Happy Days Ahead For Howard's 'Rush'

Take a second to think about the best automotive racing movie you have ever seen? I'm not talking about films with ridiculous car chases or momentary glimpses of vehicular greatness - I'm talking about movies ABOUT racing. Sorry about the caps, but I am trying to build up to my realization: there hasn't been a great one in a while. As a matter of fact, there really aren't any. (The documentary 'Senna' was fantastic.)

Maybe I am being a little too harsh, after all, Pixar's Cars was pretty good and the sequel wasn't bad either. And there you have it - the best movie about racing in the past 20 years, that wasn't a documentary, is an animated flick aimed at ten-year-old boys. See the problem yet?

Well, Ron Howard might have the answer. His new film Rush (Official Site) opens in theaters on September 27, 2013 and is exactly what has been missing from the cinema for racing fans. It's the dramatization of the battle for the 1976 Formula One drivers championship between English driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl).

Left: Hunt (Hemsworth) and Right: Lauda (Brühl)

The nice thing about the recreation of the drama between these two drivers is it needs no embellishment or dramatization. Their story was a script a Hollywood writer couldn't even dream up. And that has me happy as can be. Why you might ask? My answer is simply: Ron Howard.

Ron Howard took the story of the Apollo 13 space mission and made it one of the most successful movies of the 90s. And I think the story between Hunt and Lauda is compelling enough to be on the same level. James Hunt; womanizer, boozer, smoker, nutter, patriot, controversialist, blonde vs. Niki Lauda; determined, highly competent, not an easy person to get to know, the man to beat. These two were the reason fans flocked to racetracks in the 1975-1977 Formula One seasons - the ladies more so for Hunt.

A really nice thing about the concept of the movie is that it's not just for race fanatics (just in the way Apollo 13 wasn't just for astronauts.) And the cherry on top of this sundae is that the theater won't be packed full of male moviegoers, because Howard cast the female heartthrob Chris Hemsworth to play James Hunt. If you think you might have trouble getting your female co-driver to go the movies with you, just show her this preview for the movie by clicking this link.

The real Niki Lauda (left) and James Hunt (Right)

The Lost Bluetooth Battle

The California legislature and Highway Patrol are playing a game of Tic-Tac-Toe and there is never going to be a winner. The California Senate Bill 1613 was signed in 2006 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and put into effect on January 1st, 2008. Do you know what that is? If you read the title, you should see where I am going. The "Hands-Free" law.

The most common thing I see when driving my routine 45-minute commute between residences is the non-use of hands-free devices. I used to get mad at the driver and yell "get off your cell phone," more often then not, throwing curse words in between. Now ... I just laugh.

I got a Bluetooth headset when the bill was enacted. I turned it on when I knew I was going to be driving for more than five minutes or if I was expecting a call. If my phone rang when I didn't have it on, I just didn't answer my phone. But for most Californians, the law, and resulting penalties, don't seem to concern them.

Often I have told friends that the law had good intentions, but there was no proper way of enforcing such a common occurrence. The easiest way to avoid getting a ticket for this offense, is just hiding your phone when you see a police officer.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that last bit. I had to lower my phone because there was a police officer. What were you saying?"

Even though studies have come out proving the dangers of distracted drivers, motorists still choose to use their cell phones while driving. And with that negligence has come a lot of excuses. Let me try to debunk some of these arguments.

#1: I can use my phone when I have it on speaker phone, so I don't need a headset.
This is only true if your car is equipped with the technology to have the telephone conversation played through the car's speakers. If you are holding your phone in one hand and talking with it on speaker phone, you are not obeying the "hands-free" law. I'm pretty sure that is how it gets its name.

#2: The technology is too confusing and setting up a headset is too time consuming.
First of all, if you can't figure out how to set up the headset, then you shouldn't be using a cellphone when you are driving anyway. If the "technology" is too advanced for you to figure out after reading the instructions or asking a teenager, then maybe you're too old to be using one in the first place. Go back to smoke signals.

#3: Who cares if I get caught? The fine is only $25 for the first offense.
Unfortunately, this is true and I can't make a good argument. The fine isn't high enough to make people "scared" of using their phones when they drive, nor is it high enough to make people stop from doing it a second or third time.

Heck, the Governor's wife chooses not to follow the rules, so why would any of you? Right?

I Speed Silver & Black

Here it is, the first installment of what will become a very common occurrence on this blog. The cornerstone of my new blog. The license plate spotlight. This is my very first one, so comments are welcome, but here we go.

The perpetrator: a silver Dodge Magnum with black racing stripes. There it was sitting in the scalding hot parking lot of the Dublin Best Buy. In case I was unsure of the fanaticism of the vehicle, it was adorned with a back-window filling Oakland Raider's sticker. In seven characters this driver let it be known that he was the biggest Raiders fan this side of the Caldecott Tunnel.

"ALDAVIZ" on this California piece of stamped aluminum is what it said. That is a reference to Al Davis, the Oakland Raiders owner and overseer of operations. The aging and possibly senile captain of the Silver and Black has lost a majority of popularity among die-hard fans since the team's return to the Bay Area.

This would not phase this fanatic, since his car could not be older than the 2002 model, the year the ugly car was introduced. Seriously it looks like a sumo sat on a Dodge Durango.

In seven characters, this person decided to enshrine his team and their senile leader. Don't get me wrong, I love the Raiders and have season tickets, I just don't think it was the best choice for this person to put the slightly Hitler-like owner on his car. And to spell it with a "z" instead of an "s" makes me wonder if there is a bigger idiot out there (or maybe Al himself) who has claimed the original spelling.

Who knows? It could be Al's son, I know he lives in the area, but putting your Dad's name on your car would be a little strange. Like making a Michael Jackson joke now that the King of Pop has passed away. It is OK, Al Davis is better at collecting debt. I just am not sure about the motivations of a person who chooses to put the name of an NFL team owner on their car.

Do you think this use of seven characters on a license plate is worth the extra money each year you have to pay to keep it? I don't think so. The person with the plate could have spent the money on something more pertinent, like parking at the Coliseum's lot. $20 a game adds up.

Second Transformers, Twice As Nice

I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the other day and I thought it was fantastic. Megan Fox running around looking scandalous and Bumblebee kicking butt, it was awesome. So awesome, that it made me forget that I was watching a two-and-a-half hour Chevrolet advertisement. I am all for helping bail out a major corporation, but I have to say as a Chevy owner, that I was disappointed with a couple of the vehicle selections.

Bumblebee is the the Camaro Transformer, and like the last movie, I thought he was awesome. The other Autobot I was happy to see was Sideswipe (Movie version pictured). He originally was a Lamborghini in the cartoon version, but like Bumblebee switching from a Beetle to a Camaro, Sideswipe makes the transformation into the jaw-dropping Corvette Stingray Concept. Ratchet and Ironhide return as their original vehicles from the 2007 movie, a search and rescue Hummer H2 and a GMC Topkick.

The cars I was disappointed with were the twins, Mudflap a red Chevy Trax and and Skids a green Chevy Beat. The third disappointment was Jolt the Autobot who transforms into the blue Chevy Volt. The nature of these Autobots are small cars that work together to form a powerful combination. The twins ended up being a bunch of babbling idiots and Jolt ended up only doing one thing in the movie. The choices for their cars were what had me struggling to eat my popcorn. I loved the movie, but Chevy almost ruined it for me.

Other than my slight disappointment with a few of the vehicle choices for the Autobots I thought the movie was great and I can't wait for the next one to come out two years from now.

Box This Lap: Full Service

Hello everyone. I am back from my blogging break and I have decided (once again) to change the format of my blog. I tried for a while, while I was commuting via bus to campus, to try and write about my daily commute. While that plan didn't turn out to be a success, I found in its attempt my love for everything automotive. And the most common thing I come across on my daily driving (other than people who cannot drive) are those oh-so common vanity plates.

This is going to be the "new" shtick of my blog, while also talking about new vehicles, my own vehicle searches and professional motor sports. Sorry, no NASCAR here. I for one think it is not difficult to turn left for 500 miles.

Since I have changed the blog format, the URL and my blog name, I am hoping that you will hang in with me while I change around the settings and try to come up with a custom blog design that fits the new format. I have sort of a backlog on vanity plates that I am itching to get up on this thing and some will come real soon.

So make sure to drop in regularly and also add/comment about the absurd, funny, freaky and confusing vanity plates you see out there on the roads.