Legend of the “Talladega Raceway Curse.”
The curse has been blamed as the cause of a series of unusual and unpleasant incidents that occurred at the 2.66-mile superspeedway over the years. While things did happen at other tracks, they were never as mystifying or eerie as they were at Talladega.
The story goes that the curse began centuries ago, when Andrew Jackson drove the Indians out of the valley in which the speedway is located today. As the Indians made their trek away from their homeland, a medicine man stood atop a hill, turned toward the valley and put an eternal hex on it.
OK, it makes for a good story, anyway.
But then unsavory things began to happen at the speedway. Driver Bobby Isaac was racing Bud Moore’s Ford when he claimed he heard a voice telling him to get out of the car, which he did. Driver Larry Smith clipped the wall in the third turn in what everyone assumed was a minor mishap. Smith was killed. He had removed the padding from his helmet to protect his pompadour.
Several cars were mysteriously sabotaged while under lock and key on the eve of a race. A driver’s mother was struck and killed by a pickup truck in the paddock area while her son was racing. Two drivers, nearly a straightaway apart and the only ones on the track during practice, mysteriously managed to crash. An ARCA driver barely outran a tornado that roared along the back straightaway during qualifying.
During a race, Jimmy Horton and Stanley Smith were involved in a crash that sent Horton’s car soaring over the wall. It ended up a shattered hulk outside the speedway. Remarkably, he was unhurt but Smith sustained serious injuries.
In 1993, Davey Allison lost his life in a freakish accident that occurred while he was trying to land his helicopter in the infield. His passenger, Red Farmer, suffered major injuries.
I am not a racing fan, and I have never even seen TALLEDEGA NIGHTS: THE LEGEND OF RICKY BOBBY starring Will Farrell, so I didn’t know this. In fact I have never seen a race, not even a part of a race. I am so oblivious when it comes to the sport I wouldn’t even know what a part would be called; inning? Round maybe? Whatever it is I can honestly say I have no interest in ever seeing one. For this reason, it seems kind of strange that I would be talking about a movie based around this premise but I am anyway.
The short film grabbed my attention because it combined several things that I enjoy. It was directed by the eccentric but brilliant Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus) and stars actor Justin Kirk, probably best known to audiences as Andy on WEEDS but who grabbed my attention when he starred in the indie play turned film LOVE, VALOUR, COMPASSION and made me a forever fan with his underrated portrail of Prior in HBO’s ANGELS IN AMERICA. The 18 minute story, turned out to be a comedy done in a mockumentary style (great for horror averse people like me) and, best of all, you don’t need to like NASCAR or even know anything about it to enjoy.
To see it for yourself go to
http://www.LegendofHallowdega.com/
where it is free to view, another plus!
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