"Cars"- # 1 Movie for second weekend in a row

[Deleted User]

Out just ten days, beat out three new movies and $114 million bucks so far...

Aaron D. IL

I contributed to that weekend total yesterday and can honestly say its the best movie I've seen this season and if you're a gearhead it is a must-see. Loved the way Hudson was portrayed, I'm buyin it when it comes out on DVD.

[Deleted User]

Went Sunday, great flick! Thumbs up.

Unknown

Absolutely the best animated film that I have ever seen and one great story to boot.

Bob

[Deleted User]

What's even better is listening to the crowd's comments... the far and away favorite character/car is "Doc"/Fabulous Hudson Hornet. Note also that scant mention is made of any other brand of car. FOLKS, WE NOW HAVE AN ACTUAL MOVIE ABOUT HUDSONS, FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES! It's about time!



Boy! I was just walking on Cloud Nine when I left the theater!



And really, what's amazing is how accurate the movie is about the racing Hornets. After 3 years of overwhelming Stock Car dominance by tiny Hudson, the NASCAR rules changed favoring Big Three speed over Hudson handling and *poof!* away went the Hudson competitiveness. Like Doc said, when he went back to race he had a lot left in him but they told him he was all washed up, to get lost. Almost exactly what happened to Hudson in '54 and '55.

[Deleted User]

ClayS wrote:

What's even better is listening to the crowd's comments... the far and away favorite character/car is "Doc"/Fabulous Hudson Hornet. Note also that scant mention is made of any other brand of car. FOLKS, WE NOW HAVE AN ACTUAL MOVIE ABOUT HUDSONS, FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES! It's about time!





Boy! I was just walking on Cloud Nine when I left the theater!



And really, what's amazing is how accurate the movie is about the racing Hornets. After 3 years of overwhelming Stock Car dominance by tiny Hudson, the NASCAR rules changed favoring Big Three speed over Hudson handling and *poof!* away went the Hudson competitiveness. Like Doc said, when he went back to race he had a lot left in him but they told him he was all washed up, to get lost. Almost exactly what happened to Hudson in '54 and '55.

What did Doc Hudson mean by that when he said they told him he was washed up, etc? Was he referring to the NASCAR commitee?

[Deleted User]

I'd have to say he meant it non-specifically... you know, the big THEY. Sad to say, that was pretty much the actual message to the Hudson racedrivers from the NASCAR rules body when endurance and handling were sublimated to speed, which became nearly ALL in NASCAR.



Interesting how the wheels turn. Engine know-how is so advanced now that air restrictor plates are a must on the low-tech push rod engines and yet cars STILL exceed 200mph. Speed for the sake of speed has outstripped the capabilities of the tracks and safety. God forbid they should go back to the halcyon Hudson days of handling + endurance + speed.

[Deleted User]

That and perhaps it also ties in with the merger of Nash, thus the death of the stepdown in 1955? Interesting regardless.

[Deleted User]

No doubt the Nash-bodied cars finished the job of killing off Hudson competitiveness, but Teague, the Flocks and others thought at the time that the stepdowns themselves would have remained competitive for several more years, even with the "antique" flathead six 308, had the rules continued as they were.

Unknown

Two questions here: I think I read someplace that Marshall Teague was given a '55 "Hash" for a race, took one lap in it and pitted, told AMC to basically shove that thing up their @$$ and never raced for Hudson/AMC again. Don't know how true/complete this is; someone please fill in the blanks.

Second: I read in the book "Iron Fist: The Lives of Carl Kiekhaefer" where Smokey Yunick was talking about racing step-down Hudson Hornets against Kiekhaefer's Chrysler 300s in '55-'56; if Bill France/NASCAR changed the rules on Hudson to effectively eliminate them, how is this possible?

BTW, I didn't know that France's/NASCAR's rule-change-on-a-whim crap was going on even before Kiekhaefer's involvement in the sport and that Hudson was effectively eliminated this way. Figured Doc Hudson was talking about the Hashes when he made his comment. Seems they didn't like people/cars who win too much. Kiekhaefer threw it in after '56 for the same reasons; they did to him what they did to Hudson, evidently. Check your local libraries for a copy of Iron Fist and read the two chapters on Kiekhaefer's stock car exploits. You'll be glad you did.

464Saloon

What rules did they change, I thought Hudson just faded away in 54 and 55 because they didn't exist anymore and there was no factory support. Also by then the Big 3 were producing some pretty fast engines that the 308 would have a tough time with. This is just what I thought, I am sure at least part of it has to be the reason.

SamJ

464Saloon wrote:

What rules did they change, I thought Hudson just faded away in 54 and 55 because they didn't exist anymore and there was no factory support. Also by then the Big 3 were producing some pretty fast engines that the 308 would have a tough time with. This is just what I thought, I am sure at least part of it has to be the reason.

In 1955 NASCAR began its questionable journey from stock cars to what we have today, which, of course, bears no relationship to "stock car" racing. I mean, none. They also worked with the manufacturers, especially GM, to field the latest cars to support the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" theme. They didn't want last year's cars in the field, period. If you don't think that Herb Thomas, driving a Yunick-prepared stock '54 Hornet couldn't out run a stock '55 Chevy with a 265 in it, you don't just don't get it. (This comment doesn't apply to US, just to the millions of "fans" who will NEVER get it.) Obviously, Dollar Bill France didn't want that. In fact, he wanted to NASCAR to be like pro wrestling. He go his wish.



In 1957, Wally Parks, then editor of Hot Rod Magazine and his partner built a '57 Plymouth (in two weeks) to run in a Bill France-sponsored "Manufacturer's Trial" at Daytona Beach. When you hear how much trouble France personally went to keep this car from running, you'd either laugh like hell or weep, depending on your sensibilites. Somehow, they managed to run on Sunday, and blew every factory-prepared car off the sand. Early the next morning, when everybody else was leaving the scene, France arranged for a Chrysler "tweaked" overnight, to do a lone run. It exceeded the Plymouth by 1 mph or so and was declared the "winner." If it wasn't for Hot Rod Magazine, the truth would have been buried forever. And, boy, did France hate having the spotlight shone on his bullsh**.

464Saloon

Interesting, I don't think I have seen any footage or pictures of 54's racing. Seems like it all just shut down for Hudson in 53. It is sad that there really isn't stock car racing anymore. I didn't think the converting to what we have today started as early as 55, seems like I saw the most changing taking place in the 80's. That's when it was starting to get tough making out what the cars were since less and less of them were really stock. I watch Back in the Day on Speed every Monday and it is all racing from the late 60's to mid 70's. They still had plenty of stock in them. I remember looking at Cale Yarborough's 74 or 75 Cutlass at Riverside when I was a kid. At the time my Dad was driving a 73 which I have today. It looked like my car except for a roll cage, some gauges and a stripped interior. You would be lucky to find one bolt on a Nascar today that has anything in common with what you can buy at the dealer