posted 01-24-2005 12:18 PM         

Pictures posted: http://www.ccc-la.com/gallery/index.php

We had to be on the set by 6:00 am each morning and finished around 6 PM. And, we learned how to deal with constant changes of direction... Warner Bros. called Winston (he was the coordintor) on Tuesday night and said four cars (including our 78 Yellow Vette) needed to stay with the 2nd unit for more road racing filming. That meant Winston had to lineup four more cars for Wed. morning. So, Jimmy was able to get his 69 Red Vette into the movie. He put in a fake roll bar Tuesday night and was all set. Michael (his son) was going to drive it and Jimmy & I were going to drive some other car. The car we drove, turned out to be a 68 Dodge Dart with a 440 #55. Jimmy drove on Wed. and I drove it on Thurs. & Fri. (mostly sat in it or parked it off the track... On Thurs., they filmed some shots from the rear. Than on Friday, they brought in the special camera cars where the actors are actually filmed inside and make like they are driving.... It seems they always shoot 6 to 8 takes of each scene. And, they film several different scenes each day from different angles and it is going to be amazing to see the final edited movie and how it all gets integrated and flows....

After Friday, the 1st unit (actors) were done at State Capital and they said we were done. The 2nd unit was coming in on Sat. (these are the stunt people). Our 78 Vette was being used, so I decided to return to State Capital to watch the filming... Well, it turned out, our 78 Vette was being used around Clinton filming some race scenes around the courthouse. So, I didn't get any pics of it... I did stop by the Warner Bros. picture car lot on the way back to Mandeville and spoke with John W. (Mgr of picture cars). He told me in the last three days, they had rebuilt 10 General Lees that were considered totaled. They were in the process of repairing a Gen Lee that had tried a jump on Fri. Car only went 82' and needs to go 150'. The lower knuckle on passenger side had dug into the wood ramp and tore out 6' of plank (kinda acted like brakes). This was with a live stunt driver and landed on concrete by the courthouse in Clinton. The scene will be re-shot, but this time they are building some sort of ratchet device to help launch the car.... I would like to see that stunt in person... Originally they started with over 30 General Lee's...

It was still fun and our 78 Yellow Vette, Troy's Green Duster, & Winston's Cougar are still with the 2nd unit filming more road racing scenes & being driven by stunt men. Of the six cars Warner Bros. rented (to go along with the cars they bought) two have blown engines and one is wrecked. The camaro Jimmy built for Winston and sold to Warner Bros. is still running with 2nd unit and was out at the track on Sat. It's really been a once in lifetime experience and fun.