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The Nissan 300ZX Tom Cruise Raced in the 1980s Is up for Auction

Paul newman convinced his "the color of money" co-star to give motorsports a try..

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Tom Cruise didn’t just play a race car driver in a movie, he actually was one.

During the late 1980s, the Days of Thunder star raced competitively for a brief moment in time. And now the beautifully restored 1984 Nissan 300ZX he would careen around the track in is up for auction on Bring a Trailer .

Cruise’s dalliance with motorsports dates back to the filming of The Color of Money , which he starred in alongside one of Hollywood’s most racing-obsessed actors, Paul Newman . The then-young actor would end up driving for the silver screen icon’s Newman/Sharp Racing team in Sport Car Club of America’s Showroom Stock A class. Unfortunately, Cruise’s talents were better suited to the box office than the track. He quickly earned himself the nickname SCCA (which in this case stood for “See Cruise Crash Again” ) because of his overly aggressive driving style. By the end of the decade, he’d put racing behind him to focus on what he does best.

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25 years after 'days of thunder', a stunt driver remembers teaching tom cruise not to turn right, share this article.

If there’s one thing a novice racer needs to know about stock cars, it’s that they’re built to turn left.

Back in early 1990, while NASCAR veteran Hut Stricklin was working as a stunt driver on the set of Days of Thunder , he passed that important bit of wisdom along to Tom Cruise. “He didn’t really know what I was talking about,” Stricklin recalled.

Shortly after they spoke during a day of filming at Volusia County Speedway , a track 24 miles west of Daytona Beach, Florida, Stricklin watched the famously hands-on Cruise climb into one of the production’s stable of powerful vehicles and take off down the front straightaway.

“I guess he’d seen guys on TV squirming back and forth left and right,” Stricklin said. “He turned to the left, the car turned left. But when he goes back to the right…”

The car spun out and grazed the wall.

(Paramount)

By Stricklin’s standards, Cruise wasn’t running very fast. But the minor impact destroyed a fancy new camera the film crew had attached to the right side of the star’s ride. At that point, Stricklin figured his advice about stock cars began to sink in.

Cruise, Stricklin said, “understood then. But too bad he had to kill a $100,000 camera.”

Released 25 years ago this month, Days of Thunder was a ridiculously over the top but earnest attempt at recreating the NASCAR experience for the big screen. Producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson and director by Tony Scott crammed plenty of racing – and racing culture – into a 108-minute movie. Although most critics panned it , the Cruise showpiece ended up grossing almost $158 million worldwide and has become to hardcore race fans what Caddyshack is to golf junkies.

While not quite as, uh, renowned as some of his previous work , Robert Towne’s script is quoted warmly and often on race days. No NASCAR event goes by by without someone in the crowd repeating this line said by Robert Duvall as crew chief Harry Hogge: “Rubbin’, son, is racin’.”

Days of Thunder wasn’t exactly poetic. But to many drivers, it signaled the growth of auto racing.

“It was interesting to see our sport be put into the mainstream and be a part of that,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. told the Associated Press in 2010 . “I think it did a lot for our sport to be honest with you even though the critics weren’t sold on the movie and lot of people had different opinions about it. It got our sport a lot of exposure. The movie was fun to watch, regardless of whether it’s good or not.”

Towne’s story drew heavily from real-life inspiration. Cruise’s character, a cartoonishly brash young driver named Cole Trickle, was modeled after Tim Richmond. His on-screen rivals Rowdy Burns (Michael Rooker) and Russ Wheeler (Cary Elwes) were versions of Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace, respectively. Legendary crew chief Harry Hyde inspired Hogge (Duval), owner Rick Hendrick became the fictional Tim Daland (Randy Quaid), and NASCAR president “Big Bill” France turned into “Big John” (Fred Thompson).

(Paramount Pictures)

But to capture the feel of a race, you need action. A lot of action. This was, after all, a Simpson/Bruckheimer production. Hendrick Motorsports provided the cars and NASCAR provided the drivers. That’s where Stricklin came in. He was one of a handful of professionals – including Greg Sacks and Bobby Hamilton – hired to bring authenticity to the proceedings.

At the time, Stricklin said, “I basically was without a ride.” When Carolyn Carrier, daughter of Bristol Motor Speedway founder Larry Carrier and the liaison between NASCAR and the makers of Days of Thunder , offered him a part-time job, he quickly accepted.

“I made more money doing that movie than I ever thought about making driving,” said Stricklin, who made his first Winston Cup appearance in 1987 and for Days of Thunder drove Rowdy Burns’ No. 51 Exxon Car. “It was definitely a good thing.”

Filming wasn’t exactly a glamorous process. Stricklin remembers getting in and out of his car “a gazillion times” and buckling his seatbelt over and over so that the cameras could record the routines. “It’s amazing how long that stuff took,” Stricklin said.

At Darlington Raceway, he spent three days practicing nothing but spin outs.

At any other track, Stricklin wouldn’t have blinked at doing such a thing. But Darlington is dangerously narrow. He tried explaining that to his new bosses, but it didn’t get him anywhere. “They said, ‘We’re here, and that’s what we’re gonna do,’” Stricklin said. “I said, ‘OK, you’re paying the bills. We’ll have at it.’”

“Never hit nothing,” Stricklin added. “Thank goodness.”

Stricklin said Scott asked him about what aspects of racing he’d like to see on screen. He hung out with Michael Rooker and talked to Tom Cruise. Stricklin even attended the premiere of Days of Thunder , which like any piece of fiction about a fanatically beloved subculture, drew ire for being less than completely realistic.

“For one thing, the way we build cars is a lot more professional,” the late NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki told the L.A. Times in June 1990 . “We don’t build them in a barn with the sunlight coming through the boards. We work in highly technical shops with all kinds of technical equipment.”

Stricklin would’ve liked the movie to have included more of NASCAR’s most visceral elements. Moviegoers, he said, should’ve been able “to feel the rumble of the ground.”

Of course that’s not easy to capture on film –major motion pictures weren’t filmed with IMAX cameras in 1990.

Stricklin enjoyed most of what he saw. He’s a huge Elvis fan, so he loves Speedway (1968), but he thinks Days of Thunder is the best racing movie there is.

For Stricklin, who continued to race professionally until 2002, the movie’s status as a cult classic is slightly bittersweet. Because he was hired as a contractor, his name doesn’t appear in the credits.

At this point, he’ll settle for being known as the guy who taught Tom Cruise that stock cars are built to turn left.

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Days of Thunder (1990)

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15 Fast Facts About Days of Thunder

By eric d snider | jul 5, 2015.

Days of Thunder was many people's first exposure to the high-octane, left-turning world of NASCAR. The 1990 Tom Cruise vehicle reunited him with his Top Gun director and producers, and for that reason was nicknamed Top Car during the pre-production stage. It failed to deliver the sizable audience or inspire the fervent devotion that Top Gun had, but Days of Thunder remains a minor cult favorite today among Cruise aficionados and racing enthusiasts. Here are some things you might not have known about everyone's favorite NASCAR movie (non-comedy division).

1. TOM CRUISE'S CHARACTER, COLE TRICKLE, WAS LOOSELY INSPIRED BY A REAL NASCAR DRIVER—AND IT WASN'T DICK TRICKLE.

It was Tim Richmond , a fiery, hard-partying, ladies' man of a NASCAR driver who died of AIDS in 1989. There was a driver named Dick Trickle, who made his NASCAR debut in 1989 and won the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award at the record-setting age of 48, but apart from the last name, he had nothing in common with Cruise's flashy playboy.

2. THIS IS WHERE TOM CRUISE AND NICOLE KIDMAN MET.

It was the Aussie actress’ first American film. She and Cruise started dating while the movie was being shot, and were married on Christmas Eve 1990, six months after the film's release.

3. IT'S ALSO WHERE DIRECTOR TONY SCOTT MET HIS WIFE, A "PIT GIRL" ORIGINALLY PICKED UP BY PRODUCER DON SIMPSON.

Among Simpson's many excesses was making screenwriter Robert Towne write in a small role for Simpson's new girlfriend, an actress named Donna Wilson. She had only one line, but it was enough of an excuse for Simpson to bring her to Daytona for the entire shoot. While there, the relationship ended because of Simpson's Herculean drug use, and Wilson ended up with the director. She and Scott married in 1994 and were together until his death in 2012.

4. THE FILM DIDN'T FINISH SHOOTING UNTIL ABOUT SIX WEEKS BEFORE IT HIT THEATERS.

That's an unusually short post-production schedule for such a big-budget, tech-heavy film, but shooting delays left Paramount with little choice. Producers Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (more on them later) were constantly micromanaging Scott and Towne, and arguing with each other about every little thing. The shoot went more than three months over schedule, finally ending in early May. Its original Memorial Day release, where it would have competed with Back to the Future Part III , had to be pushed back to June 27, where it competed with Ghost Dad .

5. THAT MELLO YELLO PRODUCT PLACEMENT WAS FOR REAL.

NASCAR teams are famous for proudly displaying their sponsors' logos on their cars, so it wouldn't make sense to make a NASCAR film without similar decorations on the fictional drivers' vehicles. Naturally, the studio jumped at the chance to make a movie full of product placements that could be justified by the story. Though Mello Yello is never mentioned by name in the film, its logo appears prominently on Cole Trickle's car, and a TV commercial tying the soda to NASCAR and Days of Thunder aired in summer 1990. The next year, actual NASCAR racer Kyle Petty started driving a Mello Yello car, and did so for four years. As expected, Mello Yello's sales surged in the mid-90s.

6. AS WITH SO MANY THINGS, WE CAN THANK PAUL NEWMAN FOR THE FILM’S EXISTENCE.

The legendary actor and part-time racer shared his enthusiasm for motorsports with Tom Cruise when they made The Color of Money together. The two were then introduced to NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick (the inspiration for Randy Quaid's character), who let budding racing enthusiast Cruise drive a stock car himself. Cruise's reaction after taking a car around the track at 175 mph: “Hey, we gotta make a movie about this!”

7. THE SCREENPLAY WAS WRITTEN BY AN OSCAR-WINNER, AFTER ANOTHER OSCAR-WINNER TOOK A SWING AT IT.

Robert Towne, author of Chinatown , is whom Cruise eventually recruited to flesh out his basic story idea. Before that though, two other screenwriters attempted it: Warren Skaaren (who'd written Beetlejuice and Batman ), and Donald Stewart, a car aficionado who'd won an Academy Award for Missing and would go on to co-write the first three Jack Ryan movies.

8. BUT IT WASN'T WRITTEN IN A TIMELY MANNER, AND TOWNE PROBABLY WOULD NOT HOLD IT UP AS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF HIS CRAFTSMANSHIP.

In addition to all the other production problems, Cruise was consistently unhappy with the script, which 1) wasn't done yet when they started shooting, and 2) kept needing rewrites. Actors would be given new pages of dialogue immediately before filming—or even during. According to Don Simpson's biographer Charles Fleming, “For a while, Cruise read new lines off the dashboard of his speeding stock car, until keeping his eyes off the road caused him to crash. After that, Cruise listened to new lines as Towne dictated through a headset.”

9. THE PRODUCERS TURNED THE DAYTONA, FLORIDA SET INTO THEIR OWN SPRING BREAK PARTY.

Allegedly. Allegedly. The production delays caused by Simpson and Bruckheimer's incessant creative involvement (to be fair, there were weather issues, too) meant everyone had a lot of downtime. According to one crew member , the producers’ “main concern [was] getting laid.” They—mostly Simpson, a notorious party animal—spent studio money to build a private gym at the hotel where they were staying, with a neon sign alerting nearby beachgoers to the movie’s (and thus Tom Cruise’s) presence. They bought out a local club for a party for the cast and crew, who were mostly men, and invited beach girls and hookers to fill out the ranks. By most accounts , Bruckheimer was the one who got the work done , while Simpson partied, slept, and caroused.

10. SIMPSON THE PRODUCER WANTED TO BE SIMPSON THE MOVIE STAR, AND MADE TOWNE WRITE A PART FOR HIM IN THE MOVIE.

Simpson fancied himself an actor, and even went around telling people he had uncredited cameos in his and Bruckheimer's movies, which was untrue. He made it happen in Days of Thunder though, getting Towne to write a four-page scene where Simpson, as a driver named Aldo Bennedetti (think Mario Andretti), would interact with Cruise and Robert Duvall. Film editor Billy Weber, who was on-set the whole time, said Simpson's acting was “painful.” “It was clear to Tony [Scott] and to Towne and to Don that his scenes just weren't working … It was unusable." Another on-set source said it was Cruise who objected to the scene, which was unnecessary and would only exacerbate the film's schedule problems. Eventually Simpson's part was whittled down to one line, Aldo telling an ESPN reporter, “I'm glad he's well enough to come back, and I hope I beat him, at the same time.”

11. THE FILM (AND ITS DISAPPOINTING BOX OFFICE) HELPED USHER IN A NEW ERA OF FISCAL RESTRAINT IN HOLLYWOOD.

The '80s were marked by studios giving producers a lot of money to crank out whatever populist entertainment they could. By the end of the decade, production costs were spiraling upward at an alarming rate. When Days of Thunder 's budget ballooned from about $35 million to something like $70 million (reports vary, and Hollywood accounting is notoriously secretive and unreliable), execs at Paramount got nervous. When the film's box office barely covered its production, marketing, and distribution costs, they got serious, severing the five-year deal with Simpson and Bruckheimer that they'd inked less than a year earlier. (The duo's previous films, including Flashdance , Beverly Hills Cop , and Top Gun , had been cash cows, but enough was enough.) The producers landed on their feet elsewhere and went on to make The Ref , Bad Boys , Crimson Tide , Dangerous Minds , and The Rock before Simpson's death in 1996.

12. AS YOU'D EXPECT, THE RACING SCENES WERE FILMED WITH THE CARS GOING MUCH SLOWER THAN THEY USUALLY WOULD: ONLY 120 MPH.

That's down from the 200 miles per hour those cars would do in a real race. And still, even at a reduced speed, the work was dangerous. Tony Scott told The New York Times , "There's a major crash in the middle of the movie at speeds of 120 to 140 miles an hour manned by stunt drivers. Things happen to metal at 140 miles an hour that don't happen at 60 miles an hour." Despite that, Scott boasted that the total on-set injuries for the entire production only added up to 13 stitches.

13. TOM CRUISE'S INEXPERIENCE WITH STOCK CARS DESTROYED A $100,000 CAMERA.

Early in the shoot, NASCAR driver Hut Stricklin, hired as a consultant and stunt driver, told Cruise that stock cars are built to turn left. "He didn't really know what I was talking about," Stricklin later recalled . Cruise figured it out soon enough when he turned left without trouble, then tried going back to the right and spun out. The car grazed a track wall, destroying an expensive camera that had been attached to the right side of the vehicle. "[He] understood then," Stricklin said. "Too bad he had to kill a $100,000 camera." (By the way, Stricklin said he got paid more for the Days of Thunder job—for which he was a contractor, not even mentioned in the credits—than he “ever thought about making driving.”)

14. IT WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT NASCAR'S SUPPORT.

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing truly has national popularity now, but in 1990, it was mostly a regional thing, big in the Southeast quadrant of the U.S. and small everywhere else. Simpson and Bruckheimer needed NASCAR's full cooperation if the film was to be authentic, and the association's president, Bill France Jr., was noncommittal at first. He got onboard when Simpson convinced him that the film would show the public that NASCAR was a high-tech, professional sport. From then on, NASCAR's support was full and unconditional , even allowing producers to enter movie cars in the real Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup Series) races, including the 1990 Daytona 500.

15. THE SCENE WHERE NASCAR BOSS BIG JOHN THREATENS TO FIRE TRICKLE AND BURNS IF THEY BUMP EACH OTHER ON THE TRACK AGAIN—THEN FORCES THEM TO DRIVE TO DINNER TOGETHER—WAS BASED ON A REAL INCIDENT WITH GEOFF BODINE AND DALE EARNHARDT.

Bodine and Earnhardt did not, however, destroy two rental cars in the process. But such shenanigans were attributed to 1950s racers Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly, who were the Cole Trickles of their day.

The story behind making "Days of Thunder"

"Days of Thunder" turns 30 this year, and to celebrate NASCAR put together a documentary about the making of the movie that brought stock-car racing to the big screen.

The film starred Tom Cruise as NASCAR rookie Cole Trickle. Cruise was introduced to racing by the late Paul Newman, himself a very competitive driver off screen. After co-starring in "The Color of Money," Newman put Cruise in sports cars, which led to Cruise meeting NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick, who eventually let the actor test one of his race cars.

That test—and other conversations with NASCAR personalities—pushed Cruise to pitch a NASCAR movie to producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Cruise and writer Robert Towne then attended races to research the story and characters. They also had to convince NASCAR boss Bill France Jr. to get onboard.

Filming took place at several NASCAR races, including the 1990 Daytona 500. Filmmakers planned to enter camera-equipped cars (built and raced by Hendrick Motorsports) in races for additional footage, but that meant qualifying said cars just like any other entrant. The first time around, the car didn't make the field, but in a subsequent race, driver Bobby Hamilton did so well that Hendrick decided to strip out the cameras and let Hamilton race for real. He even led a few laps.

Actors did some of their own driving, and were even asked to flick on in-car cameras at 120 mph, Cary Elwes, who played Russ Wheeler, said. For exterior shots, the production team built its own camera car—a 1986 Chevrolet El Camino body mounted on a NASCAR Cup Car chassis that looked like it could have been the ancestor of Chevy's C8 Corvette development mule based on a Holden Commodore Ute.

"Days of Thunder" has achieved cult-classic status, inspiring current NASCAR driver Kyle Busch to produce his own spoof video , and even motivating coders to reconstruct a long-lost video game based on the movie.

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Days of Thunder

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Watch Days of Thunder with a subscription on Paramount+, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

Days of Thunder has Tom Cruise and plenty of flash going for it, but they aren't enough to compensate for the stock plot, two-dimensional characters, and poorly written dialogue.

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Cole Trickle

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Harry Hogge

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Tom Cruise makes a serious face in a Chevrolet Lumina on the set of the NASCAR racing movie, "Days of Thunder."

What Happened to Tom Cruise’s Days Of Thunder Racecar?

“Days of Thunder” is over 30 years old now, yet it holds a special place in the hearts of some car enthusiasts. In the film, Tom Cruise’s character and other NASCAR drivers vie for racing dominance. Still, the character car fans care about is the black Mello Yello-sponsored number 51 Chevrolet Lumina. Tom Cruise would go on to act in many other movies, but what happened to the Chevrolet he drove?

Not a great movie, but a good “bad” car film

The genesis for the Days of Thunder movie sprung from Tom Cruise’s relationship with car-crazy celebrities Rick Hendrick and Paul Newman . They were all talking at the track and discussed making a movie to give fans a better understanding of a driver’s life. After convincing financial backers and NASCAR, the movie was given the go-ahead.

Tom Cruise would go on to play Cole Trickle, the movie’s lead character. Interestingly, Cruise likes to perform many of his own stunts, so a racing movie was right up his alley. For the movie, he did drive an actual NASCAR racecar. Specifically, the Mello Yello Number 51 car he drove in the movie was not a show car or movie prop. Instead, it was the real deal fabricated by Rick Hendrick. In fact, Mr. Hendrick fabricated many cars for the movie.

The Chevrolet Lumina from “Days of Thunder”

In 1990, the year the movie hit the theaters, the Chevrolet Lumina hit the road. A front-wheel-drive (FWD) replacement for the Chevrolet Celebrity, the Lumina starred in “Days of Thunder” alongside Tom Cruise. The Lumina, however, would be a short-lived nameplate for the automaker, as the last American-market Luminas were 2001 models, per Curbside Classic .

After the movie’s production, some of the cars used for filming continued to race. Moreover, the Lumina that Tom Cruise drove in the film continued to race in NASCAR.

What happened to the Lumina racecar driven by Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise sits in a NASCAR race car in a tribute to

So, what happened to the car driven by Tom Cruise? The number 46 Chevrolet City Lumina is in the possession of Rick Hendrick. As for the Mello Yello car, a black Lumina that claimed to be the one in “Days of Thunder” showed up for sale in 2018. According to the ad, that Lumina underwent a restoration by Laughlin Race Cars. Furthermore, the advertisement claimed that the chassis was set up for road racing with a Chevrolet 502 cubic inch V8 that pumps out 650 horsepower.

Unfortunately, there also seems to be no clear understanding of the specific car that Cruise drove or what happened to it. One firm told us that even if they had any knowledge of the car, they could not share ownership information. It’s an understandable conclusion, but heartbreaking nonetheless.

For now, sadly, the whereabouts of the specific car will have to remain ambiguous, if not unknown.

Editor’s note: HJ Pizarro contributed to this article.

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NASCAR and Hollywood were never the same after 'Days of Thunder'

Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com
2-time Sports Emmy winner
2010, 2014 NMPA Writer of the Year

Depending on whom you ask in Hollywood, "Days of Thunder" is either the quintessential '80s/'90s action drama or the movie that broke the system, forever changing the way filmmaking is done. Depending on whom you ask in the NASCAR garage, "Days of Thunder" either made stock car racing look forever cool or clumsily taught an entire generation little more than how to use Sweet'N Low packets to illustrate the aerodynamic draft.

No matter where they stand when it comes to those debates, there's a pretty good chance that if they are surfing through their cable channels this summer and "Days of Thunder" pops up, they'll stop flipping long enough to hear Robert Duvall say, "Rubbin', son, is racing." Or Tom Cruise exclaim, "Hit the pace car?!" Or Nicole Kidman shout at her soon-to-be husband, "Let may outta tha cahr, Cole!"

Or, yes, to watch that scene with the Sweet'N Low packets.

In honor of the film's 30th anniversary, we tracked down the filmmakers, actors and racers who lived those "Days of Thunder" to re-create that journey, down roads that took us into the wall at Darlington or into the haze of a late-night party in a Daytona Beach gentlemen's club parking lot. Why? Because we know that if we go to the outside, we can hold it. Harry Hogge said so.

Jump to: The power of Tom Cruise | A game-changing deal How Cruise convinced NASCAR | A 'graveyard' of wrecks A script in flux | Wild nights on set Box-office flop? | A new generation ... and sequel?

'I'm dropping the hammer!'

"Days of Thunder" starts at Daytona International Speedway with a chill-bump-inducing, Hans Zimmer-scored sequence that builds from sunrise to the green flag of the 1990 edition of the Great American Race. But the story of "Days of Thunder" began across the street four years earlier in an Olive Garden.

Rick Hendrick, owner, Hendrick Motorsports: I was still racing sports cars then and met Paul Newman, who was a very good race car driver. He'd just shot "The Color of Money" with Tom Cruise and had gotten Tom into driving sports cars. So we started meeting up to do some driving, and Tom became a friend. We were at Daytona testing our Busch [now Xfinity] Series car, and they came out to the track, so we put Tom in that car, and he just took off. He loved it.

Tom Cruise, aka Cole Trickle (interviewed for ESPN The Magazine in 2015): I had driven some incredible machines with Paul and Rick before that, but the sensation of driving one of Rick's stock cars around Daytona, that was an entirely different level. I think I hit 175 mph. The second I climbed out of that car on pit road, I said, "We have to make a movie about this!"

Geoff Bodine, driver of Hendrick's No. 5 Chevy: That night we went to dinner with them, Rick and me and the crew, and we told story after story. Cruise was just riveted, man. This was the most famous guy in the world, and he barely said anything. He was just listening and smiling the whole time.

Chris Connelly, ESPN, then with Premiere Magazine and MTV: It's difficult to remember a time when an actor had more momentum than Tom Cruise did right then. That very year, 1986, he starred in both "The Color of Money" and "Top Gun." Then he headlined "Cocktail" and "Rain Man," a Best Picture winner. While those two films were in theaters, he was shooting "Born on the Fourth of July" with director Oliver Stone, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. Tom Cruise had the power to do whatever movie he wanted. And he wanted to make a NASCAR movie.

'If you built the car, I'd get a damn driver'

Equally unstoppable was the powerhouse producing duo of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who had worked with Cruise on "Top Gun" and overseen pop culture sensation "Flashdance" and a pair of "Beverly Hills Cop" movies starring Eddie Murphy. Simpson was a bona fide Hollywood wild man, an Alaska-raised former head of Paramount Pictures. Bruckheimer was a Detroit-raised advertising man who had transitioned to feature films. They were known as "Mr. Inside" and "Mr. Outside," Simpson bringing the Hollywood Rolodex while Bruckheimer delivered a get-your-hands-dirty knowledge of film production. They were the perfect yin and yang. They famously shared an office with desks facing each other, where they had just signed an unprecedented five-year, five-film, $300 million deal with Paramount.

Connelly: They called it the "visionary alliance." Here is the money, make five movies, whatever movies you want to make, however you want to slice up that financial pie. They were given free range. They described their relationship with the studio as, "We meet them at the premiere." So there was a lot of attention paid to what the first film of that alliance was going to be.

Jerry Bruckheimer: Tom brought the idea of "Days of Thunder" to us. Everyone knows the line from "Top Gun": "I feel the need for speed," right? Well, that's Tom, quite literally. No one takes it to the limit like Tom. He wanted the audience to experience auto racing like it had never been done before, like he had on the racetrack. But the movie couldn't be just about fast cars. There had to be characters that the audience could connect with and a story that brought those characters and those cars to life.

Cruise had already conceived the bones of that story, about an Indy car driver transitioning to stock car racing, dueling with a bitter rival while overcoming the physical and mental aftermath of a big crash. But his first draft was admittedly flat. Oscar-winning screenwriter Donald E. Stewart (for 1982's "Missing") took a stab at the script. So did Warren Skaaren, writer of the original "Top Gun" screenplay who had just written Michael Keaton's "Batman." But those treatments were still missing the mark, and while Cruise was busy with "Rain Man" and "Born on the Fourth of July," he didn't have time to babysit rewrites.

Bruckheimer: We needed someone that we knew would completely immerse himself in the NASCAR world. If you know the work of Robert Towne, then you know that's how he approaches any script. He did a true deep dive into the lives of the drivers, the teams, every aspect of that world.

Towne was 54 years old and already a living Hollywood legend. He'd helped craft the scripts for "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Godfather"; had won the 1974 Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Jack Nicholson's "Chinatown," still considered one of the greatest screenplays ever written; and had just written and directed "Tequila Sunrise" starring Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer. Towne was also at the peak of his movie-making powers.

To recruit Towne, Cruise took the writer to a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at Watkins Glen on Aug. 13, 1989.

Dr. Jerry Punch, ESPN pit reporter and film technical adviser: I came in early on race morning and I was introduced to these two guys who were going to be part of my crew during the race. One was in his 50s and had a beard and the other was this little guy with scruff on his face, sunglasses and a hat pulled down over his face. I figured it was a college kid looking to earn 75 bucks, but it was Tom Cruise. Robert Towne was the older guy and had a little microphone pinned to the brim of his ball cap, and it was hooked to a tape recorder he was carrying. He was recording everything: conversations, dialects, sayings, stories, the sounds of the pits -- all of it.

Richard Petty, NASCAR legend: We talked for a long time. I'd just had my big crash at Daytona, the one when I barrel-rolled down the frontstretch. They wanted to know all about that deal. They couldn't believe that I stayed awake the whole time and remembered the whole thing, like it happened in slow motion. When I told them that I'd gone blind for a little bit, that seemed to really get the writer's attention.

Punch: They managed to stay undercover until about halfway through the race. It got really hot and Cruise took off his hat and sunglasses for a minute, just to wipe the sweat off his face. A camera guy spotted him and all of a sudden there he was, up on the big TV screen and it said, "Welcome, Tom Cruise!" The crowd went crazy, and suddenly everyone was coming for him. Tom said, "Sorry, Doc, we gotta go."

Hendrick: Tom brought Robert to our race shops in Concord, North Carolina, and introduced us. It felt like Robert was here all the time after that, listening and asking questions about what we did and why we did it.

Bruckheimer: Don Simpson and I came out to Charlotte too. We brought Tony Scott, who had directed "Top Gun" for us, and we all met with Rick Hendrick and his people to talk about supplying race cars for the film. He gave us the keys to the kingdom. We don't make "Days of Thunder" without Rick Hendrick's cooperation, plain and simple.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR star and son of Dale Sr.: They came to see Dad at his office. Me and [my sister] Kelley went up there just to get a look at Tom Cruise. I guess I was 14 or 15. They met with Dad for probably 30 minutes in his office. The word on the street was always that they had offered him the role of Rowdy Burns but he turned it down because he didn't want to play the bad guy. I never found out if it was true or not. But it's pretty obvious that Rowdy Burns is based on The Intimidator.

Michael Rooker, aka Rowdy Burns: Oh yeah, Earnhardt was the pattern. That's pretty obvious, right? I got to see him up close, in real life and in his element. He's the guy who knows that every time he walks in the room he is immediately the biggest badass in that room. But I wasn't trying to "do Dale Earnhardt" like a carbon copy. I was trying to capture what he was all about. Plus, I didn't want to copy him straight up because I sure didn't want to piss him off. [Laughs]

Rooker was joined by up-and-comer John C. Reilly as mechanic Buck Bretherton; Randy Quaid as car salesman-turned-NASCAR team owner Tim Daland; and Cary Elwes, he of recent "Princess Bride" fame, as Trickle's new teammate and Hardee's-sponsored weasel Russ Wheeler. The female lead, neurosurgeon Dr. Claire Lewicki, was awarded to relatively unknown Nicole Kidman, who met Cruise on set and married him less than two years later.

But the coup was landing Robert Duvall, who had not been able to come to terms with Francis Ford Coppola to reprise his role as mafia confidant Tom Hagen in "The Godfather: Part III," shooting at the same time as "Days of Thunder." Instead, he was coming south to play crew chief Harry Hogge, based on real-life NASCAR crew chief Harry Hyde.

Hendrick: The scene at the start of the movie, when Randy Quaid, the car salesman, asks Robert Duvall, the old retired crew chief, to help him start a NASCAR team, that really happened. It was me and Harry Hyde, and that talk took place right there in that same spot where I introduced Robert Towne to Harry; land that was his is where our race shops are now. Well, Harry, he liked to talk. And Robert, he likes to listen. I left them down there for a couple of days with Harry telling stories, and by the time Harry was done with Robert they had written a movie where the crew chief was the hero and the smartest guy in the movie. They even named him Harry!

Bruckheimer: Duvall wasn't available to do any script readings during preproduction, so we had other actors sitting in with Tom to read the scenes between Cole and Harry. It just didn't work. I went to Robert Towne and said, "Hey, Robert, I'm sorry, but these scenes aren't working." He told me to wait until Duvall got there. As soon as Robert Duvall arrived, he started reading those scenes with Tom and it was amazing. I was so relieved.

'OK ... Big John's turn.'

As Cruise and Towne became constants around NASCAR tracks and the race shops around Charlotte, Simpson and Bruckheimer flew to Daytona Beach to join Cruise at NASCAR headquarters for a meeting with epically stoic NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. France went through the list of films that NASCAR had cooperated on in the past, and they had all been bad. He specifically mentioned 1965's "Red Line 7000," which was so awful that NASCAR star Curtis Turner stood up during the premiere and shouted to fellow racer Tiny Lund, "Goddamn it, this is terrible! Tiny, let's get the hell out of here!" and walked out of the theater.

Bruckheimer: That conversation with NASCAR, that was not easy. It certainly doesn't hurt to have Tom Cruise in the room with you. NASCAR saw Tom's enthusiasm, and they saw that Rick Hendrick was behind the project.

Cruise: I think about that discussion, really all of the discussions that we had with NASCAR and the racers themselves, and I go back to Cole's promise to Harry before the final race of the movie: "Just let me drive. I won't make a fool out of you."

Bruckheimer: I think about the meeting that you see in the film, when the president of NASCAR meets with Rowdy and Cole. There is no question in that meeting who is calling the shots, who is really in charge. That's exactly what that meeting with NASCAR felt like. Especially when we asked to have cars on the racetrack in live racing conditions. Thankfully they said yes.

Greg Sacks, NASCAR driver and "Days" camera car driver: I still can't believe that NASCAR agreed to that, to let cars with cameras in them qualify and run in actual Cup Series races ... and I was one of the guys driving the cars!

Punch: They shot the movie for several months in Daytona, and it became commonplace to hear sirens all over town, escorting Tom Cruise to wherever he was going. It got to be a joke. "That must be Cruise." Well, one night Bill France Jr. was having dinner with the movie folks and he knew Cruise was going to be there, so he got the Daytona International Speedway security to escort him to that dinner with all of their sirens blaring and everything. It was a joke, but it was also a little reminder to let Cruise know that Bill Jr. was still the man in this town.

'I'm gonna give you an engine, low to the ground ...'

Production began on Aug. 26, 1989. That's when Tony Scott came to Bristol Motor Speedway to shoot a handful of racing scenes ... and ended up surrounding the half-mile oval with multiple cameras and shooting hours of footage. Unintentionally, Scott had on day one already set the tone for how the entire "Days of Thunder" production was going to go. Big, big and bigger.

Before entering their cars in real races, Scott and his crew started shooting film sequences on their own. They raced and wrecked cars at eight Winston Cup tracks, a pair of lower-level short tracks and a Florida air strip, plus on the sands of Daytona Beach.

Bruckheimer: Someone was working on a race car somewhere 24 hours a day. We would shoot with them at the racetrack, wreck them all and load them up on transporters to be hauled back over to Hendrick Motorsports. They would work on them all night, get them fixed and send them back. Then we would wreck them all over again. I think we built 60 cars, and I think we ended up with zero.

Hendrick: Oh, they definitely wound up with zero. I know because at one point we had most of them lined up behind the building, a "Days of Thunder" graveyard out there reminding me how much money it was costing. At one point, we had to meet with them and say, "Guys, this is great stuff. But we can't keep up this pace."

Allan Padelford, stunt driver: The general manager at Hendrick Motorsports was Jimmy Johnson, not the champion driver, the executive, and he was assigned to help us out, to give us anything we needed. I loved Jimmy. He made it all work. But I also felt so bad for him. Every night we sent him a fleet of cars to fix. Chassis parts smashed, engines blown, everything. One time I broke a rocker arm in the engine of my car and Jimmy took me over to the shed where Rick Hendrick kept his drag racing boats. We took a rocker arm off of one of those boats and put it in my car.

Padelford was only one of dozens of stunt drivers, but his role was the most important. He was the driver, and inventor, of the high-speed C2 Chase Car. He was frustrated with the standard clunky camera trucks, limited on speed and stuck with an elevated camera angle via a camera operator strapped into the bed of the truck. So Padelford modified a low-slung El Camino chassis and gave it a Corvette 427 engine -- the perfect machine to keep up with and film a pack of Winston Cup cars, driven by a mix of stuntmen and real NASCAR racers Greg Sacks, Bobby Hamilton, Tommy Ellis, Hut Stricklin and Rick Mast.

Padelford: It was really low to the ground, and the camera in the back was even lower. It was so fast that it was too dangerous for a man to be buckled in the back, so I developed hand controls that let the camera operator ride shotgun up front, watching monitors and controlling the camera in the back. When Tony reached out to me to say he was making a NASCAR movie, he said, "We are really going to push the limit with these cars, so we need a rig like nothing ever used before." I said, "I'm already ahead of you."

Sacks: Those on-track shoots were all choreographed. Controlled chaos. Tony Scott would be on pit road at Daytona with all of us crowded around him, he'd have his shirt off and he had Matchbox cars lined up on a table, showing us exactly what he wanted us to do on the track, all in that British accent of his. We would roll out some of the cars with cameras bolted all over them and the camera car right in the middle of us, and we would perform these dances. Meanwhile, Tony was on the radio in our ears, "Move over here! OK, now you pass him there!"

Rooker: For the big crash where Cole and Rowdy get hurt, they had one car rigged with explosives that would fire a section of a telephone pole out of the bottom and launch the car into the air. I've never seen a car barrel roll like that one did, and when it finally stopped, there was nothing left. It was just a smoking pile of twisted metal. Then a stuntman popped out of it, screaming, "F--- yeah!"

Padelford: We had a sequence where we were supposed to drive up through the pack. One of the race cars following us as it was making its way up to the lead. I totally lost control as we entered a turn and completely spun into the infield grass, just looping it. My camera operator shouts to me, "When you make that move, it causes the camera to really pan hard to the left!" He was wanting me to correct the move I was making. I just yelled back, "Yeah, OK, I'm working on it!" He was so locked in to getting the shot that he had no idea we were wrecking.

During 1990 Daytona Speedweeks, the movie cars were in the Winston Cup garage, being prepped, qualified and raced for real, their bumpers hiding cameras to capture legit in-race action. But they had to qualify for the races on speed, just like everyone else.

Rusty Wallace, NASCAR driver and performer of one line in "Days of Thunder": A lot of guys were pissed about that, movie cars being on the track. I know Earnhardt wasn't happy about it. But I thought it was great, as long they didn't get in my way.

Rick Mast, NASCAR driver and "Days" movie car driver: My car was fast in practice. I was thinking, "Damn, I've got a car that could win the Daytona 500!" We had a meeting with Mr. France, all of us driving the movie cars. He talked to us about what a big deal this movie was but that we were to stay the hell out of the way when the races started, pass no one. I raised my hand and I said, "Mr. France, if it gets late in the race and I think I have a chance to win the Daytona 500 ..." and he said, "Rick, I know you are working hard to make it full time in NASCAR. Well, I run NASCAR and I own most of the NASCAR tracks, so I can guarantee you that if you pass one car out there, you will absolutely never make it in NASCAR."

'When I'm driving, I've got a guy on the radio who talks to me'

While the mechanics at Hendrick Motorsports were up all night fixing cars, Towne was up all night fixing the script. When actors reported for duty on set the next morning, Towne handed them new pages of just-dreamt-up dialogue, much of it changed mere moments earlier when Sacks, Hendrick or Punch would advise, "Hey, a real racer would never say it that way."

Cruise: I tried taping the new lines to the dashboard of the race car. I was out there driving at 130 mph in a pack with cameras bolted to the car, so the weight was all over the place. I was looking around all over trying to read these new lines, and I totally hit the wall. So we changed the approach and I started having Bob [Towne] feed me the new lines through my radio earpiece. In the movie, when you see me listening intently to my crew chief giving me instructions, that was for real. I was actually listening to Bob Towne giving me the next line.

The only chunks of the script that weren't changed were the best stories handed to Towne and Cruise by the NASCAR community, many of them with roots back to that very first storytelling dinner at Olive Garden four years earlier.

Bodine: Every big disagreement between Robert Duvall and Tom Cruise, that was 100 percent a story about Harry Hyde disagreeing with either me or my teammate, Tim Richmond. And the feud between the drivers, the one that got so bad they had to be brought in front of NASCAR to be told to chill out -- that was me and Dale Earnhardt.

Hendrick: What "Big John" [played by future U.S. Senator Fred Thompson] said, "You two monkeys," is what Bill France Jr. actually said to Geoff and Dale, who drove for me and Richard Childress. Richard and I were there too. After his speech, Bill Jr. said that we were all going to dinner. When Rowdy says he couldn't go because he had plans, that's exactly what Dale said too. Bill pointed to the phone and said, "Cancel them." The deal on the beach, where Cole and Rowdy wrecked each other driving rental cars to that dinner, that didn't happen, but the rest of it sure did, including the part where Bill Jr. told me if I didn't get my s--- together I could go back to selling cars in downtown Charlotte.

Darrell Waltrip, Hendrick Motorsports driver during "Days" production: The whole thing about the driver not really knowing anything about cars, just going out there and driving, that was exactly Tim Richmond. The tire test where Harry teaches Cole Trickle how to go faster by saving his tires, that was Harry Hyde and Tim at a real tire test at North Wilkesboro. I do like that line, "You see Darrell Waltrip out there using up his tires?!"

Bodine: When Duvall starts screaming at Cruise, "I can't work with this son of a bitch!" that was Harry Hyde screaming at me during a meeting with Rick to try and get us to work together better.

Hendrick: The line from that scene that everyone loves so much, when the team owner yells, "We look like a monkey f---ing a football out there." I said that to Harry and Geoff in that same meeting.

Iconic schemes from an iconic movie. Who has sported your favorite Days of Thunder throwback look? pic.twitter.com/GiScpmzFmo — NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 27, 2020

Punch: When Harry says to Cole, "I want you to go out and hit the pace car ... because you hit everything else out there and I want you to be perfect," that was Harry Hyde and Buddy Baker at Martinsville. The scene when Cole wants to pit but Harry says he can't because the crew is eating ice cream? Harry Hyde did that to Benny Parsons at Pocono.

Bodine: When the movie came out, all I could think was, "Well, hell, there's all the stories we told Cruise and Paul Newman that night at dinner four years ago!"

'By ornery, you mean ...'

'i mean real ornery'.

Towne was on-site for nearly the entire shoot, as were Simpson and Bruckheimer. Every script change meant another reshoot, and every reshoot meant another day added to the schedule. Production was supposed to have wrapped up at the end of February 1990, shortly after the Daytona 500. But that date was pushed back to mid-March, then mid-April, and finally to mid-May, only six weeks before the film's scheduled opening. Meanwhile, the Hollywood trade papers were reporting that the film's budget had ballooned from $35 million to more than $60 million and Paramount was getting nervous about hitting screens in time for the coveted Fourth of July holiday.

Bruckheimer: There wasn't much sleep happening, I can tell you that. We had multiple shoots, multiple edits and multiple sound studios all running around the clock in Daytona, Charlotte and back in California. We even had Hans Zimmer with us, scoring the film live on site.

Hans Zimmer, Oscar-winning composer: Tony Scott asked me to come down to Daytona to meet with Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. I went down there for a meeting, so I had no clothes packed. I just had on a T-shirt. They basically started the meeting by saying, "We're so behind schedule that you can't leave, so we'll build you a studio." They built a gorgeous studio for me in a warehouse in Daytona. My one-day trip turned into three months, and all I had was the one T-shirt.

While Bruckheimer, Zimmer and Towne weren't sleeping because of work, everyone else on the crew wasn't sleeping because they were partying, led by Simpson. Both Simpson and Bruckheimer had a custom gym built at their Daytona Beach hotel. That attracted a lot of attention from the thousands of spring breakers trying to catch a glimpse of Cruise. Instead, they often walked away with invitations to one of Simpson's notorious parties.

Padelford: We had wrap parties held inside of wrap parties. I remember one night Simpson rented out an entire strip club, and when you got there he'd instructed the special effects guys to make the parking lot look like there had been a big NASCAR crash right there at the club. They blew up a car on the spot, and it sat there, on fire.

Hendrick: They rented out an entire floor of the Hilton here in Charlotte and cut holes in the walls of all the rooms so that they could walk from one end of the hallway to the other without having to use a door.

Bruckheimer: I don't remember a lot of that, and I'm sure there's a reason for that. [Laughs] We had this great confluence of great people, between the crew and the actors and so many great NASCAR people, so we had a good time. The NASCAR people had no problem holding their own.

John C. Reilly, aka Buck Bretherton: It was, I think, my fourth movie ever, and the first three certainly hadn't been like this one. I was like, "Oh, OK, this is how this blockbuster thing works!" And then over the next several years I was fortunate to have a lot of work and I realized, "Oh, OK, so every shoot doesn't try to burn down entire hotels. Good to know."

'I'm more afraid of being nothing than I am of being hurt'

"Days of Thunder" opened June 27, 1990, on a then-unthinkable 2,307 screens. But before that came a premiere in Charlotte, shown to an eager yet nervous NASCAR community. The audience gasped in awe at the opening sequence, as Zimmer's soaring keyboards met Jeff Beck's smooth guitar riffs. They got chills as they watched their machines take the green flag in the Great American Race.

Then came the barn.

Hendrick: Yeah, they cut from all of that awesome Daytona footage to this old rickety barn, and the graphic said in giant letters: CHARLOTTE, NC. A big groan went out in the theater. We had been so careful to make sure the producers had seen our race shops that are so pristine and clean, building cars using the latest technology. Charlotte was booming, a real up-and-coming city, and there it was as an old barn. I thought, "Well, damn, here I have gone and ruined everyone's lives, making us look like a bunch of hillbillies racing cars. I'm finished." But thankfully, it got better after that.

Many among the NASCAR community have still never gotten over that barn, the rickety "race shop" in which Harry Hogge later builds Cole Trickle's first Chevy Lumina, talking to it all along ("I'll get you primed, painted and weighed ..."). Bruckheimer, Simpson and Scott had spotted the barn during an evening drive to Hendrick's lake house north of Charlotte. It's still a roadside attraction for eagle-eyed movie fans.

The cringers have also never gotten past little missteps throughout the film, like showing a shot of Daytona and labeling it Rockingham, or Cole Trickle, Russ Wheeler and Rowdy Burns announcing their next moves over the radio before making them ("I'm gonna draft Wheeler, make him pull me around!").

Wallace: I've never understood NASCAR people being so sensitive about it. It was never going to be a documentary. I think it's fun as hell. I still do. And that's not because I think I owe them anything. I do still get checks every year from that one line I had in the movie, and they used to be pretty big. But I think the last one I got was for four bucks.

Reilly: I loved that scene of us building the car in the barn. When I was in "Talladega Nights" 15 years later, I tried to get them to let me shoot that same scene, where I was talking and rubbing, then getting way too intimate with the car. "I'm gonna buff you out and pump you full of octane, baby." We didn't shoot it. That was probably for the best.

Connelly: Whenever I see that scene, I imagine that's Robert Towne working on his script. "I'm gonna shave a half inch off you and shape you like a bullet. You're gonna be perfect."

"Days of Thunder" opened with a $15.4 million weekend, the equivalent of $30 million in 2020 dollars, holding off "Dick Tracy," "RoboCop 2," "Total Recall" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" for the top spot at the box office. The final tally by summer's end was $83 million domestic and $75 million overseas, a $310 million total when adjusted for inflation. Still, the take was less than half that of "Top Gun." The comparisons between the films had been so constant, the "Days of Thunder" crew had worn joke "Top Car" caps during production. So the cash comparison was inevitable.

Bruckheimer: Not every movie is going to make a billion dollars. But this was a great success for everybody. We poured every ounce of energy we had into that film, and even among what has become a very fortunate filmography, "Days of Thunder" remains very special to me. It's because of the people who worked on it. Tony, Don, they are special people in my life and always will be.

The weeks leading up to its release was peppered with "Days of Plunder" stories, detailing the swollen production budget and schedule, describing shouting matches between Towne and Simpson, especially when Simpson's Mario Andretti-ish character, Aldo Benedetti, was trimmed down to a one-line cameo. The Hollywood press blamed the film for breaking the "visionary alliance" open-checkbook business model before the first movie produced within that system had even been released. (Bruckheimer, Simpson and Paramount mutually ended their agreement later that year.) It was the supposed end of Hollywood hedonism as we knew it.

Connelly: That's not really a fair framing of the "Days of Thunder" story, is it? I seem to remember plenty of Arnold movies and Sly Stallone movies and Joel Silver productions after 1990. The real story of that film are the ghosts associated with it. That set is where Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman met and fell in love. I believe their big reveal as a couple was at the Oscars while "Days of Thunder" was still in production. Later, of course, it became one of the biggest divorce stories Hollywood has seen in quite some time. Don Simpson's very bright flame burned out with his [drug overdose] death in 1996. And I don't think we'll ever know the real story behind Tony Scott's death.

Scott died on Aug. 19, 2012, when he jumped from a bridge in San Pedro, California. He left behind 12-year-old twin boys and a wife, Donna Wilson Scott. He met her on the "Days of Thunder" set when she played the girlfriend of Reilly's Buck Bretherton, and they married in 1994.

Tony Scott, in a 2010 interview: "Days of Thunder," it was hard to make. But it was also so fun. And it gave me the greatest gift of my life: my family.

Those ghosts aren't limited to the Hollywood side of the story. Rick Hendrick says he still loves to catch the film on TV because it reminds him of Harry Hyde, who died in 1996, and Tim Richmond, the driver upon whom Cole Trickle was loosely based. Richmond died from complications of HIV/AIDS on Aug. 13, 1989, the same day that Cruise and Towne were at Watkins Glen doing their story research.

Hendrick: Racers love nothing more than to sit around telling stories about old friends. These stories and the people in them, they are going to live forever thanks to this film.

Cruise: I think the real filmmaking legacy of that movie is what it did for the way that NASCAR, and really auto racing in general, is portrayed. The look of that movie changed everything.

Padelford: The fingerprints of "Days of Thunder" are all over any racing movie you've seen since. My same camera car was used for "Talladega Nights." The camera rig from that car was used for "Ford v Ferrari" just two years ago. I work on all of the Fast & Furious films, Marvel films, "Baby Driver," you name it, and what we built for "Days of Thunder" is used for almost every one of those movies. I just worked on a film with John C. Reilly before the quarantine, and we spent hours shooting him driving around Los Angeles. As soon as I mentioned "Days," that's what we talked about and laughed about, all night.

'Remember me?!'

As the years have passed, those from the NASCAR world who were involved in "Days of Thunder" and those who were so offended by its lack of authenticity in 1990 have largely moved on from the sport. Meanwhile, the film has been a lot like Cole Trickle's Lumina at Darlington, mysteriously gaining speed while other financially larger films of its era have fallen off the pace. When's the last time you saw "Dick Tracy"?

Connelly: It has maintained legs, and I think that nostalgia certainly has a lot to do with that. You miss seeing Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty racing at North Wilkesboro? Well, there they are. Like old friends, even if there are some images and moments that are certainly dated now.

See: The three Confederate flag shots in that legendary opening sequence. Earlier this month NASCAR banned that flag from its racetracks. But their inclusion in the film at the time is a very accurate time capsule of the 1990 Daytona 500 experience. Also, that Sweet'N Low drafting lesson? That was born from an actual explanation of how the slingshot move worked, shown to Cruise and Towne by racers on a restaurant table, then transferred to Nicole Kidman's thigh for the film, explained by Trickle amid twisted sheets after a lovemaking session, because Cole, he was romantic like that. Trickle's moves might have worked on Dr. Lewicki, but the slingshot move hasn't worked that way since the year before the film was shot. NASCAR introduced horsepower-leveling restrictor plates at superspeedway races in 1988.

Petty: I seem to remember people getting a little squirmy about that scene back then. But hey, the way he explained it wasn't wrong, either. I lost races and won races on slingshot deals just like that. [Laughs]

Those in the motorsports community who rolled their eyes at the film back in the day been replaced by a generation of racers who saw it in the theater as kids and have had it on repeat in the 30 years since. They love it. So do NASCAR fans, who have made it a go-to midsummer ratings-getter for cable TV. Paramount Pictures recently decided to include it in a limited series of "Paramount Presents" remastered Blu-ray releases, placed alongside Elvis Presley's "King Creole," Glenn Close's "Fatal Attraction" and Cary Grant's "To Catch A Thief."

Jimmie Johnson, seven-time Cup Series champion: I was 15 when the movie came out. I watched it several times, but what I really did was play the "Days of Thunder" video game nonstop. It was hard as hell, but I couldn't stop.

Today's racers gleefully quote Towne's script over the radio during races, and when it comes time for Darlington Raceway's annual throwback weekends, they paint their cars to look like Cole's, Rowdy's and even Russ Wheeler's.

Kyle Busch, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion: It is no exaggeration to say that between the ages of 6 and 10 I probably watched that movie 200 times. I would come home from school, make a snack and watch it with my grandmother. VHS, baby!

When Busch first broke into NASCAR via the Truck series, his team owner, Billy Ballew, fielded a black machine with a white "15" on the door. Busch asked him to flip those digits, meaning he would drive a black No. 51 Chevy, just like Rowdy Burns. Instead of his name over the driver's side window, Busch went with "Rowdy," and that's been his nickname ever since. In 2015, he even shot a series of commercials for sponsor M&M's where he reenacted "Days of Thunder" scenes with crew chief Adam Stevens as Harry Hogge and boss Joe Gibbs as Tim Daland.

Busch: Whatever if the movie isn't perfectly accurate. It makes racing look cool. And if you go back and look at the growth boom of NASCAR in the 1990s, you know what kick-started that? Damn "Days of Thunder" did, man! The only question now is: Are they going to make another one? And what would the story be?

Rooker: When we left ol' Rowdy, he had brain damage, so unfortunately I think he's done as a driver. Maybe he's a team owner now, like Dale Earnhardt was. If nothing else, Rowdy and Cole could race wheelchairs again. This time we'll do it in a retirement home. And I'll beat Tom's little ass again, like I did in 1990. Hell yeah, I'm in.

Hendrick: I need to check and see if I have enough cars to pull that off again. What's Jerry say?

Let's ask the man, shall we? As Jerry Bruckheimer is on the phone from California, he is post-producing virus-delayed "Top Gun: Maverick" remotely, while cranking up preproduction on "Beverly Hills Cop 4" and "National Treasure 3." Last year his "Bad Boys for Life" was a smash hit. Classic sequels are working.

So ... "Days of Thunder 2"?

Bruckheimer: I would love to do it. But you need to have the right people in place. You can't do it without Tom, and he's tied up for the next three or four years. He has a couple of "Mission Impossible" projects in the works, and he's also trying to get up to the International Space Station.

Wait, what?

Bruckheimer: [Laughs] I told you, no one takes it to the limit like Tom Cruise.

12 Celebrities Who Were Also Serious Race Car Drivers

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A race car driver in the drivers seat of a race car.

There must be a connection between the skill set of actors and that of race car drivers. Perhaps it’s the adrenaline rush and desire to adapt to anything thrown at them. That happens regularly in front of the camera, as well as on the race track.

Some actors grow dissatisfied with playing a driver and prefer real-life adventure. These actors go on to use their fame to score a few sponsors and get behind the wheel of a genuine race car to compete against career pros. Here are 12 of them.

Rowan Atkinson, aka Mr. Bean
Walter Cronkite
Paul Walker
Frankie Muniz
Jason Priestley
James Garner
Steve McQueen
Gene Hackman
Patrick Dempsey
Paul Newman

12. Rowan Atkinson, aka Mr. Bean

Although he is best known as the comic genius behind the slapstick character Mr. Bean, comedian Rowan Atkinson is a serious race car driver and racing enthusiast.

When not filming movies such as Johnny English and television shows such as Blackadder , Rowan Atkinson spends his time racing around tracks across the world and writing for race car magazines.

He previously owned a McLaren F1 race car, which he crashed, and, in the 1980s, he drove a mid-engined Renault 5 in the Manufacturer’s Turbo Cup racing series. He also drove his own Aston Martin race car at the famous Silverstone event in 2010.

In 2014, Rowan Atkinson was involved in a serious head-on collision while racing a vintage Ford Falcon sprint car. Luckily, the comic walked away with only minor injuries. The car itself was totaled.

11. Walter Cronkite

Believe it or not, iconic newsman Walter Cronkite was an avid race car driver and respected wheelman. What’s interesting about Walter Cronkite is that he accomplished most of his racing wins before he was a household name as the host of the CBS Evening News in the 1960s and 1970s.

Back in 1959, Walter Cronkite took third place driving a Volvo PV444 at an endurance race held in Lime Park, Connecticut. Later that same year, he co-drove a Zagato-bodied Lancia Appia in the 12-hours of Sebring race, where his team finished the race in 40th place.

Still, Walter Cronkite remained an avid race car driver his entire life and continued to compete in celebrity events as he grew older. Eventually, though, he traded in his race car for a sailboat and became an avid yachtsman, competing at regattas around the United States.

10. Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise is so passionate about race car driving that he turned his love of the sport into the passion project Days of Thunder , a 1990 movie about stock car racing. Tom Cruise was inspired to take up race car driving by his friend and co-star in the 1986 film The Colour of Money , actor Paul Newman.

However, despite his love of racing, Tom Cruise was known as a bad driver. So bad that Tom Cruise earned the nickname among other drivers of “See Cruise Crash.” The problem, according to the actor’s driving instructors, he was too aggressive behind the wheel. Cruise himself has blamed his struggles behind the wheel on his dyslexia.

Regardless of the reason, Tom Cruise eventually had to give up racing as the movie studios he worked for refused to insure him if he continued to pursue the risky sport. Still, Tom Cruise remains a passionate race fan and has even appeared on the BBC television show Top Gear .

9. Paul Walker

It was the height of irony that Paul Walker, star of The Fast and the Furious film series, died in a car crash. Yet before his death, Paul Walker was not only the star of movies that featured car racing; he was himself a race car driver and owner of a respected race car team.

A talented and skilled driver on the racetrack, The Fast and the Furious star competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series driving a modified BMW M3, and he was co-owner of the Always Evolving speed shop and racing team, which still races today after his death.

The team dedicates each of its races to the memory of Paul Walker.

8. Frankie Muniz

Frankie Muniz was beloved as the cute middle child and titular character of Malcolm in the Middle . It seemed like Frankie would go on from starring in his own show to enjoy a wild career in film and television, but as he worked through the awkwardness of adolescence, he grew to appreciate the finer things in life — like horsepower.

One thing that is beneficial for racing drivers is a smaller stature. Frankie stands at 5’5″, and was able to slide comfortably into the cockpit of various race cars. Frankie has competed in several racing series, including formula racing, where he enjoyed a Top 10 finish in the 2009 Formula Atlantic Championship.

Frankie is back in front of the camera these days, including an appearance in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!

7. Jason Priestley

Jason Priestley is a fascinating celebrity. He made his money acting, but in the process, set trends in American culture. Everything about his character Brandon Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210, was emulated by dudes around the world. The fashion trends from that show were a worldwide phenomenon.

Jason enjoyed the fame, and he did what any Canadian kid who grew up a fan of auto racing would do: He started racing. Jason considered himself a hobbyist, but he did race competitively, and he was almost killed in 2003 when he hit a wall coming off a turn in an Indy car doing close to 180 mph.

After his accident, Jason moved away from life behind the wheel, yet stayed in the racing world as a team owner. FAZZT, the team he co-owned, enjoyed a 10th place finish in the 2010 Indianapolis 500.

6. James Garner

James Garner was a racing enthusiast and the owner of a professional racing team that competed three seasons in some of the world’s most prestigious endurance races; however, his true passion was for off-road motorsports.

The Army veteran didn’t mind being in the dirt, and he was instrumental in helping to grow the popularity of the famed Baja 500, a race made more popular in recent years thanks to the documentary Dust to Glory (2005).

Regarding his time behind the wheel, James enjoyed more than a few races in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was offered the honor of driving the pace car for the Indianapolis 500 on three different occasions.

That’s just as beneficial to the sport of racing as it is to the lucky driver, but who could say no to driving the Indy 500 Pace Car?

5. Steve McQueen

How could Steve McQueen not be a race car driver? The guy seemed destined to sit behind the wheel. Steve McQueen always possessed the edge needed by a great race driver.

To put it in 21st-century terms, he was a troubled youth. He did time in several reform schools, and remarkably, once he got out of school, the reformation was complete.

Steve McQueen was the definition of cool in the 1960s and early 1970s, and for a time, he was the most popular movie star in the business. Most car enthusiasts will equate Steve McQueen to Frank Bullitt, and when you think Bullitt , you think badass, pure muscle, 1968 Ford Mustang.

After that film, Mustang sales went through the roof. Steve was adept at driving cars and enjoyed impressive finishes in endurance races. He also raced motorcycles, preferring the off-road variety — before the days of MotoX.

4. Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman can pretty much do it all: comedy, drama, car racing. The man who has scored two Oscars, and since retired from acting, enjoyed a career that spanned multiple decades of acting, as well as auto racing.

According to Hollywood lore, Gene fell in like with the idea of racing cars after he filmed The French Connection , in which he did a lot of his own stunt driving. The pinnacle of his racing career occurred in 1983 when he raced for Dan Gurney’s team in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The endurance races are best fit for individuals who are hobbyists, or only race part-time, as the various vehicle classifications allow drivers to get behind the wheel of a vehicle they can master. That’s often where you’ll see actors make the transition, including the man at #3.

3. Patrick Dempsey

McDreamy races cars? Doesn’t everyone remember Patrick driving that lawnmower in Can’t Buy Me Love ? It was prophecy, was it not?

Patrick Dempsey is possibly the most talented driver on this list, though he’s likely not the most well-known for his driving skill. Patrick has driven in some of the most prestigious endurance races in the world. In fact, he has competed in the most prestigious, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Le Mans gave birth to endurance racing, and all other races pale in comparison to the history of the 24-hour marathon that is run by teams annually. Patrick has also competed in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, and in 2011, he took third place overall in the Rolex-sponsored 24 Hours at Daytona.

To stir more proof into the pudding, Patrick was driving for Porsche. That kind of says it all, doesn’t it?

2. Paul Newman

The legendary Paul Newman passed away in 2008. Yet in 2000, he was competing in the Petit Le Mans. And in 2006, he became the oldest competitor to ever start the Rolex 24, at age 81. Legend.

Anyone who knows racing is familiar with Newman/Haas Racing, and if there was any confusion, yes, it is that Newman.

Paul Newman was a legend on the race track. He owned nearly as many decorations in racing as he did in acting. He was that good. Patrick Dempsey showed a similar skill set to Paul, but he may never rival Paul’s longevity, nor his accomplishments on the track.

It only made sense that Paul’s final role was voicing Doc Hudson in Cars . Addressing all of Paul’s on-the-track accolades: He finished second overall in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans and placed first in class at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona.

1. James Dean

This list might not exist if it weren’t for James Dean. The actor had a deep passion for auto racing. James began racing before he shot Rebel Without a Cause , and couldn’t wait to get back to the track after filming wrapped. He loved it so much, Warner Brothers contractually forbade him from his racing habit until he finished shooting Giant .

James was the first actor to venture onto the race track boldly, and he was focused on becoming a respected race driver once he completed his work on that particular film. A fan of Porsche, James bought a 550 Sypder with the intention of racing it.

He never enjoyed the opportunity — at least, not on a sanctioned track. James was killed driving his new Porsche to Salinas, California, to participate in a racing event.

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The 25 most memorable Tom Cruise performances

There are few true movie stars left, but Tom Cruise is one of them. He’s not just a movie star, but a bona fide action star. That’s wild, given his age, though the man does seem ageless. Over the years, Cruise has given some truly memorable performances in many films. Although, do keep in mind that “memorable” and “good” don’t always mean the same thing. With that caveat, here are the 25 Tom Cruise performances that are never far from the front of our minds.

“Risky Business” (1983)

Cruise had been in a few films before this, including the parade of ‘80s stars that was “The Outsiders,” but this was his breakout star role. It’s also the movie where he danced to “Old Time Rock and Roll” in his underwear when his parents leave him home alone. That’s become an extremely famous, and parodied movie moment.

“Top Gun” (1986)

In terms of slick ‘80s action films, “Top Gun” may be at the top of the list. Cruise’s turn as Maverick was so indelible they decided to make a sequel over 30 years later. “Top Gun: Maverick” was supposed to hit theaters in 2020, but now we have to wait to see Cruise in one of his iconic roles a little while longer.

“The Color of Money” (1986)

There’s a lot of prestige to this movie, even if it is a sequel. After all, Martin Scorsese directed it. Paul Newman returned as “Fast Eddie” Felson, winning an Oscar for his efforts. However, Cruise was along for the ride as well, cast as a hotshot young pool hustler because of the actor’s own rising stardom.

“Cocktail” (1988)

“Cocktail” is an incredibly goofy movie, but a lot of people remember it fondly. It’s about Cruise as a cocksure flair bartender, after all. For many, it was their first look at that kind of bar and that kind of bartending. “Cocktail” also may have helped put the Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” into the cultural lexicon, for better or worse.

“Rain Man” (1988)

Dustin Hoffman had the showy performance in “Rain Man.” He’s the one who won the Oscar. In fact, the movie also won Best Picture. However, don’t overlook Cruise. Then again, was Cruise ever getting overlooked in the ‘80s? He had a tough role in “Rain Man,” having to manage a presence on screen while sharing it with Hoffman’s over-the-top acting, but he did it because he was a true star already.

“Born on the Fourth of July” (1989)

This was Cruise’s attempt to swing big for an Oscar like his castmate Hoffman had the year prior. While Cruise didn’t win an Oscar, he was nominated, and many consider this his best performance. Cruise played real-life Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in this visceral melodrama that allowed the actor to really emote all over the place.

“Days of Thunder” (1990)

Tom Cruise as a racecar driver. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? “Days of Thunder” is not necessarily remarkable as a movie, but we still remember it. Why? Because it starred Cruise. Also, maybe because his character was named Cole Trickle. That kind of tends to stick in the mind.

“A Few Good Men” (1992)

We all remember “You can’t handle the truth!” Jack Nicholson gives one of his most memorable performances in “A Few Good Men.” However, we also remember the lawyer who wanted the truth from Colonel Jessup. That was Cruise, and his performance is just as indelible as Nicholson’s. It’s the truth, and we can handle it.

“Interview with the Vampire” (1994)

Anne Rice’s Southern Gothic romantic vampires were quite popular in the ‘90s. A movie based on them was surely going to grab attention. Then Cruise and Brad Pitt got cast. Cruise plays Lestat, maybe the most famous vampire out there not named Nosferatu or Count Dracula. Well, or Edward Cullen now, we suppose.

“Mission: Impossible” (1996)

Over a decade into his acting career, Cruise started the action series that would keep him as one of the biggest action stars in the world for over 20 years. That was not to expected in the comparatively-tame opener to the series. Bear in mind this movie was directed by Brian De Palma. When his movie is considered “tame” by a series’ reputation, you know things got crazy eventually.

“Jerry Maguire” (1996)

Cameron Crowe’s film is packed to the brim with famous lines. Simply by yelling, “Show me the money!” Cruise birthed what was effectively a meme for a pre-internet time. However, there’s much more to this performance than merely one shouted catchphrase.

“Eyes Wide Shut” (1999)

Sometimes external factors make a movie more memorable. For starters, this was Stanley Kubrick’s final film. Second, it starred the then-married couple of Cruise and Nicole Kidman . Given the plot of this film, that created a sense of intrigue, perhaps morbid curiosity. When Cruise and Kidman divorced that only added fuel to the fire.

“Magnolia” (1999)

Clearly, 1999 was Cruise taking one more big swing at trying to win an Oscar. He made films with both Kubrick and Paul Thomas Anderson . Anderson was following up his breakout hit “Boogie Nights” with the ensemble piece “Magnolia.” Perhaps “Magnolia” was a little too complicated, a little too messy. Cruise is very good, but there was no Oscar.

“Minority Report” (2002)

Cruise has made a couple of action films with Steven Spielberg. “War of the Worlds” made some cash, but we don’t really remember it much. “Minority Report” is a different story. Its plot is a little fresher, and perhaps we also feel like the plot is more successful as well.

“The Last Samurai” (2003)

Yes, it’s a little odd that Cruise starred in a movie called “The Last Samurai.” Hey, at least it’s based on some historical fact, though there have still been some quibbles. Personally, we don’t feel like fiction movies need to be de facto documentaries. “The Last Samurai” was a big hit and got four Oscar nominations, and Cruise is definitely the face of the cast (with all due respect to Ken Watanabe).

“Collateral” (2004)

Cruise has spent so much of his career playing action heroes and good guys. In “Collateral” he plays the villain, a callous hitman who makes life miserable for Jamie Foxx ’s cab driver. It’s a grim film, but Cruise showed that he knows how to play evil. He hasn’t really done it since, though.

“Tropic Thunder” (2008)

People were taken aback when Cruise showed up unexpectedly in “Tropic Thunder.” That’s partially because he buried himself under makeup and latex. It’s also because it had been a long time, and maybe it was the first time, he got so broad with his comedy. Cruise swears his head off and dances like a lunatic. In an insane comedy, Cruise may stand out above everybody else with his performance.

“Valkyrie” (2008)

You may not have seen “Valkyrie.” It did make money. Quite a lot of it. It’s a thriller about an attempt to assassinate Hitler. However, we’d bet you definitely remember seeing trailers and posters for the movie where Cruise had an eye patch. See, now you remember “Valkyrie.” That’s what we call memorable. It’s also notable because it isn’t a sci-fi film, an action film, or something along those lines.

“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” (2010)

We skipped a couple of the “Mission: Impossible” films, but now we are getting to the point where Cruise kept trying to outdo himself with insane stunts. “Ghost Protocol” is the one where he climbs the outside of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. That grabbed people’s attention, and it increased interest in the film series.

“Jack Reacher” (2012)

Hey, they managed to make two “Jack Reacher” movies. That means the first one had to make enough of an impact to warrant a second film. It’s not like they made a sequel to “Knight and Day.” While Cruise is much more compact than the Reacher in the book, he took a character that a lot of people had never heard of and made him something of a household name.

“Rock of Ages” (2012)

“Rock of Ages” is a total fiasco. It’s a jukebox musical, but it doesn’t work like “Mamma Mia!” However, we all remember Cruise doing the whole hair metal thing. This was a big swing of a film and a big swing for Cruise. While it was a total whiff, it was the kind of failure we remember.

“Edge of Tomorrow” (2014)

Maybe you know it better as “Live, Die, Repeat.” The marketing behind “Edge of Tomorrow” was a little middling. The movie, though, has a ton of fans. People consider “Edge of Tomorrow” one of the best sci-fi action films of recent vintage. It has a clever premise and also featured a fine turn from Emily Blunt alongside Cruise. In fact, she’s more heroic than he is.

“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” (2015)

For our money, “Rogue Nation” is the best of the “Mission: Impossible” movies. The plot is riveting and the action is fantastic. This film featured a couple of insane stunts from Cruise. While him having to hold his breath for upwards of three minutes for an underwater scene without edits is impressive, the big, showy stunt is clearly when Cruise held on to the outside of an airplane as it took off. Read that again. Think of how insane it is for a true movie star to do that.

“The Mummy” (2017)

“The Mummy” flopped for all intents and purposes. However, they had hoped to build a new cinematic universe off of it, which meant it got a ton of promotion. A lot of that focused on the titular mummy and her freaky eyes. That being said, Cruise is definitely the star, and this was a “Mummy” movie. It’s not his most memorable role, but it’s definitely a memorable one. Also, had the series taken off, it would have become even more memorable given the twist at the end.

“Mission: Impossible – Fallout” (2018)

Cruise was almost overshadowed by Henry Cavill’s mustache, but not quite. The movie was a massive hit, and in fact, has made more money than any movie in Cruise’s career. It’s another great action film that is filled with big action set pieces. Cruise infamously broke his ankle filming a stunt but kept filming the scene so that they could complete it for the film. The man is truly dedicated to his craft.

"Top Gun: Maverick" (2022)

Maverick is back! It took decades, but it was well worth it. Not only do a lot of people find "Maverick" better than "Top Gun," but it was a massive hit. The sequel is the highest-grossing film of 2022 domestically, and second-highest-grossing worldwide.

Chris Morgan is a sports and pop culture writer and the author of the books The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and The Ash Heap of History . You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisXMorgan .

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Video: Top Gun: Maverick's Tom Cruise Takes On F1 Drivers

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‘Ford v Ferrari’ And Other Best Auto-Racing Movies To Fuel Your Need For Speed

T he smell of burnt rubber, the roar of powerful engines and the nail-biting spectacle of neck-and-neck battles — there’s something uniquely thrilling about the best auto racing movies Hollywood has to offer. Placing the viewer in the driver’s seat, these films make one feel the G-force of sharp turns and the breathless anticipation of the starting line. From intricate shots of finely tuned machinery to slow-motion sequences of high-stakes manoeuvres, race films make us participants in the impossible drama.

From the glamorous world of Formula One to gritty stock car circuits and beyond, the silver screen provides a unique lens into the lives of F1 drivers , the intense rivalries and the sheer drama of racing at breakneck speeds.

With the February 2024 release of the sixth season of Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive series reigniting interest and the upcoming untitled F1 movie starring Brad Pitt revving its engines, it’s a fantastic time to explore cinema’s greatest contributions to the world of auto racing.

However, the following list encompasses a variety of auto-racing movies, spanning from Formula One to other exhilarating racing genres. We will shift to high gear, dramatic crashes and extraordinary victories. So, buckle up and get ready to leave your competition in the dust as we explore the exhilarating world of adrenaline-fuelled cinema.

All The Tweaks In The F1 Sprint Format For The 2024 Season

11 best car games that will set your heart racing: ‘gran turismo 7’, ‘wreckfest’ and more , the best auto-racing movies to get your heart pounding.

IMDb rating: 6.1

Directed by: Tony Scott

Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid

Synopsis: Hotshot rookie NASCAR driver Cole Trickle (Cruise) clashes with his team, his mentor (Duvall) and a rival driver while battling for the championship and the attention of a beautiful doctor (Kidman).

IMDb rating: 6.3

Directed by: Gordon Chan

Cast: Jackie Chan, Anita Yuen, Michael Wong

Synopsis: Mechanic and race car driver Jackie Chan (Chan) is drawn into an intense rivalry with a ruthless Japanese street racer known as Cougar.

IMDb rating: 6.4

Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson

Cast: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane

Synopsis: In a dystopian future, framed convict Jensen Ames (Statham) is forced to compete in Death Race, a brutal televised prison race where cars are armed with deadly weapons.

IMDb rating: 6.6

Directed by: Adam McKay

Cast: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen

Synopsis: NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) believes he’s the greatest racer alive until a talented French Formula One driver, Jean Girard (Cohen), challenges his supremacy.

IMDb rating: 7.1

Directed by: Marshall Curry

Synopsis: This documentary follows a year in the life of three young racers — Josh Hobson, Brandon Warren and Annabeth Barnes — competing in the World Karting Association’s National Series, giving an inside look at the hopes, ambitions and challenges they face.

IMDb rating: 7.2

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp

Cast: David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe

Synopsis: The gaming skills of a talented Gran Turismo player Jann Mardenborough (Madekwe) win him a shot at becoming a real-world professional race car driver.

Directed by: Nate Adams, Adam Carolla

Cast: Charlie Agapiou, Mario Andretti, A.J. Baime, Bob Bondurant

Synopsis: This documentary dives into the legendary 1966 battle between Ford and Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Witness the high-stakes world of endurance racing and the personal stories behind the drivers.

Directed by: John Lasseter

Voice cast: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy

Synopsis: Hotshot race car Lightning McQueen (Wilson) finds himself unexpectedly stranded in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs. While learning about friendship and community, he prepares for the biggest race of his life.

IMDb rating: 7.6

Directed by: Adam Carolla, Nate Adams

Synopsis: This documentary explores the surprising and successful racing career spanning 35 years of Hollywood legend Paul Newman.

Directed by: John Frankenheimer

Cast: James Garner, Yves Montand, Toshiro Mifune, Eva Marie Saint

Synopsis: An all-star cast tackles the world of Formula One racing in this epic drama. Follow the story of an American driver Pete Aron (Garner), trying to make his mark in a dangerous and ruthless sport.

IMDb rating: 7.9

Directed by: Paul Crowder

Cast: Michael Fassbender (narrator), Lewis Hamilton, Niki Lauda

Synopsis: Dive into the history of Formula One racing, exploring both the evolution of safety in the sport and the inherent dangers faced by charismatic drivers, such as Hamilton, Lauda, Mario Andretti, Sebastian Vettel, Mario Andretti and Michael Schumacher, in the pursuit of speed.

IMDb rating: 8.1

Directed by: James Mangold

Cast: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe

Synopsis: Automotive designer Carroll Shelby (Damon) and fearless driver Ken Miles (Bale) defy corporate interference and the laws of physics to build a revolutionary race car for Ford. Their goal: To challenge the dominance of Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

IMDb rating: 8.5

Directed by: Asif Kapadia

Cast: Reginaldo Leme, John Bisignano, Neyde Senna, Richard Williams

Synopsis: This documentary chronicles the life and career of Brazilian Formula One legend Ayrton Senna, from his karting beginnings to his tragic death on the track.

About the film: Composed entirely of archival footage, Senna is a powerful tribute to a complex and controversial figure, considered by many to be one of the greatest drivers ever.

25 details from 'Days of Thunder' that show how much auto racing and the rest of the world have changed since Tom Cruise was a NASCAR driver

"Days of Thunder" is the biggest dramatic movie ever based on NASCAR and one of the biggest auto racing movies of all time.
The movie, now 29 years old, starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
While the movie is still a fun look at big-time racing, many details have not aged well and will make fans feel old.
Visit INSIDER.com for more stories .

It has been 29 years since Paramount released "Days of Thunder," a movie starring Tom Cruise about a racecar driver who comes out of nowhere to take NASCAR by storm.

After three decades, the movie is still a fun look at big-time auto racing. However, many of the details in and around the actual racing have not aged well.

From some eyebrow-raising casting choices, to the lack of safety equipment, and an early look at Cruise's yet-to-be-perfected running style, the world has changed a lot since 1990. Below we take a look at the details that will make fans of NASCAR and the movie feel old.

Look at those shorts! And those headphones!

This movie is so old, The King, Richard Petty was not yet retired from stock car racing and is shown several times in racing scenes.

Randy Quaid was still landing dramatic roles as a serious actor in major films.

Pepsi stopped using that logo more than 25 years ago.

The film zoomed-in on several Confederate Flags, including a "The South Will Rise Again" flag. These were all seen in the first 90 seconds. No matter what your opinion is on the flag, we can all agree that this would not happen in a blockbuster film in 2019.

Fred Thompson, who plays the head of NASCAR, was seen smoking in a nice restaurant.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman still liked each other. They would get married a year after this movie was filmed.

ESPN still covered NASCAR. There was even a Dr. Jerry Punch sighting, the long-time NASCAR pit reporter.

Sixteen years before John C. Reilly would star in another NASCAR movie, "Talladega Nights," he was a member of Cole Trickle's crew in "Days of Thunder." It was the original "Shake and Bake."

While Chevy is still a major player in NASCAR, it has been a while since the Lumina was a star in their lineup.

Same for the Ford Thunderbird.

And any Buicks.

There were also some major sponsors you wouldn't see anymore at sporting events, including Skoal and Kodak Film.

A young Rusty Wallace made a cameo. In 1990, he was the reigning NASCAR champion.

It is strange to see pit crew members not wearing helmets or fire suits.

The drivers wore open-faced helmets without any safety devices, such as the HANS head restraint device which wouldn't become mandatory in NASCAR for another 12 years.

Dirty faces were the norm.

The walls were just concrete. It would be years before NASCAR would start using safety walls made with foam.

In a sad bit of irony, one of the main characters is Harry Hogge, played by Robert Duvall. The character starts the movie in retirement due to his driver dying in a head-first crash into the wall at Daytona.

Some of the safety features not seen in this movie were ushered in after Dale Earnhardt died in similar fashion at Daytona in 2001. Earnhardt's No. 3 car is seen in the movie competing at Daytona.

At the time of this movie, one person owning more than one NASCAR team was considered controversial enough to be a plot twist. Nowadays, that is the norm and drivers often assist teammates. (Also, look at that TV on Channel 4!)

Fresh off of "The Princess Bride" and "Glory," the movie tried to pass off Cary Elwes as a NASCAR driver villain.

It is also hard to imagine Hardees and Mello Yello cars battling for the lead on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

After Cole won the Daytona 500 at the end of the film, he drove straight to pit row without taking a victory lap or doing any burnouts.

In the final scene of the movie, Cole Trickle races his crew chief to victory lane after winning Daytona. In one of the more dated sights in the movie, Tom Cruise has clearly not yet perfected his famous movie running style. It's like seeing a baby take its first steps.

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Invisible methanol flames engulfing this race car driver is a scene straight from the ballad of ricky bobby.

Help me, Tom Cruise! Tom Cruise, use your witchcraft to get the fire off me! I guess invisible flames engulfing me are a new fear I now have to worry about. Race car drivers at the Indy 500 are legitimately crazy people for strapping themselves into a carbon fiber rocket, and going 200 mph bumper to bumper with other drivers. I'm sure with everything that can go wrong for IndyCar drivers, methanol fires are low on the laundry list of shit they have to deal with, but personally, I'll be thinking about this incident for the rest of time.

I'll never be driving a Indycar, but I've seen local news segments that warn about how getting back into your car during the winter while filling up your tank at the gas station is basically asking to be sent to heaven on a fireball. Something about static electricity building up from your winter coat rubbing the seat that could cause a spark that sets fire to the gasoline fumes, I'm not exactly sure, but I worry about it enough to stand outside of my car like a sucker during -10 degree weather.

This methanol fire wasn't caused by someone's North Face puffer jacket brushing the driver's seat, but by fuel leaking from the refueling hose and spraying out over the car. When the fuel hit the engine, it ignited, and caused a clear flame to envelope the driver, Rick Mears. Fortunately, Mears only suffered minor burns, and wasn't seriously hurt. Apparently methanol doesn't burn as hot as gasoline, but it's obviously extremely dangerous with it being a transparent flame that makes it look like you're a meth head fighting cobras.

Which makes me think of the bit from The Onion Sports Dome, a 2011 show that was gone too soon, because I found the show hilarious. Comedy Central original programming back in the day ruled, now it's just Tosh.0 and reruns.

I'm posting this blog because …

1. I'm terrified of invisible fire.

2. May in Indiana is race month.

The Indy 500's slogan is The Greatest Spectacle In Racing, and I fully agree with that statement. There is nothing like the Indy 500. Being at the race in person gives you a new appreciation for what the drivers do, and it's something everyone should experience at least once. Not to mention the people watching is some of the best you will ever witness. Even if there are no cars or people at the track, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is worth checking out as it's the biggest sports venue in the world. There's half a golf course inside the track. Every year the graphic of what fits inside the the infield of the track gets posted, and I love it. It never gets old. I strongly suggest you put the Indy 500 on your bucket list, you will not regret the experience.

until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League

Porsche's Formula E civil war can cost it the title

It’s the Formula E family feud that just won’t die. Like a festering itch, no matter how hard you scratch it seemingly won’t go away.

The parents - Porsche’s Florian Modlinger and Andretti’s Roger Griffiths - are trying their best to collaborate and sooth it but the kids - Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis - can’t stop squabbling.

On the face of it, it could be put down to competitive angst and just not enough racing real estate for the two of them in any given corner of the world it seems.

But the more serious reality is that the frequency of altercations could cost Porsche any hope of achieving its aim of catching Jaguar in the Formula E teams' title race.

The latest episodes - in the week that Porsche and Andretti extended their relationship - took place in the second Berlin E-Prix as the two, almost magnet-like, found each other again. At times it was entertaining, at others it was brutal.

Contact was made several times, and some familiar recriminations - and rehashed solutions - started to brew-up all over again.

What the bosses say

Andretti team principal, Roger Griffiths, joked to The Race that perhaps a Tom Cruise-style approach could be employed.

“They're both [Wehrlein and Dennis] super-competitive guys and sometimes I feel like we need to do the 'Days of Thunder' thing and put them in some rental cars and have it, get it out of their system,” said Griffiths.

“It worked in the movies; I don't know if it'll work for real.

“I try and encourage them to give each other room, I think maybe it can be like with families sometimes, if one starts it then the other one is determined to finish it.”

From Porsche Formula E director Modlinger’s viewpoint the sentiment is broadly the same.

A lot of energy has been put into the problem and so far few solutions appear to stick. Modlinger once again found himself telling The Race he “cannot be happy if I see four Porsche cars in the top 10 at the beginning of the race and then racing each other and wall contact and side contact”.

“I expect and anticipate respectful driving, leaving room for each other and no contact,” he said. “This, we need to discuss and speak about and sort out.

“You can always only remind ourselves and also the drivers and that’s it.”

Looking ahead, the feeling is that peace between the two might not be a lost cause.

Griffiths maintains hope that the friction will not be a key trigger for any title self-sabotage or in handing anything to Jaguar on a plate.

“I’m hopefully we can walk away from this, both with respect for each other and good spirit, and at the end of the day we're both trying to win races for ourselves but also trying to win races for Porsche Motorsport and that's what we've got to focus on,” said Griffiths.

But there were also caveats of an inevitability realisation from Griffiths, who also confessed that “they don't give each other an inch”.

“Sometimes I wish they'd be a bit more respectful but that's who they are, love or hate them, that's how they're going to race,” he said. “It doesn't matter how many times we talk to them; I don't think it's going to make a significant difference.”

What the drivers say

The scrappers have scrapped before, and in all likelihood they will do so again.

It all began way back in January 2021 in Riyadh, where Dennis - then in a BMW-Andretti combination - was introduced to Wehrlein via one of the unforgiving Diriyah walls and immediately retired.

Several flashpoints followed, notably in Jakarta almost 12 months ago when Dennis felt Wehrlein edged him towards the pitwall while getting a sniff of the race lead that the Porsche held onto for victory.

Wehrlein told The Race that jousting with some drivers was different to others, using his own team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa - winner of the second Berlin race - as an example held up against the Andretti drivers.

“I think with Antonio and myself it's working well,” said Wehrlein - who also had contact with Norman Nato.

“I think also with Antonio and them [Dennis and Nato] it's working well. We've tried many times to find common sense, but yeah, it just shows every time it's not working.”

We're seeing some hard racing already around the track at Tempelhof! 😬 @PWehrlein makes contact with the wall after being squeezed by Nato. Damage looks to be minimal though and the @PorscheFormulaE driver is able to continue in this race. @SUNMINIMEAL #BerlinEPrix pic.twitter.com/AJeUutE4uo — Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) May 12, 2024

“They've tried to talk to me and I just said my opinion on what happened. Let's see what happens.”

Dennis, for his part, was reasonably philosophical about the nature of the contact and had calmed down post-race after some initial verbals on team radio.

“It's difficult because you obviously can't really communicate with them during the race,” he told The Race. “So, it's very much just like me and Norman communicating and obviously those two guys communicating.

“It's just a lot of rubbing and racing with everyone; it's not just Porsche, it's the whole grid. It's just challenging.”

The strength of the bond

Publicly and privately the relationship between Andretti and Porsche is probably as solid as it has ever been.

The two renewed their relationship earlier this week with the announcement that they would race as manufacturer and customer until the end of the 2025-26 season, covering the Gen3 Evo era, at least.

This, combined with a close technical relationship that manifested in Andretti’s remarkable Berlin turnaround from Saturday also-rans to Sunday qualifying gurus shows that the collaboration on these levels is sound.

That came via assistance that Porsche gave Andretti concerning some systems controls usage on Saturday evening. It transformed both the driveability of Andretti’s customer Porsche 99X Electric cars and the confidence that Dennis and Nato had in them.

The result was pole for Dennis and third for Nato. It also evidenced how a healthy manufacturer/customer relationship can pay dividends.

“Yesterday, for example, they were in the quali and both groups last. We helped them out overnight, they copied nearly the set-up of Pascal, also with the brake settings and the software, and you could see they were P1 and P3 in the qualifying,” said Modlinger. “But then we [still] need to sort the racing.”

But again, the Dennis and Wehrlein contact came up, and how to address it.

“I do not speak about that [how to stop the contact], obviously we have open and transparent communication,” added Modlinger.

“They are doing a stunning job but we need the points for the manufacturer trophy, they need the points for the driver’s championship and we need also both teams for the team championship, this means we cannot compromise each other.”

Andretti and Porsche team members all went out with each other at Valencia last October and, in true marriage guidance style, spent quality time together.

While Dennis and Wehrlein continue to do the same in close quarters on the track, the idea for perhaps some extra fine dining might be the order of the day for the two teams before the world championship's double-header judgement days come thick and fast over the next eight weeks.

Da Costa wins for Porsche in another wild Berlin race

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Another Porsche-FIA clash + what it means for the future

Relations between the Porsche Formula E team and the FIA have become strained in the last 12 months in particular - and might not improve any time soon. That's because of the latest flashpoint over an unseen incident in Monaco and a contentious order that may have cost Pascal Wehrlein a podium

Enough progress? Two women in Formula E's test line-up

A year and a half since her last race, Alice Powell will return to the cockpit by driving for teams' champion Envision in the Berlin Formula E rookie test. She joins F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia in the test, which marks progress of sorts, but could FE do more to encourage female participation?

Inside a record-breaking McLaren debut (and was it good?)

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Tom Brady, Donald Trump, Camilla Cabello, Ed Sheeran spotted at 2024 F1 Miami Grand Prix

From musicians to nfl and soccer stars and even a former president, here are the celebs making a pitstop at miami’s formula one grand prix 2024., by janete weinstein • published may 5, 2024 • updated on may 5, 2024 at 4:19 pm.

Celebrities flocked to Miami to attend the 2024 Formula 1 race that kicks off its first out of three races in the U.S.

Among the stars strolling down the paddocks were NFL star Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, singer Ed Sheeran, model Kendall Jenner, actor Tom Cruise, singer Camila Cabello, actor Taylor Zakhar Perez from the movie "Red, White & Royal Blue," and former President Donald Trump .

Trump visited McLaren's garage and was spotted talking to Chief Executive Officer Zak Brown.

Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.

Besides the president, other celebrities were spotted at teams' garages like Cruise at the Mercedes and Bad Bunny stopping by to hang out at the Red Bull garage alongside drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

On Saturday, May 4, Sheeran performed six songs on the Hard Rock Beach Club's trackside stage, including "Shape of You" and "Bad Habits."

Entertainment News

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‘SNL' cast's mothers join them for special Mother's Day cold open

Cabello and Zakhar Perez were seen with Ferrari, while Brady was spotted in the garages.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, made a quick pitstop at the Alpine Racing F1 team to check on the football star's investment.

Mahomes was there along with other sports-related celebrities such as actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, golf standout Rory McIlroy, soccer stars Zinedine Zidane , Trent Alexander-Arnold and Juan Mata, as well as boxer Anthony Joshua.

Celebrities also took to the tracks, like Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi. He took the wheel at Homestead Speedway in a full driver immersion at NEON16 Big Race Week Miami 2024 and Sheeran got a ride from Mercedes driver George Russell.

An even crazier ride than @IpswichTown 's return to the @premierleague 😉 When Ed met George for a @Pirellisport Hot Lap 🔥 #F1 #MiamiGP #F1PirelliHotLaps pic.twitter.com/R5xuQwnkgs — Formula 1 (@F1) May 5, 2024

Here's a look at the other celebrities that attended the 2024 F1 Miami Grand Prix:

Photos: Celebrities at the 2024 F1 Miami Grand Prix

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COMMENTS

Days of Thunder (1990)
Days of Thunder: Directed by Tony Scott. With Tom Cruise, Robert Duvall, Nicole Kidman, Randy Quaid. A young hot-shot stock car driver gets his chance to compete at the top level.
Days of Thunder
Days of Thunder is a 1990 American sports action drama film produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Tony Scott.The film stars Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, Caroline Williams, and Michael Rooker.It also features appearances by real life NASCAR racers, such as Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, Neil Bonnett, and Harry Gant.
Tom Cruise's Race Car Goes Up for Auction
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Hey Tom Cruise, It's Time for 'Days of Thunder 2' and the ...
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10. Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise is so passionate about race car driving that he turned his love of the sport into the passion project Days of Thunder, a 1990 movie about stock car racing. Tom Cruise was inspired to take up race car driving by his friend and co-star in the 1986 film The Colour of Money, actor Paul Newman.
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Columbia. We all remember "You can't handle the truth!". Jack Nicholson gives one of his most memorable performances in "A Few Good Men.". However, we also remember the lawyer who wanted ...
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One of their drivers in the SCCA GT-3 class was a young pre-Days of Thunder Tom Cruise, who was apparently interested in turning his acting fame into racing accolades a la Newman. Unfortunately ...
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Steve Jones, David Coulthard and Mark Webber are joined by Top Gun: Maverick star Tom Cruise at the Silverstone circuit in some entertaining new footage. In the video, Cruise takes on Coulthard and Webber to reimagine Top Gun's infamous dogfight scenes in Porsche 911 GT3s. Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to the classic 1986 film Top ...
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Days of Thunder isn't totally based on a true story, but the main character is loosely based on two racecar drivers, Tim Richmond and Geoff Bodine, with some of the scenes reflecting real-life events.
'Ford v Ferrari' And Other Best Auto-Racing Movies To Fuel ...
Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid. Synopsis: ... (Madekwe) win him a shot at becoming a real-world professional race car driver. 7 /13. The 24 Hour War (2016)
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Invisible Methanol Flames Engulfing This Race Car Driver Is A Scene
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Days of Thunder (1990)

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15 Fast Facts About Days of Thunder

1. TOM CRUISE'S CHARACTER, COLE TRICKLE, WAS LOOSELY INSPIRED BY A REAL NASCAR DRIVER—AND IT WASN'T DICK TRICKLE.

2. THIS IS WHERE TOM CRUISE AND NICOLE KIDMAN MET.

3. IT'S ALSO WHERE DIRECTOR TONY SCOTT MET HIS WIFE, A "PIT GIRL" ORIGINALLY PICKED UP BY PRODUCER DON SIMPSON.

4. THE FILM DIDN'T FINISH SHOOTING UNTIL ABOUT SIX WEEKS BEFORE IT HIT THEATERS.

5. THAT MELLO YELLO PRODUCT PLACEMENT WAS FOR REAL.

6. AS WITH SO MANY THINGS, WE CAN THANK PAUL NEWMAN FOR THE FILM’S EXISTENCE.

7. THE SCREENPLAY WAS WRITTEN BY AN OSCAR-WINNER, AFTER ANOTHER OSCAR-WINNER TOOK A SWING AT IT.

8. BUT IT WASN'T WRITTEN IN A TIMELY MANNER, AND TOWNE PROBABLY WOULD NOT HOLD IT UP AS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF HIS CRAFTSMANSHIP.

9. THE PRODUCERS TURNED THE DAYTONA, FLORIDA SET INTO THEIR OWN SPRING BREAK PARTY.

10. SIMPSON THE PRODUCER WANTED TO BE SIMPSON THE MOVIE STAR, AND MADE TOWNE WRITE A PART FOR HIM IN THE MOVIE.

11. THE FILM (AND ITS DISAPPOINTING BOX OFFICE) HELPED USHER IN A NEW ERA OF FISCAL RESTRAINT IN HOLLYWOOD.

12. AS YOU'D EXPECT, THE RACING SCENES WERE FILMED WITH THE CARS GOING MUCH SLOWER THAN THEY USUALLY WOULD: ONLY 120 MPH.

13. TOM CRUISE'S INEXPERIENCE WITH STOCK CARS DESTROYED A $100,000 CAMERA.

14. IT WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT NASCAR'S SUPPORT.

15. THE SCENE WHERE NASCAR BOSS BIG JOHN THREATENS TO FIRE TRICKLE AND BURNS IF THEY BUMP EACH OTHER ON THE TRACK AGAIN—THEN FORCES THEM TO DRIVE TO DINNER TOGETHER—WAS BASED ON A REAL INCIDENT WITH GEOFF BODINE AND DALE EARNHARDT.

The story behind making "Days of Thunder"

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