there was a scene where cole was trying to convince harry to setup rowdy's car for cole to race in. When cole said, "harry, just before buddy (breatherton) slammed into that wall, how was he actually doing in that race?"--then harry attacked him. i'm guessing cole's comment was a smart ass comment, but i never could figure out what about that comment was supposed to be smartass. what was cole trying to say with that comment?
shareThe way I figure it..........Harry was going on about how Buddy Bretherton was such a great driver and then Cole comes in with his question about how Buddy was actually doing in that race before he hit the wall.
Presumably Buddy wasn't doing well in that race because he had lost his competitive edge after his accident (similar to Cole).......and Harry got angry with him.
Harry blamed himself for letting Buddy race after losing his competitive edge and now he doesn't want Cole to race for the same reason.
Buddy lost his compeditive edge? I thought Buddy was killed in his accident. Cole discovered Buddy got CO poisoning in a race (because Harry was cheating), blacked out, and died. Harry maintians his innocence and Cole frustrated him.
shareI looked the script up just to be sure. When Cole is having a beer with Harry at Harry's home, Harry has some dialogue that goes like this:
Ever since you and Rowdy crashed at Daytona - you've been waiting on something bad to happen to you. Just like Buddy Bretherton. He started hearing voices. All of them saying one thing: "Get oooout of that race car. Get out of that race car. Oooo"
HArry attacked cole because he was recounting how buddy was teetering on the edge of control pushing the boundries so he could win. HArry set buddy up with a lighter but more dangerous car and he knew combined with buddy's driving skills as dangerous as he was to himself that they could win big. Buddy got killed because he pushed it too far and Harry was an accomplice to that. So he vowed never again to get into the same position again. Then comes Cole into the picture who reminded him of buddy, natural driving instincts, always pushing the boundries. The accident that Rowdy and cole were in brought back painful guilty memories for Harry. So he decides to quit before he helped another driver (cole) kill himself. Cole comes to harry and says he wants to race again, harry says no, then cole questions how buddy really died. Harry tells him the truth, that buddy pushed it too far and lost it. Then Cole asks harry how buddy was doing when he died (presumably he was winning), so Harry gets mad because Cole is still thinking about racing in the condition he is in and is asking harry to help him push the envelope and win.
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