lapped by dale taking the caution and white flag to win the 98 500. the 75 was not in the 2001 500. more on the 01 grid, jr was pretty much in the right spot, he was 6th but dale was i think in fourth when he actually started 7th. there are most likely more, but that is all i can think of right now. yes i know, i am really anal when it comes to knowning nascar.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] mjm488 19 years ago

I agree that it seemed like they knew something was gonna happen that day. If you look on nascar.com and go to their videos from the Daytona 500 in 2001, they show an interview with Dale Earnhardt the morning of the race, and he said something like "I bet you're gonna see something today that you've never seen before on Fox." I just found it very ironic and kinda scary.

As far as the goofs, I noticed the same type of things that were already mentioned.

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[–] schoollydee11 19 years ago

Also I noticed that Jeff Gordo's 24 car had Dupont rainbows. I remember the 24 having flames for the Daytona 500 in 2001 and the rest of the year. BTW, Gordon won the championship that year...his 4th.

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[–] jnovosad 19 years ago

also in the late seventies race scenes i notice some cars that hadn't even been made yet (81 & up Buick Regal style bodies)

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[–] GGLee 19 years ago

I notice there were alot of errors in 3 I know my Nascar but i think espn should correct some scenes in the Movie.

1. There is one clip were Dale SR is racing at Darlington SC in 1990 in that scene it Shows Tony Stewart's flag I know Tony Stewart wasn't racing until 1999 his rookie year.

2. Another Scene when JR is learning to drive a race car theres a scene in the background where theres a truck showing dale jr's number 8.

3. 1998 Daytona 500 when Dale SR is getting lots of hand shakes from the other teams. I see one of the crew members wearing silver coors light Uniforms. That Uniform was from 2001 when dodge was coming back to Nascar. They should of wore the blue Uniforms when robby gordon was driving the number 40.

4. The last scene when dale ran his last race before his final death. some of the cars are so incorrect. Jeff Gordon's Monte Carlo they should of used the flaming paint sceme Instead of his old Rainbow colors. and another car they used was the rick mast car from 1998 the ford yellow remington car

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[–] jamesjhigh 19 years ago

You people are awesome.

Way more knowledge than should be allowed, ha, ha!

I did notice that a 1990 race portrayed in the movie had a scene from the RV park and I saw an orange Tony Stewart #20 flag. Problem is that Tony didn't start driving with the Winston Cup Circuit until 1999.

Ben

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[–] justinmo 19 years ago

there are more that I noticed . in the scene when dale finds out that Brenda (JR.'s mom)left him, (remember the note "you have racing")the money he throws on the table is new $20 bills...... the paint on DWs old "Bud # 11" is wrong .... also I noticed the logos on Rusty's car too , but I didn't remember what the real car looked like

I want to be the 1st man to walk on Mars , just to have name in the history books next to Neil's

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[–] optims129 19 years ago

awsome eye you guys:-)still it was a good movie over all not everything can be perfect and these are technical issues which happens to the best of us people work with what they can find and get... but yeah tony stewarts #20 flag shouldn't have been there.

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[–] JBSpeedR5 19 years ago

I have one of my own. Neil Bonnett never raced in 90 due to the fact he wrecked very badly at Dover the year before. The show Bonnett's 89 colors and when in fact Dale Jarrett was racing for Wood brothers that year.

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[–] swdiecast 19 years ago

Let us not forget that they completely skipped over the part of Earnhardt's career when he drove for Bud Moore in a Wrangler Ford Thunderbird, just to mention one inaccuracy.

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[–] josh_potatoes_jordan 19 years ago

A goof i noticed was when Dale Jr broke the news about Neils death. Dale Sr and Terresa were sitting in the stands alone that night and the shot of the front stretch had a dog leg in it like "Atlanta or Lowes" but infact it was supposed to be Daytona and Daytona doesn't have a dog leg like that.

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[–] uscpr2585 19 years ago

I believe it was Charlotte because Atlanta doesn't have the dotted lines painted on the track like Charlotte does.

I also noticed that the hat Dale was wearing when Jr, Kelly, and Kerry were testing had the 'GM Goodwrench Service Plus' logo on it. At that time, it would just have been 'GM Goodwrench', since the Service didn't come along until 1995 and the Plus came around in 1997.

Man... I've got a lot of free time on my hands.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] derek840378 19 years ago

The crew cab chevy truck he rode in early in his career (late 70's) had the grill used on 89-91 crew cabs, suburbans, and blazers

~MENTAL~

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[–] ogarek 18 years ago

in the 2001 daytona scene dale's crew is wearing the early 90s goodwrench uniforms

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[–] SangriaInThePark 18 years ago

"I have one of my own. Neil Bonnett never raced in 90 due to the fact he wrecked very badly at Dover the year before. The show Bonnett's 89 colors and when in fact Dale Jarrett was racing for Wood brothers that year."

http://racing-reference.com/drivdet?id=bonnene01&yr=1990&series=W

He actually did run the first 5 races and was actually injured in a big pile-up at Darlington.

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[–] JBSpeedR5 18 years ago

Thank you for correcting me DanSpo24. After I posted the message I checked my information again and apparently he did race the 5 races before he wrecked Darlington

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[–] zmncar24 16 years ago

One fact is that Ralph Earnhardt didn't die while working on his car in the garage. Martha (Dale's mom) actually found Ralph dead on the kitchen floor. I just read that in a book called "At The Altar of Speed".

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[–] ase_p2 16 years ago

Another error is the "Team Realtree" decal on the blue dirt track car's windshield at Metrolina in the 70's. Bill Jordan didn't invent the Realtree pattern until the mid-80's...... Also, after the unveiling of the black Goodwrench Aerocoupe for the 1988 season, you see Dale alone in the shop.... In the background is a huge Snap-on toolbox. Snap-on didn't sponsor RCR until 1994, and their direct competitor, MAC tools was the sponsor from 1988 to 1993. There are also some Goodwrench Service "PLUS" hats seen in the movie before that program would have existed. I still really like the movie, and the casual fan (or one who became a fan recently) won't notice any of this stuff.

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