Trailer
Plot summary
Cole Trickle, a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, is hired to drive in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series by Tim Daland, a Chevrolet dealership owner. Daland brings Harry Hogge, a former crew chief and car builder, out of retirement to run Cole's pit crew. At a private test at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Cole sets a fast time, and Harry builds him a new chassis. In his first start at Phoenix, Cole has trouble with the bigger stock cars and with his crew, and champion Rowdy Burns intimidates him on the track.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Days of Thunder (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After the shoot wrapped, the filmmakers realized they had forgotten to actually film Cole Trickle's car crossing the finish line at Daytona for the movie's climax.
- Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer spent $400,000 converting a vacant hotel storefront in Daytona into a private gym with a neon "Days of Thunder" sign, while Simpson kept a closet of Donna Karan dresses for women his assistants found on the beach and partied with rapper Tone Lōc.
- The film's story originated from a real dinner Tom Cruise had with team owner Rick Hendrick after Cruise and Paul Newman tested a NASCAR car for Hendrick Motorsports at Daytona on January 3, 1987.
- Several scenes were pulled from real NASCAR history, including a blown-engine stunt based on something Tim Richmond reportedly did at Michigan in 1987, and a scene where a crew is too busy eating ice cream to service the car, which actually happened to Harry Hyde's team during the 1987 Southern 500.
- Lead character Cole Trickle was patterned after real NASCAR driver Tim Richmond, while his surname was a nod to veteran racer Dick Trickle.
- Filming ran late while the release date stayed put, so post-production had to be completed in five weeks rather than the five months it would normally take for such a film.
- Nine million dollars of the film's budget went to its star, Tom Cruise, on top of a percentage of the picture's gross.
