Days of Thunder is BACK. Well, Days of Thunder is almost back. It’s on the way back. Let’s just leave it at that.
NASCAR fans fondly remember the first and only rendition of Days of Thunder. Tom Cruise shined in the 1990 film that brought more eyes and attention to stock car racing, and it’s one of the first films of his lengthy career where he did some of his own stunts and really dove deep into his role (he actually raced in the months prior to filming).
You know… how he does with every modern film that he’s in now.
I could go on and on about the insane lengths that Tom Cruise goes to bring that extra razzle-dazzle to the big screen (the newest Mission: Impossible installment had some unbelievable stunts that Tom did himself). But I’ll put my Tom Cruise fandom aside for a moment, only so that I can share the news that the soon-to-be 63-year-old actor has confirmed that “Days of Thunder 2” is in the works.
Legendary NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon is the one who spilled the beans about the sequel in a recent interview with Road & Track. The former driver of the No. 24 car – and the current vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports – revealed that he’s close with Tom Cruise, and that the last time he saw him, the Top Gun star shared that a second Days of Thunder was going to happen:
“I mean, all I can say is… I’ve known Tom for many years and was on set this past year for ‘Mission: Impossible,’ and then I went to the premiere. And the first word out of his mouth is, ‘We’re doing it. We’re doing Days of Thunder 2.’”
Outstanding news.
As a fan of Tom Cruise and everything he has done for the movies, I couldn’t be more excited about a sequel to Days of Thunder. I know there are a lot of reboots and sequels in modern day entertainment and cinema, and they all can get mixed reactions, but this is a movie that certainly deserves a double dip.
Jeff Gordon agrees, and he thinks that having NASCAR return to the big screen could allow for the sport of racing to be benefited just as it was when the original film was released in 1990:
“I’m all for it. Rick Hendrick is all for it. Hendrick Motorsports played a big role in the first Days of Thunder, and we’d love to do the same in this one. Again, you look at things that can help grow the sport. Look what ‘Days of Thunder’ did for NASCAR in the ’90s. I think it could very easily do the same if we were able to do this again.”
And considering Tom Cruise has recently been fine with skydiving with an on-fire parachute, and climbing from plane-to-plane high above the sky, I’d bet he’d love to get behind the wheel of a stock car once more and test its limits… on behalf of the movies and cinema, of course.
Here’s to hoping we don’t have to wait too long to watch Tom Cruise’s Cole Trickle “drop the hammer” in the sequel to Days of Thunder:
