NASCAR wasn't nearly as popular in 1990 as it is now.
Yeah it was, NASCAR was huge back in 1990 and Days of Thunder helped make it bigger. NASCAR just hadn't topped off in popularity back then, that happened in 2005. The loss and retirement of popular drivers combined with the economy has taken its toll on the sport in recent years, yesterday's race at Indianapolis had a lot of empty seats when in years past they were always full.
But here's what I don't get. Why was Russ Wheeler an antagonist? He and Cole were teammates, It was always commonplace for owners to have more than one racing team in their stables. It's not too many roosters in the henhouse, it's help out on the track! You having trouble in the race? Find your teammate and draft with him. Hell, Both cars running well means more points for Tim Daland in the owner standings. If anybody's the antagonist in this situation it's Harry Hogg for being such a selfish prick.
Russ Wheeler was the antagonist because he was a douche trying to wreck Cole on the track. It was not commonplace for owners to have more than one race team back in those days, it was a changing of the times that Rick Hendrick, who Tim Daland is loosely based on, helped create. Hogg was old school resisting the change that the sport was headed to and I'm pretty sure that was a real opinion shared by a lot of people in NASCAR at that time.
@ the OP's question:
Days of Thunder is a CLASSIC. Even with its exaggerated portrayals of racing action, it's still THE definitive NASCAR movie. There are so many lines from this movie that people quote in regards to racing that's it's no *beep* joke. Hans Zimmer's music alone makes this film great.
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