Hooniverse Asks- What Other Racers Should Be Documented?
So, I’ve now watched the movie Senna about three times, and it has left me with (A.) A revived interest in Formula One, and (B.) An extreme craving to visit a Churrascaria. Senna was not just a great documentary, but it detailed the career of a very interesting and complex individual. And that got me to thinking, what other racer deserves the big screen treatment?
Of sure, there have been docudramas about racers in the past – Heart Like a Wheel being a notably watchable example – but racer documentaries are surprisingly rare, especially considering the larger than life personalities that racing apparently attracts. There’s been a number of TV documentaries about drivers – a NASCAR-produced Earnhardt bio was okay, if you like that kind of sanitized for TV fare.
But as far as big-screen adaptations, where’s the AJ Foyt – Banging Fenders and Heads? Or the Petty Family - Moonshine to Finish Line? Hell, that last one’s so good, maybe I’ll write it. There’s plenty more F1 drivers that deserve the same celluloid treatment as Senna – Lauda, Clark, Graham Hill, the list goes on. So what do you think, which racer most deserves to be immortalized on film?
Image source: [SennaMovie.com]
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There is apparently a documentary about Junior Johnson in the works. I know The Last American Hero was a heavily fictionalized account.
Ron Howard is already working on a 70s F1 film. I forget the driver though.
I'd like to see a Jackie Stewart movie. Just to see an actor attempt to talk like him.
I'd also like to see a Phil Hill movie but then you would need someone the size of Arnold Schwartzenwhatever playing him because of how how manly the guy is
Maybe a Mario Andretti movie. All the scenic shots of Nazerth PA one person can take
How about Val Kilmer as Kimi? He already played the Ice Man once in his career. He has experience
Ron Howard is making a film about the 1976 season, focusing on Lauda.
If it is made right, this should be a good one.
I think a complementary Prost would be great. They'd be side by side in a box (not crashing).
I don't think it would be hard to make a biography of Smokey quite entertaining.
<img src="http://www.classicsandperformance.com/media/galleryimages/reviews/powersecrets/powersecrets.jpg">
It might be hard to keep it from getting a NC-17 rating though.
James Hunt
(Bow-Chicka-Wah-Wow)
I think Vivid tried to make one but their version was tamer than what happened in real life.
Tim Richmond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Richmond
Oooh…good call. Though, it might be hard to get NASCAR's help on it. They seem to have done everything they can to ignore his story.
There was a good one that ESPN aired last year(?) as part of its "30 for 30" series.
I never watch the ESPN. I would have for that.
<img src="http://newmotoring.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Lotus-Colin-Chapman.jpg">
So what if he only ran in one race?
The Pettys were famous for being one of the few early NASCAR guys that DIDN'T run moonshine. They have always been seen as pretty clean cut.
Maybe for a comedy or artsy type piece, NASCAR as seen from Jocko Flocko's point of view.
<img src="http://www.timflock.com/images/Jocko.jpg"width=500>
JOCKO FLOCKO!!
I second Jackie Stewart. I will always remember him from Wide World of Sports. I would look at my Dad and he would say "I don't know either, couldn't understand him at all"
That era where he was trying to make the sport safer and kept running into resistance could easily make a great movie.
Kulwicki would be interesting.
I've not watched Greased Lightning in ages- it's on Netflix online so I don't have an excuse.
<img src="http://www.trpr.com/Alan/hooters.jpg" width="500" />
Hollywood loves a good underdog (or Underbird, as the case may be) story.
He had the best sponsor!
Kulwicki's plane crashed only a few miles from my house.
That was a crappy Sunday.
All of the above. Seriously, it's not hard to hit this one out of the park, but the commenters here are pretty awesome.
I would like to see some Group B and even WRC action. A movie about Michèle Mouton would be very interesting considering the variety of racing she did. Or one about Henri Toivonen and the end of Group B. Colin McRae is a good guy, so the movie may not have a lot of drama to it. Others to consider would be Stig Blomqvist, Walter Röhrl, Ari Vatanen, and, someday, a in-depth documentary of whether or not Sebastian Loeb is a robot.
I would love to see Group B as well. I think the problem is with footage. It would have to be a docudrama to have enough to make something I think. Or cover all the years of Group B in one shot.
I, for one, volunteer to drive a 037 and Delta for the cause.
Here's one on Vatanen.
Edit: Okay, working version is here.
I'd love to see someone make one about Tazio Nuvolari. Also Eddie Rickenbacker has a very interesting story and a lot of folks don't even know he was a highly accomplished driver.
I just finished reading Michael Cannell's new book, "The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit", about Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips' battle for the 1961 F1 championship. It would make an excellent documentary (there were plans to make it into a feature film with Tobey Magure…don't know if that's still in the works or not). There are a couple of excellent BBC documentaries on Graham Hill, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart.
Graham Hill: Driven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEH0CNnKlyk
Jim Clark: The Quiet Champion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVSLXobwy0
I can't find the Jackie Stewart documentary on the tube of yous. It's called Jackie Stewart: The Flying Scot.
The world could use a Stirling Moss documentary.
Last time this came up I said Tim Richmond, so I second that; but this time I say the early days of the Unser clan.
The Speed Sisters, the first all-women Palestinian racing team.
<img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/6/18/1276865021169/The-Palestinian-Speed-Sis-006.jpg"width="500"/>
<img src="http://hooniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/image003_std.jpg" width="500/">
The Speedycop film would never sell enough tickets to earn back its budget, appropriately enough.
I would watch that.
I've got a soft spot for coverage of off-beat types. Not moto related, but "Kings of Kong" is one of my favorites.
I would love to go see the movie version of this.
<img src="http://www.racingarchives.org/photos/itemsforsale/001.jpg">
If there was ever a motorsports star whose life screamed for a Hollywood biopic, it was Barry Sheene.
<img src="http://www.alanjohnsoncollectables.co.uk/USERIMAGES/Barry%20Sheen%281%29.jpg" width="512">
<img src="http://www.infineonraceway.com/images/1975-39-2-Johnny-Rutherford_lg.jpg" height="360">
Johnny Rutherford, on the other hand, was so clean cut and decent that a film based on his life would struggle to get a PG-13 rating.
<img src="http://www.draglist.com/artman/uploads/daily_stories/draglist.jpg">
Garlits, if you could narrow his 147 years of racing history to fit into a two-hour feature film.
One of my dads good friends was a mechanic for him for a long time.
That's all I got, thought I'd share.
As a Canadian and also as a fan of great drivers. This man.
<img src="http://www.auto-mobilia.it/pics/imgBig/gilles_villeneuve_donaldson.jpg" width="500">
Vic Elford, Jo Bonnier, Piers Courage, Jo Siffert, Hans Herrmann, Jacky Ickx, Phil Hill, Jim Hall, Bruce Mclaren, Walter Rohrl, Dan Gurney, Brian Redman, and most of all, Mark Donohue!
<img src="http://livesniffpetrol.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/SPAD_Inoue1.jpg">
Is that from Sniff Petrol?
Yup.
What about Pierre Levegh? He was the driver in the biggest motorsports disaster that the world has ever seen, but nobody really knows anything about him. You know that he drove for 23 hours straight in 1952's LeMans, only to miss a gear change? I think something could be interesting just because he's at the center of a massive tragedy that also happened to be very important for improving safety in motorsport, but the man himself really wasn't very well known.
Oooh…very interesting. I approve!
Rob already mentioned SuperTex, so I'll throw John Force's hat into the ring.
From dirt poor truck driver to clown prince of fuel funny cars? You could have 100 monkeys churning out screenplays for a decade and they wouldn't come up with that.
Jungle Jim Liberman and Pam Hardy.
…to be quickly followed by the UNRATED home video version.
<img src="http://theselvedgeyard.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/jungle-jim-liberman-jungle-pam-hardy.jpg" width="512">
IIRC, she says there was nothing 'unrated' going on.
I think it was in this thread. I don't think she starts posting until page 10 or later (maybe much later?), but there's plenty of other… relevant information.
Let's go for Ari Vatanen.
Mainly because Peugeot 205 T-16 Group B. But also because four Paris-Dakar wins, and because Rally Driver turned member of European Parliament.
And; Climb Dance.
[youtube J-K1B4sTX4o&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-K1B4sTX4o&feature=related youtube]
There is a documentary on Ari Vatanen, Rusty. http://hooniverse.com/2011/04/27/morning-qualifyi…
Now I just look silly.
And I was in Amsterdam and missed that thread when it went live.
And they should make another one anyway.
Did I hear somewhere that a Snake and Mongoose flick is in the works, or did I just dream that up?
Also, someone please make a movie version of "Go Like Hell." I'd watch it multiple times before it left the theaters alone.
Supposedly, it's in the works.