The Real King

This is from an old post but that one is in swedish so I´ll translate it and I´ll also bring it up to date a bit.


I´ve always loved the Disney way of bringing things to life. Living things, like ducks, mice, dogs or dead things - like cars. It doesn´t matter - Disney makes them fly, dance, laugh and the joy infects the audience - me - and I love Disney for doing that and doing it so good. I even cried one time. You know that scene from Toy Story 2 where Jessie sings about how she´s been abandoned by her "girl"? Yeah, you know what I´m talking about then.

But what I like so much with the first Cars movie is the speed. The action (I love the pace in the slower parts too, more about that in future posts) but I really love the Nascar reference in this film.

Some people might argue that it´s only a matter of time until NASCAR will be the largest sport in the world, it "only" has to take over the Formula One circus. And when you hear swedish German Touring Car race star Mattias Ekström talking lyrical phrases about NASCAR (he is the only swede ever to compete in the series) you understand that even the European stars look up to the league.

The character "The King" is, besides an extremely good looking diecast, also based on the amercian racing legend Richard Petty.

The King - legendary diecast

Richard Petty drove an light blue Plymouth Superbird when he won seven (7) straight Piston Cup´s - or I mean Winston Cup (the real name of the series back in the days, now it´s Sprint Cup)

Richard Petty - legendary racer

Petty were elected into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1997 and he won over 200 races in his outstanding career.

Richard Pettys Plymouth Superbird ´70

In the film Cars there´s a scene when a red car, the number 8, drives up to the King. He thanks the King for all the inspiration and help. The red car is Dale Earnhardt Jr, one of the latest stars in NASCAR, (the voice is from the real Dale) His father, Dale Earnhardt, has also won the Winston Cup seven times, and though Junior still waits for his first victory in the overall season, his one of the most popular drivers in the circus.

Dale Earnhardt Jr - the diecast. A popular car in the US.

This is how Dale looked in the early 00´s - the Bud ad was removed in the Pixar movie.

In 2008 Dale changed teams from the family team to Hendrick Motorsports and when I write this, he is closer than ever to that first Piston Cup victory. After the first 6 races Dale is second in the series after finnishing top 5 in three races. Due to his popularity Dale was the modern NASCAR-driver to take place in the movie.

This Nascar references has made me a fan. In 2010 we swedes suddenly could see som races on TV. That was because Mattias Ekström made two guest apperences. I really loved it! I followed the first one on NASCAR´s site on the internet. Great service! Mattias did real good, he even had the lead in 7 laps on the Infineon Race track at California, but ended up at 21th place.
After the race he said that he´d been in more contact with other cars than he would in 10 years of DTM-racing. He said that with a happy smile on his face.

Last year he became the runner up on the German Touring Car Championship and I think there´s rumours about Mattias driving NASCAR again. I would really love that. But first things first, I know that he´s really going for his third DTM-championship this year.

Another diecast beauty based on a great driver is this one:

Mario Andretti

I like Mario Andretti because he was a team mate and a true friend of the great Ronnie Peterson. They both drove for one of the most classical racing team in history of motorsports - the John Player Lotus.

Gold and black. The only combination missing in the team line up in Cars.

Team mates. Rivals. True friends.