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OH MY GOOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE NOW HAVE A OFFICIAL PIT BULL ON HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
Slick road can't derail 'Cars'
By Bob Pockrass
Saturday, May 27, 2006
CONCORD, N.C. - There was no on-track activity at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday, but there were lots of cars.
Disney's Pixar Studios premiered its latest animation movie, "Cars," in front of what it dubbed as the largest crowd - 30,000 strong despite persistent rains prior to and then a heavy drizzle during the viewing - ever to see a movie premiere.
"I came here in 2000 to start research for this film," said movie director John Lasseter, who also is the executive vice president of Pixar. "Everyone opened up to us so much ... it was so important to come back here for the premiere. What a spectacle,"
With four huge projection screens, the stands were full around Turn 2 of the speedway for an event like no other for a race track.
"Well, Disney knows how to do it, and this is a fitting way to open a movie like this," said Bob Iger, president and CEO of the Walt Disney Co. "We're at a speedway, first of all, and it's just grand form."
The rain delayed the showing of the movie by about an hour and provided a slick red carpet. But the fans showed up in droves to watch the film displayed on screens that measured 130 feet wide and 75 feet high.
"They love their auto racing, they love their NASCAR, they're great fans and wonderful people," Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said. "They're the most hospitable people I've ever met in my life. It's a fantastic group of folks."
The rain also didn't stop the NASCAR celebrities - those in the film and not in it - from showing up.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip all have speaking roles in the film, which opens nationwide June 9. It is about a rookie race car (the cars talk and are the personalities in the film) voiced by Owen Wilson who gets sidetracked on a Route 66 town that has virtually withered away because of a new interstate.
"This movie is a little racing at the beginning and a little racing at the end," Petty said. "The middle is the storyline on everyday living and how people get to be where they are."
Among the other NASCAR drivers attending were Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch.
"I think it's very cool that Junior is in there," Gordon said. "The coolest part about the movie is Paul Newman and that he is in it."
Although NASCAR was not involved as a sanctioning body, there will be several cars in Sundays' Coca-Cola 600 with characters from the movie on them.
Among them will be the character of "Mater," played by Larry the Cable Guy on the car of Kyle Busch. A relative of one of Busch's crewman was Lasseter's inspiration for the part after Lasseter met him in his campground at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"Kyle and I are buddies," Larry the Cable Guy said. "We've done a couple of red carpets together and hung out backstage. He's a good dude."
The premiere also was the first synchronized multi-screen outdoor digital projection with use of DLP Cinema projectors. In another NASCAR connection, the DLP car of Tony Raines will have the movie logo and characters on its hood.
In conjunction with the premiere, The Walt Disney Foundation contributed $500,000 to Newman's Association of Hole in the Wall Camps (of which Victory Junction Gang Camp is a member) and $500,000 to Speedway Children's Charities.
Mentioned Drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
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