Days of Thunder (1990)
Goofs
Jump to:
Anachronisms (2) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (2) |
Continuity (28) |
Crew or equipment visible (5) |
Errors in geography (3) |
Factual errors (5) |
Miscellaneous (1) |
Plot holes (1) |
Revealing mistakes (3)
Anachronisms
At Cole's first race at Daytona, the announcer called it the Firecracker 400. The Firecracker 400 was the name of this race from 1963 to 1984. It should have been called the Pepsi 400, as it was renamed for the third time in 1989.
During the race at Darlington where Cole gets his first win, a caution comes out with 3 laps to go after Rowdy spins out. Under NASCAR rules of the time, the race would have ended under yellow. The field would race back to the line and catch the pace car with about 2 laps to go, which would not have been enough time to allow the field to pit and then restart the race. Cole would have won this race either way, providing he stayed on track and maintained speed under caution.
Audio/visual unsynchronised
During the race in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Russ Wheeler slams Coles car into the trackside wall and he spins off, Cole can clearly be heard saying, "Son-of-a-bitch!" and yet his lips don't move.
Cole says "the accelerator is stuck" and other things without moving his lips.
Continuity
In the final Daytona 500, when Cole tells Harry, "I'm gonna make a hole to get through here" the car alongside Russ Wheeler changes from the #33 Skoal car to the #26 Quaker State car and back twice.
At the Daytona race before the big wreck, Cole Trickle is spun out by Rowdy Burns. Cole recovers and catches up to Rowdy. The camera pans out to show a long distance shot of Rowdy leading Cole, but the lead car is clearly the number 3 Goodwrench Chevy of Dale Earnhardt, not the 51 of Rowdy Burns. In fact the whole shot is from the 1990 Daytona 500 and the cars on second and third are Derrike Cope's Purolator Chevy and Terry Labonte's Skoal Oldsmobile.
When Harry is teaching Cole about the car and tire wear, in the first scene discussing the tires, Harry's wearing a Georgia hat. When they switch to Harry's method of tire use, Harry's wearing a Florida hat.
In the final Daytona race, Russ Wheeler pushes Cole into Harry
Gant and spins him. During the spin, a car switches from Gant (#33) to Brett Bodine (#26).
Near the end of the movie, just after the crew fixes "Cole"'s transmission and sends him back on the track, he pulls in front of the pace car as he exits pit road. Harry tells him to be at max speed at the drop of the green flag. Then you see the pace car pull off the track and the green flag drop. The exit to pit road at Daytona is between the Start/Finish line and Turn 1. Cole would be traveling at about 185mph, while the pace car and field are traveling at 65mph. He would've caught up to the back of the back of the pack before the pace car even made it to Turn 3 and Cole would've been at the tail end of the lead lap.
In the clip from the race at Rockingham, N.C., you can see the beginning of the sign that says "Daytona USA" on the wall.
The red ring around Trickle's eye swaps eyes.
In the opening Daytona 500, just after the green flag drops, you can see Cole's City Cheverolet on the right hand side of the screen, even though it does not exist yet.
When the cars are lined up to begin the final Daytona race, Wheeler's car is correctly in the pole position, toward the inside of the track, while Cole's car is a few rows back, on the outside. Just before the race begins, Wheeler and Cole glance at each other as though they are next to each other. In reality, they were not lined up close enough to see each other as directly as the camera angle presumes.
At the end of the Daytona 500, Cole's face is heavily blackened with oil, yet the windshield and interior of the care are spotless.
In the shop scene where Cole Trickle is talking to the doctor you can clearly see what is Derrike Cope's purolator car through the window.
When the tractor trailer is pulled over, the shot of the cop car behind the trailer shows the sun setting but still plenty of light. When the trailer and cop car are both on the side of the road the shot with the crew all getting lined up against the trailer the sun is completely down and it is completely dark outside.
After Cole pulls in front of the pace car, the next shot of the crew jogging back to their pit stall shows the Mello Yello car just leaving pit road.
Both the rental cars apparently sustain damage when Cole and Rowdey are racing them to the restaurant, but in many shots they appear untouched.
When Harry is telling Cole what happened to Buddy, Harry and Cole are standing at opposite ends of the car, when Cole walks away, they've switched positions.
At the Dover, Delaware race, Cole enters pit road when another car pulls out in front of him. Cole has to slam on his brakes and then looses control. He is then seen wearing a white with red and blue trim fire suit as he says, "Oh, this gonna hurt." When he strikes the wall, it shows him in a fire suit with his team colors (green and black).
At the very beginning of the movie, when Rowdy Burns is introduced, he does up his fire suit twice.
When Harry is at the track watching Rowdy practice right before he meets Cole, the sky and surrounding atmosphere is VERY cloudy and foggy. When Cole enters the track and approaches the race car, the weather is now clear and sunny.
Numerous problems with the juxtaposition, cleanliness, and markings of cars.
At the very end of the film, when Cole and Harry are sitting on the pit wall talking, the wall is clearly draped with the Mello Yello and Hardee's colours. When the camera switches to them running down pit lane, the team colours are nowhere to be seen!
In the scene after Cole Trickle recovers from the spin out at the firecracker 400 and catching up to Rowdy Burns, he passes a #18 orange Hardees car, now Russ Wheeler and the Hardees car are not yet introduced until later in the film.
In the final race: The Daytona 500, Cole is at the back of the pack, now when Aldo Benedetti loses his hood and causes a pile up, Cole Trickle's #51 mello yello car can be seen near Benedetti's car and can also bee seen in the pile up, also Cole is in the back and just about to go through the crash, how can he be at two places at once or is there two cars?
During the scene where Harry tells Cole to hit the pace car, a gas can carrier is holding a gas can with a Hardee's sponsorship on it in the pit box in front of Cole's. Russ Wheeler hasn't even been introduced yet, so obviously this scene was actually shot at the same time as the last race.
After the meeting with "Big John" and Cole was told no trading paint or anything, he'll take apart his race car, even before the end of the movie at Daytona, Cole and Russ are more than trading paint, and yet nothing happens.
When Cole and Dr. Lewicki are talking in the truck before the final race, there is a picture of the Mello Yello car in a race. Yet the final race is the first race that Cole drives this car, so the picture shouldn't be on the wall yet.
Cole's collar in the dressing room before the Daytona 500.
In the beginning of the movie as Cole drives his motorcycle onto the race track, his auxiliary lights are on. Moments later when they focus on him again, the auxiliary lights are off.
Just before the final race at Daytona when Cole and Claire are talking, the wind is blowing her hair towards her face. When the shot changes, the wind is blowing the wind in the other direction. It changes several times during the scene.
Crew or equipment visible
When Cole is battling Russ Wheeler for the lead at Daytona you can see the camera rig attached to the camera car as they go into the turn.
During the street race on the way to the restaurant, when the cars split to avoid the truck, where the left car mounts the high curb, a small stepped ramp can be seen.
During a wide shot of Cole celebrating his win at Daytona, at the bottom of the shot, a cameraman and crew member are visible moving the camera.
In Turn 3, at the site of the big during the final race, two men are seen blowing smoke from a machine onto the racing surface.
During the crash in the final race, if you look closely you can see the camera car driving through the wreckage.
Errors in geography
Many shots of the first race that Cole wins at a non-Daytona race clearly show the word Daytona on the walls of the track and the flagman's booth has it emblazoned on its side.
While racing at Phoenix (a flat track), footage is shown of a high banked track.
At a race set at North Wilkesboro Speedway, you can see the name Atlanta on the wall in several shots.
Factual errors
There are several shots of Cole Trickle's car missing the
bright yellow rookie stripe on the rear bumper. The only time the stripe is present is when Cole is at Darlington.
During the opening sequence of the movie, if you watch carefully, you will see a Busch Grand National series official inspecting a car. The Daytona 500 is a Winston Cup event.
When Rowdy gets mad that Cole is going to pass him and Rowdy says, "I'm going to put him in the wall," which would have summarily resulted in Rowdy being black flagged for the race (and probably more than one race after that), cars that are traveling at 200 miles per hour do not bounce off each other and keep going straight ahead. Cole's car, or Rowdy's car, would have hit the wall, spun off the track, flipped or rolled multiple times, smashing into a thousand pieces and taking several other cars out with them.
After the caution in the final race when Cole beats the pace car out of pit road, the race restarts with Wheeler, the leader, starting on the inside line. In reality, Wheeler's car should have been on the outside line, as lead-lap cars start on the outside and cars a lap down or more start on the inside.
A transmission failure as depicted in the final race at Daytona would more than likely end Cole's race, as opposed to being an easy fix that could be resolved in less than a lap.
Miscellaneous
During the Firecracker 400, Cole Trickle is seen passing Russ Wheeler's #18 Hardee's Chevrolet even though it does not exist yet.
Plot holes
Before Cole and Rowdy arrive for their "dinner", Big John asked Tim, "If you can't control your race drivers any better than this..." but Rowdy isn't one of Tims' drivers.
Revealing mistakes
In the scene where Cole and Rowdy line up at the stop light in opposite vehicles, Rowdy is in a Ford Taurus. When the light turns green, they both gun it and you see smoke coming form the tires of the Taurus. The smoke is coming from the rear tires. The Ford Taurus never came with a RWD option, they were all front wheel drive, thus the rear tires should not have smoked up.
When Cole and Claire (Tom & Nicole) are at Rowdy Burns' property and Rowdy's wife meets them as they are walking, she says "Hi Claire, I'm Ginny". She then says "Hi Tom", referring to Tom Cruise and not the actual character of Cole Trickle. (1:02:10 roughly)
After Cole sabotages Russ Wheeler's victory lap by wrecking his car, you can clearly see that the checkered flag hanging out Wheeler's window is secured in place rather than being held. It is clear from the in car camera of "Russ Wheeler" that the flag is somehow secured in place, and the window netting is still up.