Had it not come first I would suspect this was inspired by Days of Thunder, but it's two years earlier and appears to be on a lower budget, with many in the cast coming from television roles. George Kennedy is perhaps the biggest name actor. The story is so-so and kind of predictable, down on luck race team on the verge of making it big crosses paths with a young woman engineer who has plans to greatly improve race engines, which are stolen along with her. Oddly they're in the second tier Busch Grand National series rather than the then Winston Cup series, but it's nice to see clips of those cars in action. Humpy Wheeler and David Pearson have cameos. Appears some of it was filmed inside the DiGard racing shops (if you're paying attention in one scene the logo appears on a door).
It's also clear the editing people had never actually seen a race, as they cut in several scenes of spins that would have brought out a caution but no caution comes out. Perhaps in the interest of time, race starts are skipped past for only a few minutes of race action at the end.
The soundtrack isn't bad, it's pure 1980s.
Is it really terrible, no, I found I enjoyed it, but if you're not a race fan you probably won't like it as much.
I found it on the internet, has it ever been released to home video?
