Trailer
Plot summary
Stroker Ace has taken the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship three times and drives the number 7 Ford Thunderbird; he wins unless he crashes. He comes from Waycross, Georgia, and runs a season-long rivalry with Aubrey James, an ambitious young driver. Angry at Jim Catty of Zenon Oil, the sponsor of his racing team, Stroker pours wet concrete over him and looks for a new backer. Clyde Torkle, who runs the Chicken Pit fried chicken chain, makes his case with his chauffeur Arnold and his new marketing and public relations director, Pembrook Feeney; Stroker and his chief mechanic Lugs Harvey sign. Stroker does not read the contract closely, and it makes him the commercial face of the restaurants, personal appearances in a chicken costume included. Locked into the deal, he starts working on a way out with Lugs.
Cast
- Frank O. Hillas Dad Seegle
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Stroker Ace (1983)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Burt Reynolds declined the role of astronaut Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment to make this film; the role went to Jack Nicholson, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Reynolds said it was a turning point in his career from which he never recovered.
- Ry Cooder wrote the score and put together what he called an incredible rockabilly ensemble, but, he said, "the director just hated our music! He fired all of us right after he heard the tape." Cooder later used the music in his score for Streets of Fire.
- Spire Motorsports ran a Stroker Ace scheme on the No. 7 car driven by Corey LaJoie for the 2021 Hollywood Casino 400, while Justin Haley drove a replica throwback scheme honoring the car of Aubrey James, played in the film by Parker Stevenson.
