According to Lou Diamond Phillips in the VH1 documentary Behind the Music The Day the Music Died (1999), Ritchie Valens' sister was on the set the day they shot the "coin toss" scene, in which Ritchie wins the chance to fly on the plane with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. Ritchie's sister began to weep uncontrollably during shooting. When Phillips tried to console her, she hugged him and sobbed "Why Ritchie? Why did you get on the plane?"
The plane crash at Ritchie Valens' school happened on January 31, 1957. A DC-7 and an F-89 jet collided and broke up in mid-air. The DC-7 landed on the playground of Pacoima Junior High School (now Pacoima Middle School) while students were outside at recess. Everyone on the DC-7 was killed. Several students were killed on the playground; 75 were injured. Valens was out of school that day, attending his grandfather's funeral. The crash caused Valens' fear of flying.
The band playing the traditional folk version of the song "La Bamba" at the club in Tijuana is Los Lobos, which performed all of Ritchie Valens' music for the movie. The guitar player next to the bass player is David Hidalgo, who provided Lou Diamond Phillips' singing voice.
The club where Ritchie Valens is nervous about performing before an Anglo crowd is the Cowboy Palace in Chatsworth, California. The bar is still in business.
The Big Bopper and Waylon Jennings, who was Buddy Holly's bass player at the time, traded seats. The Big Bopper got on the plane, Waylon took the bus. Before the plane took off, Buddy said to Waylon "I hope you freeze your ass on that bus." Waylon jokingly responded "Well, I hope your plane crashes." That remark haunted Waylon for years.
Connie Valenzuela: the elderly woman is Ritchie Valens' real life mother sitting near Ritchie Valens at the first family party. The resemblance between mother and son is unmistakable. She passed away on October 18, 1987, three months after the movie's release.