Cole Trickle out on the track during a race? I’d watch.
Last month, Tom Cruise announced that Days of Thunder 2 is officially in production and coming in 2028, where he will reprise his role as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle, with co-star Anne Hathaway as a team owner and engineer.
They shared the news via a post on Instagram, as they banter back and forth about how to reveal it, before eventually getting out of the way and revealing a green race car with the title and release year on it. Of course, Hathaway is visibly pregnant, and she joked that she had to have her baby before they started filming but she would be ready soon and they’re looking forward to it:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he’s been involved some in helping them develop the storyline and make sure it’s all authentic to the script, and during a recent interview with Pat McAfee, Cruise says he’s been “thinking about Cole Trickle for a long time,” and his love for racing runs deep.
He grew up racing on country backroads, and he used his Top Gun blueprint from that beloved sequel to get this Days Of Thunder 2 movie rolling:
“I’ve been thinking about Cole Trickle for a long time. I grew up just taking cars in the back streets, before I had my license, and racing country roads. Looking at dirt tracks, and I love NASCAR, and I love racing, and airplanes, and motorcycles.
We did ‘Top Gun,’ and I took the story to Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, Tony Scott came on. After the first one. Also I’ve just been thinking about, how can I do it, how can I seat the audience into another journey with this character?”
Of course making the movie as authentic as possible is important to NASCAR fans, and Cruise and the cast recently spent time at Daytona during the Coke Zero 400, where the actor addressed the drivers meeting about his love for racing and dedication to getting it right in the movie:
“It’s a culture, and I think that I was very proud to be able to reflect that in the first Days of Thunder, and I’m honored to share it with the world, but I just wanted you all to know that’s basically what we’re gonna go for with this one. Give the audience that opportunity to understand what it is as a team, as a community, what it is for NASCAR: The speed, the excitement, and all of that danger and stuff. Of course, I love it.”
Well as it turns out, Cruise was serious about getting it right – to the point that he wanted to become a race car driver himself.
During a conversation with Front Office Sports, NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell revealed that the actor expressed interest in running an ARCA race – something that caught O’Donnell off guard:
“I was shocked. … Tom wanted to go race in one of those. I’m not sure it’s going to happen, but he wants it to be as authentic as it can be.”
(If you’re not familiar with NASCAR, ARCA is a local touring series owned by NASCAR that often serves as a feeder into the sport’s top 3 series).
O’Donnell also revealed that NASCAR is building around 80 cars to be used in the movie – many that they know won’t be coming back.
As a NASCAR fan, I couldn’t be more excited about the new movie and the publicity it can bring to the sport that’s needed a boost for a while now. It sounds like NASCAR and its stars are all in on the movie, so there’s no doubt that they’re going to do the sport justice and hopefully bring new eyeballs to NASCAR.
I would love to see Tom Cruise actually running a race though…
