"Hard Driver"

Okay, when I was little, I remember Jeff Bridges in "Hard Driver" which came out in 1973. I thought it was a great movie and really gritty w/ a lot of great stock car footage when stock car racing actually used stock cars. I thought that '68 Mustang he drove running moonshine was really cool too. What I never understood was why they changed the title too "Last American Hero". To me, it will always be "Hard Driver". Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else thought this was a cool movie and if they noticed that they had two names for it.

Originally Posted by blown68

Okay, when I was little, I remember Jeff Bridges in "Hard Driver" which came out in 1973. I thought it was a great movie and really gritty w/ a lot of great stock car footage when stock car racing actually used stock cars. I thought that '68 Mustang he drove running moonshine was really cool too. What I never understood was why they changed the title too "Last American Hero". To me, it will always be "Hard Driver". Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else thought this was a cool movie and if they noticed that they had two names for it.

Here's the deal and it's a long one. Tom Wolfe, a noted author wrote a great short story/bio called "The Last American Hero". about the life and times of NASCAR legend Junior Johnson in the mid '60s. I remember reading it when I was about 15 and thinking what a cool story this was! Evidently some Hollyweird moviemakers thought so too, so they "adapted" the screenplay and produced *Hero* with Jeff Bridges playing Junior Jackson (creative license... and Valerie Perrine as a race track groupie. It was released in late 1971.I first saw it in Fla in early '72. As a movie about stock car racing back then, I'd give it a B. Lots of good track footage, pretty good acting plus the old Thomas Bros. Country Hams #00 Chevelle was always one of my favorite cars. But as a movie about Junior Johnson's life, I'd give it a D-. He never hauled liquor in a 'Stang of course..mostly blown Caddy powered '40 Fords, , demolition derbies were strictly a northern deal back then and it just wasn't accurate. Last American Hero was released down South to test the waters and like me, the viewers were disappointed. It didn't last long in the theaters down there, and since there was no VHS or DVD for Hero to go to, the movie was shelved. A year later, someone in Hollywood found "Hero" lying around and re-released it as a B movie....like the second show you'd see at the drive-in. It was renamed "Hard Driver" to appear to be a new flick. Actually, this movie did much better up north and out west where folks didn't know the story of the 'Pearly Toothed Tomcat" nor a bunch about bigtime stock car racing and could judge it on it's own merits.

Jan...Thunder Road junkie

Jan: I don't know if you remember Tiny Lund from the old days but my family lived next door to him for some years.I can vividly remember when he pulled Fireball Roberts from his burning car. Many people don't realize it but Tiny held the world record on the biggest stripped bass caught in a local lake here. Calspec

Here in MI i only knew the movie as Last American Hero. Never knew it came out as anything else.

Originally Posted by Calspec

Jan: I don't know if you remember Tiny Lund from the old days but my family lived next door to him for some years.I can vividly remember when he pulled Fireball Roberts from his burning car. Many people don't realize it but Tiny held the world record on the biggest stripped bass caught in a local lake here. Calspec

I've seen Tiny's bass, Calspec.. It is (or was) displayed on the wall at the Joe Weatherly Museum at Darlington Raceway. A guy later caught a bigger one, but Tiny's wife Wanda told him that Tiny would have been pleased that his record was broken. He sure loved to fish.

I didn't realize that Tiny helped to free Fireball from his burning Ford at Charlotte in '64. I remembered Ned Jarrett getting burned trying to help. I remember being in 8th grade and a bunch of us sent Fireball a Get Well card. Even at age 13, it hurt when he died.. Even my mom, who was not a race fan was upset.

That must've been the second time that Tiny Lund was a hero. He, Bill Wimble..a NY modified driver and a rep for Firestone pulled Marvin Panch from a burning Maserati <sp> at a test session at Daytona in '63. Marvin was the Wood Brothers driver at the time but had 2nd degree burns and couldn't race. Glen and Leonard picked Tiny to drive the #21 Ford in the Daytona 500 that year. He won, which reinforced to me that there is a Higher Power.

Jan..home from the dirt track..

Jan: Your attention to detail & your knowledge & memory of days gone by is amazing.I salute you for keeping the past glory days from fading away.Back in those days I spent more time at Folly Beach on the pier watching Jerry Lee Lewis,Maurice Williams & many more perform & chasing young girls than I spent at the tracks.Have a great Ford day! Calspec