Speaking of the movie Grand Prix, I had a chance a couple of years ago
to ask Jackie Stewart about some of the footage used in the movie. It
was actual race footage used in the movie, and showed Stewart's crash.
His fuel tank ruptured and filled the cockpit with fuel (aviation fuel
according to Jackie), which began to burn his skin "and delicate parts",
in his words. He was pulled from the car by a fellow driver (Graham
Hill?) and taken to a nearby barn. He was laid in a hay wagon and his
clothes stripped off to get the fuel soaked clothes away from his skin.
There was no on track rescue at this time, he had to wait for a local
rescue truck to find him. It is here where Jackie claims (remember, this
is Jackie telling the story, so take it as that, he is a great story
teller) a couple of nuns discovered him. He said they were amazed at
what they saw. I said "Oh, a racing driver laying in a hay wagon?" he
said "no, I'm referring to my anatomy."
John Engfehr <><
Flounder wrote:
<Hey... there are no bad Steve McQueen movies.>
Gotta agree with that. A couple years back my favorite McQueen and
racing
movie 'Le Mans' was released on DVD and I found it at The Motorsport
Collector
which is right near where I live. And we just watched 'The Great Escape'
over
the holiday weekend which also stars James Garner who at about the same
time as
Le Mans starred in 'Grand Prix'. A couple weeks ago when I checked for
the
umpteenth time at Motorsport if 'Grand Prix' had made it to DVD yet
(they pulled
the VHS tape off the market last year which made it sound like the DVD
was
about to be released), Paul asked if I had signed the petition yet and
gave me a
flyer about the site:
http://www.putgrandprixondvd.com/
Don't know if it will really help, but I did sign. And I hope they
really do
it up right and include as extra features the interviews with John
Frankenheimer that were done for the late, lamented Speedvision 'Lost
Drive-in'
presentation of the film.
So I encourage any listers who appreciate this movie to sign the
petition.
Kim Tonry
Downers Grove, Illinois, USA
|