MovieChat Forums > 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (2004) Discussion > DAYS OF THUNDER

DAYS OF THUNDER

posted 19 years ago by jjacob6
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Ok, So you think Days Of Thunder is just about Jeff Gordon, Well your wrong. Ok, you think Days Of Thunder is just about racing, Well your partially right.I will tell you most "nascar fans" don't know either, unless your a OLD "nascar fan".

So I will tell you what it is really about.

TIM RICHMOND.

Now it is loosely based on Tim Richmond, and not any relations of Dick Trickle. Tim was a superstar in the 1980's in Nascar. Tim raced for Rick Hendrick back when Benny Parsons was still running.

What does this have to do with dale? Dale sr and Tim raced hard on track and were friends off track. So that is why the reference on a dale earnhardt movie topic list. Tim died of aids from a woman he had been with. Tragic is how to describe how nascar treated him.

[–] gordonfan-2 19 years ago

Just to add, Days of Thunder was released BEFORE Gordon's rookie season.

[–] diesel_dan_27 19 years ago

Days of Thunder was based on a few differnt people: Tim Richmond, Rick Hendrick, T. Wayne Robinson, and Bill France Jr. Some other parts of the story allud to Earnhardt, Geoff Bodine, Darrell Waltrip, and Mark Martin. I do agree it is odd how close DoT is to Jeff Gordan. Gordan was tearing up USAC sprint cars at the time and had just started to race a few Busch Series races in 1990. Gordan's first start was Richard Petty's last: the 1992 Hooter's 500 in Atlanta. (the season finale)

Hendrick Motorsports did build the cars for DoT and City Chevorlet was, and may stil be, a real car dealership in Charlette.

[–] jlg2701 19 years ago

If you remember on DoT, Cole asked Rowdy what was wrong while they were out on the boat, and he mentioned something about being seasick. There was also more later about him (Rowdy) having dizzy spells. If you watched "3," that bit about the seasickness and dizzyness should hit you like a freight train. I saw "3" last night, and that bit with Dale and Neil fishing in the boat finally made the afore mentioned scene in DoT make scense.

[–] wiski_666 19 years ago

plus if you recall the scene where Cole and Rowdy burns had to go to dinner together, that was taken from Dale SR's. life. Dale and Geoff Bodine were getting into it week in and week out and Bill france sr made them do to dinner together. I read the article in Nascar scene. There were several scenes in DoT that really happened.

[–] jlg2701 19 years ago

It's not most of the movie, I'm pretty sure that 99% of DoT was factual. It just didn't all happen to one person. If we were to sit down and watch the movie together, I could almost tell you, scene for scene, what happened to who. I'm not too positive that the scene where Harry Hogge tells Cole to "Hit the pacecar" wasn't told to Earnhardt at one time or another. He was pretty much known for hitting anything any everything on the track, including (from time to time) the pace car, especially when he was in a good mood, and his friend was driving the pacecar (I think it was Elmo Langley).

[–] jrmullens 19 years ago

Hit the pace car was actually said, I believe it was by Harry Hyde to Tim Richmond. And Dale Earnhardt had been know to "Rub" the pace car when Elmo Langley was driving. I love this movie but too many people who don't understand NASCAR don't get it and think it is too over the top. Mostly because they took all these different stories from through out the history of NASCAR and apply it to 1 or 2 people. The scene were Cole drove out of the pits and rammed the other guy actually happened, I think Bill Elliott was involved in that. I enjoyed "3", i thought it was done very respectfully and really showed us the Dale Earnhardt that nobody outside racing knew.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] andycool24 19 years ago

I haven't seen all of "3" yet but I've watched many parts of it, pretty good stuff.

If you want to see a movie with actual NASCAR drivers (and with lines!), check out Stroker Ace if you've never seen it. Dale Earnhardt has a brief screen appearance and a line of dialogue, which is interesting, as do Kyle Petty, Tim Richmond, Harry Gant, Neil Bonnett, Cale Yarborough and others. Ricky Rudd is also in it, but doesn't have a line I believe. Pretty interesting stuff.

And in the movie Six-pack, Buddy Baker has a short appearance and line, where he congratulates Brewster Baker (Kenny Rogers) on his qualifying run. Earnhardt, Rudd, Richard Petty, Bill Elliott, and a few other NASCAR drivers' names are mentioned, but most aren't ever seen.

And of course, Rusty Wallace is in Days of Thunder in the interview segment before the final race.

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[–] andycool24 19 years ago

Benny Parsons and Terry Labonte also make "cameos" in Stroker Ace, and there's one racing scene where Stroker (Burt Reynolds), is having a bumping match with the #02 car. This film was made in 1982-1983, and Mark Martin drove the #02 in '82, but not sure if it is Mark driving or not, he's not in the credits, maybe uncredited. This is the film that got me into Nascar full throttle, I started watching it whenever I could after seeing it.

I'd say though, that Days of Thunder is probably the best overall racing film, although Stroker Ace and "3" have more realistic racing scenes in them.

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[–] wlmiller 19 years ago

days of thunder sucks its a crappy veiw of nascar racing...half of the things that they did to each other would have had them banned from the sport... tom cruise should never be allowed in a stock car...if you want to know about nascar action just watch nascar...

[–] Matt-bergeron 19 years ago

its okay movie