DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Help him, Tom Cruise!
NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon wants a “Days of Thunder” sequel and said at Daytona International Speedway that he’s been in touch with the Hollywood actor about making the project come to life.
“I’ve absolutely talked to Tom about it because I want him to do the project,” Gordon said. “We want to be a part of it if it were to happen.”
The Hollywood Reporter reported in November that Cruise had talked to Paramount about a follow-up to his 1990 NASCAR racing film. The original was a critically panned summer blockbuster that was largely lampooned throughout the NASCAR industry for its exaggeration and overindulgence.
Over the decades, the film has since become a cult favorite in NASCAR circles and is still quoted by race fans to this day.
“Rubbin’, son, is racin‘,’” lives on, the immortal line from crew chief Harry Hogge, played by Robert Duvall.
Riding high from his “Top Gun” fame, Cruise had an idea for a movie based on fast cars and the characters who raced them. And so began the making of “Days of Thunder.”
Gordon could inspired have Cruise’s Cole Trickle back in the day, though the character was loosely based on the late Tim Richmond. Gordon, now vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports, won the Daytona 500 on Sunday with team owner Rick Hendrick and driver William Byron. Gordon and Cruise have remained friendly — Cruise showed up at a 2015 NASCAR banquet to honor the retiring Gordon — which could boost the prospect of Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports’ involvement in a sequel.
“He seems to like to tease it, so I don’t know,” Gordon said Sunday night. “We’ll see what happens. If that doesn’t happen, I feel pretty confident there’s a project out there that will get NASCAR back on the big screen, if not just a really cool docuseries or something beyond even what we’re already seeing right now.”
The movie ultimately introduced NASCAR to a wider audience that had very limited exposure to stock-car racing before that summer. There had been racing movies before — think “Thunder Road,” “Grand Prix,” “Stroker Ace,” or even “Smokey and the Bandit” — but none that had depicted NASCAR in such a mainstream style.
“Hard to imagine how you pull that off today because they actually had race cars with cameras in the race, and the cameras were big,” Gordon said. “Cameras have gotten a lot smaller so maybe you could pull it off, but how do you do it and make it realistic and really authentic?”
NASCAR has seen more swings and misses than checkered flags when it comes to its portrayal on the big or small screen since “Days of Thunder.” For every “Talladega Nights,” there are 10 more bombs such as comedian Kevin James’ ill-fated Netflix’s comedy series, “ The Crew.” Gordon said he was encouraged that better days are ahead for NASCAR in the entertainment industry.
“I am seeing just a lot more momentum in projects like coming through NASCAR and coming to Hendrick Motorsports and just more interest,” he said. “So that’s good, right? It talks a lot about where the sport is at, where it’s heading, the amazing crowd that was here all weekend, not just today, new TV partners.”
