February 7, 1991
NASCAR Goes Hollywood The Making Days of Thunder
Days of Thunder was released to the box office on June 27, 1990. Tommy Ellis, Bobby Hamilton, Greg Sacks and Hut Stricklin drove cars in actual NASCAR Winston Cup Series races to provide real racing footage for the movie and offered technical advice while stunt drivers and Tom Cruise drove cars in staged scenes. In the movie Michael Rooker plays the part of fictional character Rowdy Burns who drives the #51 Exxon Chevrolet Lumina and Cary Elwes plays the part of fictional character Russ Wheeler who drives the #18 Hardee's Chevrolet Lumina. Cruise plays the part of fictional character Cole Trickle who drives the #46 'City Chevrolet,' #46 Superflo Motor Oil and the #51 Mello Yello Chevrolet Luminas. Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports provided cars for the movie. City Chevrolet is Hendrick's actual car dealership in Charlotte, NC.
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