Hot Rod Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Grand Prix

"Grand Prix" featured scenes of actual Formula One race footage. Drivers Jim Clark, Phil Hill and Graham Hill were among the several actual racers who had walk-on parts in the film. Yves Montand and Toshiro Mifune were also featured in the movie. It centered around the lives of four drivers through one season of racing, as well as how the women in their lives coped with racing circuit life. In 1967 "Grand Prix" won Academy Awards for Best Sound Effects, Best Sound and Best Film Editing.
Paul Newman enjoyed racing and starred in the 1969 racing film "Winning". Steve McQueen starred in the 1971 racing flick, "LeMans". He was also featured in chase scenes driving a Mustang in "Bullitt" (1968).
"Hell on Wheels" (1967) starred singer and NASCAR car driver Marty Robbins along with John Ashley.

Answer: Bo Darville

Bo "Bandit" Darville had a reputation as a truck driver, not a race car driver. In the beginning of the film, a gambler trying to find someone to run Coors beer hunted down Darville at a truck rodeo. After accepting the offer, Bandit decided to run interference in the legendary Trans-AM and convinced his friend Cletus Snow to drive the truck full of beer.

They arrived at the Southern Classic in time but then accepted a double-or-nothing bet to go to Boston for chowder. Cletus "Snowman" Snow was played by Jerry Reed. Buford T. Justice was the police officer in hot pursuit of the Bandit played by Jackie Gleason. Burt's dad was the Chief of Police in Riviera Beach, Florida, and knew a law enforcement officer named Buford T. Justice. Gambler Big Enos Burdette was played by Pat McCormick and Little Enos Burdette was played by Paul Williams. Reynolds did other films about fast cars including "Cannonball Run"(1981) and "Stroker Ace"(1983).

Answer: The Great Race

Blake Edwards directed "The Great Race". In the movie the fictitious Webber Motor Company hatched a plan to sponsor a New York to Paris race to promote their touring car. Tony was the daredevil driver and Jack Lemmon portrayed his underhanded rival. Peter Falk played Lemmon's mechanic assistant. The slapstick movie had a surprise ending at the Eiffel Tower finish line. In 1908 six contestants actually began a New-York to Paris race. The race lasted from February to July and has been chronicled in three books.
The 1956 film "Around the World in Eighty Days" featured an air balloon as the mode of transportation.
"Danger on Wheels" was released in 1940 and focused on dirt track drivers.
"Jalopy" was a 1953 movie starring The Bowery Boys as racers who used a secret fuel in their Model T Ford. Tony Curtis previously starred as an engineer who built a car for a Canada-to-Mexico race in the 1954 film "Johnny Dark".

Answer: Drag Racing

Bill McKinney starred as legendary racer "Big Daddy" Don Garlits in the film based on the actual story of top fuel dragster racer Shirley Muldowney. Shirley was a waitress in the mid fifties when she married a mechanic who enjoyed racing as a hobby. Shirley eventually cajoled her husband into allowing her to drive and won a race. With the support and sponsoring of "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, Shirley evolved to fuel dragster racing.

Despite a crash that left her burnt, she eventually won races in the seventies and eighties but the decision to race put a strain on her marriage. Leo Rossi starred as her husband, Jack Muldowney. Beau Bridges starred as a funny car driver.

Answer: Dodge Challenger

Barry Newman played a car delivery employee who was consigned to bring a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco right after bringing a Chrysler Imperial to Denver from Frisco. Various flashbacks revealed that the character, who was only known throughout the movie as Kowalski, had been a police officer, Vietnam vet and a race driver.

As the movie and police chase unfolded a blind Nevada radio DJ played by Cleavon Little chronicled the progress and relayed assistance to Kowalski by monitoring police frequencies. Two years later Little would play Sheriff Bart in "Blazing Saddles". Gene Hackman was the original choice to play Kowalski but the studio preferred a relatively unknown actor. Chrysler loaned 20th Century Fox five Challengers for the movie and they were all returned intact despite the fiery crash at the end of the film.

A Camaro was used for the crash scene. The movie featured 16 songs on the soundtrack.

Answer: Roustabout

"Roustabout" was a 1964 movie featuring Elvis as a carnival worker named Charlie Rogers. His boss was played by Barbara Stanwyck.
"Spinout" was released two years later and was one of three films that paired Elvis with Shelley Fabares. Presley played Mike McCoy, a musician and race car driver who got entangled with three women. In the end he had to choose between a girl or driving her dad's car in a race.
Elvis and Nancy Sinatra were paired in the 1968 release, "Speedway" set at the Charlotte Speedway. Sinatra played an IRS agent who was after Elvis' character, Steve Grayson, for back taxes.
In "Viva Las Vegas" (1964) Elvis portrayed Lucky Jackson, a driver trying to earn enough money for an engine so he could participate in the Las Vegas Grand Prix

Answer: Kenny Rogers

The finale of "Six Pack" featured footage of the 1982 NASCAR Coca-Cola 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Darrell Waltrip won the event. Kenny Rogers had the lead role in the film that involved Rogers and six orphans he rescued from a life of petty larceny abetted by a local sheriff. The kids helped turn his floundering racing career around. Rogers, David Malloy, Even Stevens and Thom Schuyler composed a song included in the film, "Love Will Turn You Around". The song was a Number One Country hit that also became a Top Twenty crossover hit.
Richard Pryor starred in the 1977 film, "Greased Lightning", about Black Nascar driver Wendell Scott.
Richard Davalos was in the 1969 stock car film "Pit Stop", also released as "The Winner".
John Candy starred in the 1989 film, "Speed Zone".

Answer: Eat My Dust

"Eat My Dust" was a phrase uttered by Hoover Niebold, played by Ron Howard in "Eat My Dust". Howard played a sheriff's son who stole a race car with his girlfriend, played by Christopher Norris. The movie detailed his attempts to outrun his father and the car's owner. Warren J. Kemmerling played Sheriff Niebold. "Grand Theft Auto" starred Ron the following year and was the first film he directed. Ron Howard would go on to direct more than 15 films after "Grand Theft Auto".
"Cannonball" was a 1976 David Carradine about a cross country race.
"Excuse My Dust" was a 1920 film with Wallace Reid.
"Fast Company" was a 1978 film starring William Smith.

Answer: Two Lane Blacktop

Monte Hellman directed James Taylor, Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates and Laurie Bird in "Two Lane Blacktop". Oates was referred to as G.T.O. and Dennis Wilson played a character referred to as The Mechanic. Taylor and Wilson portrayed a pair of drifters roaming around in a 1955 Chevrolet 150 challenging people to drag races. Oates' character challenged them to a race across country against his GTO with their respective cars as prizes. The plot also involved their relationship with a hitchhiker played by Laurie Bird, simply called The Girl. Dennis Wilson missed several summer concerts with the Beach Boys in 1970 while filming the movie. The film did not receive the support of the studio for promotion so it didn't do well upon release. Two of the 1955 Chevrolets used in the film were later featured in "American Graffiti" in 1973.
"The Young Racers" was a 1963 movie about a Grand Prix champ starring William Campbell.
"The Wild Racers" (1968) starred Fabian as a driver who gave up stock car racing to race in the Spanish Grand Prix.
"Thunder Alley" was another Fabian movie released in 1967 that paired Fabian with Annette Funicello. Fabian played a driver who struggled to get back into the circuit after causing a fatal accident while racing.

Answer: The Indianapolis 500

In "Roar of the Crowd" Howard Duff's character promised his fiancée that if he got to race in the Indianapolis 500 he'd give up racing. He was injured in a qualifying race and went to work as a salesman for a parts company. His wife eventually changed her mind and in the finale, Duff eventually raced in the Indianapolis 500. The movie included small parts for actual drivers Henry Banks, Johnnie Parsons, Duke Nalon and Manuel Ayulo. Duff's first film role was in 1947 in "Brute Force". He went on to appear in several notable films, radio shows and television series. In 1971 he played Dustin Hoffman's attorney in "Kramer vs. Kramer". His granddaughter is actress Hilary Duff.
Helene Stanley began acting at age 14 under the name of Dolores Diane. She retired from films after doing voice-over work in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)when her son was born.
In 1932 a film called "The Crowd Roars" starring James Cagney as a champion driver was one of the first talking films to feature auto racing as the central theme.