In honor of this week’s news that we will be getting another new Formula 1 movie, but set in the 1970s this time, we asked you to share which race car driver you believe deserves their own movie next. Maybe Brad Pitt stars in these movies, too, or maybe the driver you chose calls for a different Hollywood star, but regardless of who will play them in the movie, these are a selection of my favorite audience-submitted answers.
I was surprised to see that nobody suggested a movie about the iconic and barrier-breaking Michèle Mouton, Christine Dacremont, and Marianne Hoepfner, the all-female driver team that won their class at Le Mans in 1975. Much of the conversation about Michele Mouton’s impressive racing career focuses on her pivotal role in the rallying world in her Group B Audi Quattros through the 1980s, but I’d love to see a movie about the all-female Le Mans team in 1975, which was just one year after it became legal for a single woman to get a credit card in her own name in the United States without requiring a male co-signer. That’s pretty badass if you ask me, but you all had great answers too! Here are some of my favorites.
Mark Donohue
Donohue.
He made Penske, and the script is in Unfair Advantage. It could be a Ford vs Ferrari level of great. Get Porsche or Stelantis to invest in it and focus on those pieces of racing. Dude was a legend and we have his own words to guide the script.
Submitted by: potbellyjoe
Henry Smokey Yunick
Smokey Yunick. Legendary Nascar rule bender.
Call the movie “They never said I couldn’t.”
Submitted by: half man half bear half pig
Robert Kubica
Robert Kubica
Between his promising rise to F1, his great form in F1, his insane ’08 Canadian GP crash, his foray into rally, his accident that nearly killed him and his redemption arc back to F1 testing and his success in WEC.
The story pretty much writes itself….someone would just have to do it (and him) justice.
Submitted by: FragOut
Louis Meyer
Louis Meyer.
Didn’t know anything about him until I read his wikipedia page. There’s got to be a good movie about some guy that shows up at Indy, has a friend buy a car for him, passes his rookie test, qualifies 13th and finished 25 seconds ahead of the field. The idea of showing board racing before it was banned for being too dangerous during the Depression sounds cool.
And this doesn’t get into the Milk (he started that tradition) or the work he did with making engines that won 24 Indy 500s (yes 24 engines had his work on them).
This sounds like a epic miniseries not a movie thinking about it and I only know his name by looking up “multiple winners of the Indy 500”
Submitted by: hoser68
Jim Clark
Jim Clark, without question.
Submitted by: Que
Carroll Shelby
Carroll Shelby. How a bit of driving skill and lot of charisma got him to the top of the motorsport world. From his chicken farming days, to victory at Le Mans 59, then the retirement, to the first Cobra built, and then into the partnerships with Lee Iacocca at Ford then at Chrysler. End it with him releasing the Series 1.
Submitted by: Dr.Xyster
The Wacky Racers
Penelope Pitstop, Dick Dastardly and Muttley.
Submitted by: Not Me
The Whittington Brothers
The Whittington Brothers.
Seriously, this might be the best 80s story ever. They smuggled weed to fund their race team, won at Le Mans and almost brought down all of IMSA with them AKA the international weed smuggler’s association, as it was known by a lot of top drivers who had no sponsors but suspiciously well funded teams.
They also owned Road Atlanta and used the back straight to land their planes.
And if that doesn’t work, IMSA heavyweight John Paul supposedly smuggled about 300 tons of weed into the US and murdered 2 guys.
Submitted by: Buckfiddious
Erik Carlsson
Easy – Erik Carlsson aka Mr. Saab aka Carlsson on the Roof. Just make it a love letter to Saab and early rally racing.
Submitted by: PhillipP
Emerson Fittipaldi
Emerson Fittipaldi for what he brought to F1 regulation and safety, as Jackie Stewart also did. (edited security)
Submitted by: Luc Desaulniers (minardi)
