Andy Hillenburg's ARCA Race Shop History: Talladega Nights Dennit Racing (Fast Track Racing)

I'm Andy Hillenburg and this is where they filmed that scene I didn't even realize I had that we built this car a right-and drive car special for the movies this might be the largest racing seat ever made the shop we're about to go into you have definitely seen the inside of before but you may not know it this is where they filmed all the out ticks to Talladega kns I've been involved in racing my whole life uh driver owner crew member race official remember if you don't chew big red you ain't you got to [Laughter] be too big red yeah this was home of denit racing and the movie Talladega Nights with Will frell we've got to do a few other movies Dale three the Dale Earnhart story and Herby fully loaded oh probably about 120 or so of the race commercials if youve seen a race commercial in the last 25 years chances are pretty pretty good that we had some equipment in it or was driving in it or doing something when when you walk in here this feels like one of these places that you have seen before but you don't know why like this right here I feel like I've seen that before uh yeah they actually built a a a set right here and used this for havin commercial back when Jamie McMurray drove the havlin car and this was all um part of the super secret lab uh that they built I'm curious about what particular positions were used in Talladega kns and the scenes and what your experience was like during that process well we ended up providing probably 20 of the cars for Talladega kns they originally started out doing them all theirself and then they needed 80 and there was just no way they could do it and three to four months that they had to get ready it took them a month or so to realize that and then next thing you know is like oh here we need this this and this and so we um provided all the cars from the '90s era when had the laughing clown car and and that that was actually part of our collection for a while and uh that car was sold to a guy up in Pennsylvania and uh kind of wish we still had that car actually now uh but at the time when you have so many race cars and things in the way you need room and uh most of the building stuff was here and then we would actually film a lot of our scenes we were unit 2 so we filmed a lot at night while the first unit will frell and John Riley and those guys would film during the day so there was a lot of times when it was 24-hour production schedules were so crazy I remember will frell actually wanted to meet me it's a funny story he won't remember this of course but he wanted to meet me because we like I say we supplied some of the cars and and he sent word over hey come over there or somebody did Will wants to meet you and I'm like look I'm busy you guys aren't going to get a movie if I don't get my job done so I was always busy and then one day they actually filmed all the Victory Lane shots in the movie were filmed in our parking lot they built two or three different sets and then would change the the signs California Speedway Martinsville or whatever Speedways they use they changed the signs and all the group shots were done here in our parking lot so he was over here that day and we were working on the car and he came over and they're like here meet will and I remember shaking his hand and I'm like look I got to go I'm making your movie uh like I said he won't remember that but I did it was it was funny I wish I would have got to talk to him a little bit more but you know those scenes were fun my kids uh they're all grown now but they were all out there in the Victory Lane scenes except the one and U the one where he met his wife they came and threw all the kids out they had to come and sit in the office then but uh they were out there in the crowd when they you know say cheer and stuff but it was neat to to drive in to work and you look over and you know Michael Clark Duncan was you know like he's sitting there in the in your parking lot doing doing uh doing stuff so it was pretty neat the the magic man and all those scenes and stuff were right out here pretty neat can you show us where the sure where the sets were yeah we'll go right out here this building wasn't here uh when they filmed that but the first set was right over here main set was right in front of this building here and so all the crowds and stuff were right here and cheering and like I say the Victory Lane stuff the race car parked right there and I would see it as I'd come over to grab Parts cuz we filmed uh at Rockingham Talladega and Charlotte uh mostly at Charlotte we'd be over working on the cars at day and the day driving at night trying to get a couple hours sleep in between now they do a lot of stuff CGI or so but back then I mean if there was a 100 people in the seene they were all standing right there in the frame so where did they Park I'll back we do have 23 Acres so the parking lot's out back is this the same pavement that was there oh it's the same pavement it's got a few more cracks in it these days but uh thr any holes in it to Anchor stuff or anything where you could tell the no no they that part they didn't I can take you over here and show you a part that Dale Jr did a burnout in our parking lot how long did that process take uh I think they were filming a good two or 3 days on all that because like I say they changed the set the Victory Lanes are a little bit different yep here they are they're still here we got two rubber marks from a TV show that Dale Jr did over here and uh he burnt the burnt the pavement out little things like that that's funny did you go into his tires SP really close they were down to the cord [Laughter] oh boy here you want to turn around that way yeah where are we standing right now yeah this is it was they were filming right there camera and and uh it was back here obviously everything looks a lot different now but you can see the electrical box on the wall and the conduit is in the same place and that can kind of confirm it is actually the same spot this is where they filmed all the out ticks to um Talladega Nights remember if you don't chew big red you ain't you got to [Laughter] be too big red yeah maybe we'll put that clip at the beginning of the video oh boy you could be like I'm Andy hillenberg and this is where they film that scene I'm Andy hillenberg and this is where they filmed that scene we're doing our own our blue for real right now is that the only thing they filmed in here um that's the only thing they filmed for that movie I'm trying to think we did a couple other commercials in here but I can't remember which ones they were like I say I wish I'd wrote all this down you made me want to do that I'll start keeping better record of that now I like how you got a consistent theme inside all these buildings they all kind of look the same the same office ledge set my design of what works for a race shop cool thank you will no problem do there you too you said the the three movie was that filmed inside there at all one scene was the unveiling of the Goodwrench car was actually done down in building five which building here was the first one and when did you build it the first one is actually where we did the Talladega kns and it's down there on the the left and then we built that with it so those two were first and this one uh where they're actually numerical order so building three and then this one's four down here's building five but this is where we shot the Earnhart stuff we built I think 27 cars for that movie that was a little bit smaller production then uh Herby fully loaded and Talladega kns but it was a lot of period pieces we had cars from the 30s all the way up to 2001 oh here's another collaer actually this one's from the day Earnhart store right here that's cool I didn't even realize I had that and rolling right now like I say it's classic cars is this one or that one where they did the dent racing press conference where you could see the like the doors and the ledge in the background and stuff that one was the first building building one okay I I I think were um uh Devin where we got to get into and they did the outtakes and stuff from there oh the uh the if you don't sh big red stuff that was all that one that was all the end stuff when it was kind of when they were they were making all kinds of stuff up and I don't think hardly I don't think half of that was scripted actually cuz when you do get start building all the equipment when you when you do start building the stuff you know they'll give you a copy of the portion of the script that you're helping with so you kind of can see what's going on and what they're what they're filming and once you're involved in making movies um you watch them differently I'll tell you that um now I I might look for a different camera angle or or something like that like I say now you're Mitchell you're making me want to wish even more that I had written all this stuff down um cuz there are so many memories at the time you know I just it was a job and and we're hurrying and but now you you know kind of looking back on it it's like wow we got to do this we got to do that and and uh so I appreciate you bringing all these memories back up what we're we're glad to do it's we find that a lot with doing these at just kind of looking at things and doing a little bit of you know rehydrating those memories make stuff pop back up that if you're put on the the spot doesn't necessarily live there all the time we did a commercial for ESPN and Carl Edwards and we actually built a a car and it was a bunch of clowns like Carl is not even afraid of a bunch of clowns and in that commercial I'm the one that's actually driving and they did the full clown makeup the full everything and I was driving the car that um was full of clowns and we had to make bench seats and stuff full get up I mean uh full Bozo yes full Bozo please tell me you have a picture uh yes I do I have to text that one to you uh it uh that one is on YouTube cuz my kids found it oh my gosh when you were building all these different buildings was there a time where you and your driving school and race team you used all of them yes initially that was what we did this was the driving school building the race team was down here and the first building was the fabrication shop and uh that was our paint and body shop have a bead blast business as well where we take care of um I would say about 80% of all the race teams bring their equipment here for us to remove the paint we've been doing that for over 25 years so anything to do with racing I'll give it a try at least once or twice you got a lot of stuff going on like I just think all the the the production stuff and you got that you got the school and the race team like where when did you sleep or eat um there wasn't a lot of time for any of that I'll be boy 61 this year and you look back and go where did it all go well that's where it all went so uh was in those that time frame and I had a commercial six or seven years ago where I broke my back really bad had um was laid up for about 6 months and since then I put on about 40 lbs So eventually I'll get back into fighting shape and then maybe I'll do a little more racing or something go back and run one or two that'd be cool yeah yeah let's see more of what you got going on in here now sure don't take this the wrong way but you'd be really good at reading like audio books oh your voice is like very calming you know what I mean I would do that if you you can show me how I would love to do that that'd be cool that if you know how I can do that I would love to do that that's something that I would like to do you could write your own book and then narrate it it seems like you need to write your own book I know some of your favorite stuffs upstairs what's that up he knows am I that oh I do have a couple things upstairs actually you you must have talked to Tim no I watch show before oh really yeah no Tim Yeah Tim work here for a while so it's funny whenever we got to see in here a little bit a couple years ago after we did the video with the Robert G's old shop with Tim Monroe that's how we met him he sent me a message and then he's like yeah I work for Andy Hillenburg you want to see the shop so after we filmed that he showed us in here and I'm like wow that's really cool so when we go building cars this is where we'll start [Laughter] we come up here and start grabbing parts and putting pieces together yeah hold me back so originally Mitchell I told you that we didn't really keep things from but I do have a couple things here this is from the three the Dale Earnhart movie this was hanging on the wall in one of the scenes uh um I think with Dale and his dad I can't remember I haven't seen the movie since really it came out but this was hanging up and we we kept that that was that was pretty cool Dodge commercial here the bud hood is from the Chevrolet commercial that we did I think around 2003 or so with um and the feature drivers were Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr and uh I drove as Dale Jr in that commercial is that a real Hood yeah yeah looks like it's got the all the right bracing in the protective cover these were the real ones for that that shot and the old graveyard we got all kinds of cool stuff up here I'm surprised you don't have those hanging up on the wall someday maybe someday and watch your legs when you go by here so you don't get wiped out oh yeah this is from an episode of the righteous gemstones uh that was just out I think season 3 so I think it's on right now on HBO uh we did all that filming at Darlington and um the our our hero had to go out and run a race and you know of course he wrecked so these are a couple of pieces like to say from the righteous gemstones was that on purpose or yeah yeah so you had to hit the wall on purpose yeah oh yeah so I guess I did have more movie movie stuff than I than I thought did you keep any uh older things from your own racing I think I've got the hood I had the body of the car oh well I I did not plan this this is the the hood that I finished third at Daytona in uh for the bush race I think in 1999 so um looks like it must have been an interesting finish it was it down and sliding through the grass K it around white and yellow flag Atwood's car is destroyed Andy helenberg gets in the back of him and he gets him the outside wall you can see the 18 car there the hoods all torn up on it where he got in the back of casy Atwood it was right up and almost over Mike mlan but uh Gordon Gibbs a friend of mine he was Crew Chief and he just passed away a couple years ago and he had always kept that and his wife gave it to me so yeah this one will go up someday uh that was my pitboard from the indd 500 right there uh when I got to run the indd 500 so when was that 2000 wow I didn't know that long time ago bill Simpson for president yeah bill was part owner for that and um that is uh those are the signs actually from the Indie days um that hung over the garage in the um when I did run run Indie bam racing uh that was the the year that I went up and tried to qualify for the Brickyard we did not end up qualifying but um I kept those signs as well so you're from Indiana aren't you yes yes I grew up there on the south side and so to me Indianapolis was a very big deal this is actually one of our movie seats here I think this actually might be the one I broke my back with they're made with special stuff so you can hopefully keep from breaking your back oh here's another one uh we did an episode for Shaquille O'Neal the Sha um the Sha versus sha race Dale Jr and we built a car for Shaquille O'Neal and that is the seat that we use for him and then we filmed a Danica Patrick commercial for Aspen Dental cut the bottom of the floor out of the car and bottom the seat and she stood up in it and there was a driver actor on her lap so to speak in the shot so she was standing up with her back and we used Shack seat since it was big enough for two people and um can we get this out for size reference to see how massive it really is well to give you an idea Shaq when he was standing next to me he called me coach cuz I was his coach for the episode to get him to race Dale Jr and uh when I was standing next to him I would look at his elbow that's how big Shaq was or is I mean he's he's huge was that custom made for him there's no way nobody makes a seat that big I couldn't even find one for me that was there's actually another one around cuz we had to build a backup car so we built two cars for Shaq in case one went down or he crashed because filming was only two days and you wouldn't have time to get another one ready so we actually built two cars for Shaq and this one like I say it ended up getting a second life out of it with Dan how did he do if he ever watches this which Shaq I love you he did great in the practice deal absolutely wonderful like I'm like okay cuz and they head started it and you know Dale's guys said okay how much they prepared his car over at hendrik Motorsports and they're like all right how what kind of lap times can he run let's figure it out so we'll get you know Shaq a two-lap head start or whatever so they had the time figured but Shaq was actually doing great and he went over to Dale Junior's shop and Junior's showed him around and like he's got a he had a fire a uniform that he caught on fire and pictures of cars upside down and quite honestly it made Shaq pretty nervous that he'd signed up for that we needed to do the practice and then go into the race and he would have been way better but after he had two nights to think about it um he didn't do he didn't do as good when when Junior showed him a crash pile and cars tore up and pictures of cars on fire and a uniform that he had that was all burned up um Shaq got a little bit more nervous so he was a little bit slower on race day actually than he was in practice and I'm if he'd run the same speed in practice he might have beat Junior maybe was that carefully planned sabotage or just a coincidence uh I think both of them were laughing about it I think Junior knew what he was doing but um I I Shaq took it to heart there and the first thing he said to me that morning when we showed up for the race he's like coach I don't care what you do just get me out here alive like like okay no problem you're going to be fine just do what you did in practice uh but it was a that was a fun episode that's great I was not expecting so he's just as cool as he seems oh yes yes um yes sha is a great a great person a great representative for sports um he does a lot of things for people behind the scenes um yes he's you know in this day and age when you don't really get what you think you're getting um you get more than than you think from Shaq he he's tremendous absolutely tremendous like a really cool guy yes good person so see you brought up more memories I'd forgotten about that one Mitchell I'd forgotten about the Sha versus oh let's see 1982 most unusual performance Andy hillenberg that's 40 some years ago um what does that mean I raced in every division they had um that division or that racetrack ran like four or five different divisions and I ran I raced in every Division I found a ride in every Division and that's what they they put on there so yeah well I forgot about that that's uh I don't feel like there's there's a better was it an adjective I'm not good at English there's a better descriptive word than unusual for that like what did you do that made so unusual that could be a lot of things yeah yeah well I guess nobody had done that before or since with that many so yeah so there's there are a lot of memories tucked away Mitchell I guess that I've not uh that I've just forgotten about so to speak you got all kinds of stickers in here I can spend hours just looking at Old decals that were never stuck to anything yeah those tail lights look really nice the print was really clear yeah it is…