AUGUST 9, 2006

Meanwhile in America

NASCAR continues to work hard in the media world with the release last weekend of Will Ferrell's spoof movie "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". The film ended the weekend as number one in US box office taking $47m, which was a lot more than had been expected. NASCAR worked closely with the producers on the movie which features cameo performances from stars such as Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jamie McMurray plus drivers turned broadcasters Benny Parsons and Darrell Waltrip. NASCAR has taken the opportunity to announce that it is partnering MagicDust Television in a 22-episode TV series which will air this autumn called NASCAR Angels, hosted by Rusty Wallace, which will show behind the scenes action in the NASCAR world. This will be followed in February by a documentary-style movie entitled Dale, which will cover the career of Dale Earnhardt and will feature never-before-seen footage as well as family photos of the seven-time champion.

There have been no major movies about Formula 1 since the 1970s and few documentaries because of the costs of using F1 footage, as dictated by the Formula One group. Sylvester Stallone did try to make an F1 movie a few years ago but gave up because he could not get the access he wanted.