Anyone Help With An Old Movie?

[labougie]

This is dim distant past time - I remember as a kid seeing an old b&w movie with lots of racing scenes from dirt tracks and from the Brickyard. I have an idea that it was a biography of Wilbur Shaw and I think Duke Nalon featured in it as well. Anyone know the name of the movie? There was a particular scene in which Wilbur(?) drove past a walking mechanic and scooped him up with one arm - getting the mechanic's screwdriver through his own arm in the process. Thanks in advance, labougie.

[roadmaven]

This is dim distant past time - I remember as a kid seeing an old b&w movie with lots of racing scenes from dirt tracks and from the Brickyard. I have an idea that it was a biography of Wilbur Shaw and I think Duke Nalon featured in it as well. Anyone know the name of the movie? There was a particular scene in which Wilbur(?) drove past a walking mechanic and scooped him up with one arm - getting the mechanic's screwdriver through his own arm in the process. Thanks in advance, labougie.

 

First off,

 

As for the movie in question, I first thought it might be "Winning" with Paul Newman, filmed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the late 1960's. However, after watching it recently, it was void of any dirt track scenes. So with that in mind, I'd have to say the movie you're looking for was called "The Big Wheel", starring Mickey Rooney in 1949. I've seen bits & pieces of it before, but never the whole thing. But what I do know of it is that there are dirt track and IMS scenes in it. Here's a link from Internet Movie Database about it: The Big Wheel

 

It appears it's available at ebay and Amazon for a relatively inexpensive price.

 

[labougie]

Thanks for that - it wasn't Paul Newman - much earlier - I'll check out "The Big Wheel" which sounds right - I think there was a short-assed but cheerful Micky Rooney-type character in there somewhere. Will report back when discovered. Cheers.