Movie increases Stallone's respect for Champ car
drivers
By MIKE HARRIS
AP Motorsports Writer
April 7, 2001
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Sylvester Stallone,
the star and driving force behind a new movie revolving around
the CART series, said his introduction to open-wheel race cars
was not what he expected.
``I wasn't aware that you basically lie down in the
car, so it was very odd realizing that you go into the great
unknown basically feet first and that was kind of unnerving,''
said the man who starred in the ``Rambo'' and ``Rocky''
movies.
``Second, there was a rattling all the time I was
driving the car, so I thought, 'This car's coming apart,' until
I realized it was my knees. So there's a fear factor that permeates
one, and I realized it takes quite a while to get your heart,
your body, your adrenal glands to settle down.''
Stallone, who did a lot of his own driving
in ``Driven,'' which will premier in Los Angeles on April
16 and go into wide release April 27, said he spun out numerous
times during his preparation at a Las Vegas driving school.
``It finally dawned on me about drift and precision
and powering into an apex and speeding coming out so it's just
getting the actual flow,'' he said. ``It's almost like music
and you start getting into a hypnotic rhythm. Then you start
to push a little bit more and push a little bit more, and I was
captivated by that.''
The actor, who appears to be very physically fit,
was also surprised by the G Forces a driver is subject to.
``The next day, I was totally aware of it when I had
to have someone brush my teeth for me,'' he said. ``I couldn't
move my hand, I couldn't form a fist, my neck, forget it, you
could use my head for a lamp, I couldn't move.''
He came away from the project with great admiration
for professional race drivers.
``I try to explain to people that driving a race car
is like speeding across an ice field.'' Stallone said.
``The car is almost floating and that's the skill of driving,
maintaining this car while its barely having adhesion ... to
the track. It just puts you right to that ragged edge. That's
an extraordinary skill to maintain that balance and coordination.''
-Craig Zablo (April 8, 2001) |
