the car he raced was this rear engined Barracuda, one of only 2 rear engined funny cars racing in 1974
his ordinary job for 47 weeks a year was as a firefighter
the movie covers the drag strips in So Cal mostly, but also Oklahoma and Utah
and I've no idea why the races at El Mirage and Bonneville are in the movie, or even if they are from 1974
Carl and Veda Orr!
and no shit, they lit the back tire on fire to race bicycles with small chutes that were pulled in a parking lot race
http://www.overdrive.fi/forum/threads/vanhoja-valokuvia-ameriikan-raitilta.267070/page-335
Well... if this is on Netflix, then that means it must be available on VHS or DVD! Thanx for posting - hafta find a copy. I was at the race in Tulsa, and remember seeing myself in a 'crowd shot' in the pits when the movie came to the theatre.
ReplyDeleteAnd we did the drag chute on the bicycles - an old sheet stuffed in a cigar box hung on the sissy bar - years earlier. No fire burn outs tho... Might hafta rectify that oversight. :)
worst movie ever. i was 7 or 8 years old. only movie i ever walked out of. my brother and I hated it. we talked about it for years and still laugh about it 40 years later...
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