With the death of Hal Needham and the recent successes of the Snake and Mongoose and Rush films, we’re wondering what the next gearhead movie should be. There are lots of men and women out there who have lives that would make incredible movies. From Don Garlits to Mickey Thompson, these are larger than life personalities that did larger than life stuff. We heard late last week that Tom Cruise is being talked about to play the role of Carroll Shelby in a film adaptation of Go Like Hell which is the behind the scenes story of Ford’s determined effort to defeat Ferrari at LeMans. While we think that is an absolutely freaking horrendous choice on virtually all levels, it sure is cool to hear that the book is being made into a real deal movie. No doubt the financial success of Rush has something to do with that. We assume that the fact it made money will launch several more racing cinematic ships. We can hope anyway.
So, your job today is to take the vast and largely untapped history of racing and come up with the story you think next needs to hit the big screen. Would it be a bio-pic? Maybe a movie centered around a single event or race? Would it be about a group of rival racers getting after it? Maybe a two man battle like we saw in Senna, which was a documentary of course. The sky is the limit, but we want you to pick something that could by financially viable. That means, a documentary film on super stock at the 1968 Winternationals is probably out.
BangShift Question Of The Day: What’s The Next Gearhead Movie That Needs To Be Made?
Garlits…
definitely Garlits!
Broadway Freddie.
I think there is many stories that can be mixed in with other historical situations. Bob Lutz could be one and George Hurst.
I’d love to see the book speed merchants turned into a movie documenting the birth of the hotrod scene and the struggle to make a living at it.
Gray Baskerville
Smokey Yunick
“The Jungle”
Yup, the Jungle Jim, Jungle Bobbie, Jungle Pam Hardy story. It was in the works at one time but never came to be. What a shame. That story has all the elements needed to be a great movie, if it was done well.
Definitely Jungle Jim and Jungle Pam.
Jackie Stewart
AJ Foyt
Petersen & Parks; the birth of NHRA
The Petty family
Undoubtedly Shelby (Just don’t let Tom Cruise ruin it)
Big Bill France would make for an interesting story ( Bill Jr., not so much, though)
John Fitch would be good too. A P-51 Mustang pilot with a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet kill. A POW. A Grand Prix and endurance sports car racing winner. A sports car designer. A track manager. A racing team manager (Corvette). And because it could show how getting stiffed because of the 1955 LeMans disaster turned him to a life-long pursuit of highway safety (the ubiquitous Fitch Barrier System, etc.)
The Bettenhausen or Vukovich families
Match Race. The story of all the drivers on the road,
running the match race circuit in the 60’s and early
70’s. There’s some great stories there.
Arnie The Farmer Beswick
Stone, Woods, And Cook, or any or all of the old gassers.
EJ Potter
Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin …
The Real story of Micky Thomson..
Arnie Beswick, Bill Jenkins.
Don Garlits, John Force, Hal Needham, Micky Thompson.
It’s Mickey Thompson.
But do we really need a naval-gazing, inside Hollyweird “bio-pic” of the goof who left us with horrendous garbage such as “Stroker Ace,” “Bandit: Bandit Bandit” and “Death Car on the Freeway”?
My 1st reaction is the legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits…. But what would make a really compelling story is the life and tragic & death (which is still a mystery today) of the brilliant & innovative designer & racer Mickey Thompson.
Too bad the SIM cubicle farm egomaniacs don’t stagger over to the old Petersen archives and cook up some Ken Burns-style documentaries on all of these worthy racers instead of wasting time shooting their asinine YouTube “home movies.”
The ‘ Eliminator’s ‘ story . The true tale of when independent hot rod ingenuity handed the Euro Snobs [ Ferrari Porsche etc ] their heads on a silver plater on road courses across the US.
[ For those unaware …. read Brock Yates ” The Hot Rod ” : resurrection of a legend . That’ll put the sparkle back into your Star Spangled Banner … as well as have you wishing we would do the same today ]
MICKEY THOMPSON
Bowman Gray Stadium…..if you don’t know it you should. It will be on your bucket list. If the city doesn’t sell the one thing that makes them money…….
I’m all in for JJ……. THAT would sum story eh?
Big Willie Robinson and the Brotherhood of Street Racers
Many good suggestions here. I also see the potential for good stories based on locations and eras, too. One example:
1960’s Van Nuys Blvd. (not the crappy cheeseball 70’s movie) but something that covers the height of the muscle car era/ cruise nights. Could have an element of American Graffiti (minus the campy flavor of the movie) with the action of a recent fast/ furious movie and the gritty feel of 2 lane Black top.
Or (another 60’s era):
detroit- something that is based off the stories of the engineers that raced factory mules on the streets of detroit.
Maybe these have been done. If not I see the potential of one.