Last week, I got a call from Cam Douglas at Optima Batteries wondering if I would like to have my car in a TV commercial. That was an easy decision, of course! The filming was going to happen at Union Grove, so I trailered my car there. I have no problem driving the car 600 miles round trip as I've put over 3500 miles on it in the last 8 weeks, but if something happened on the way there or at the track, I'd have been screwed, so I trailered it there.
I've been around my share of magazine photo shoots, but filming a TV production is totally different. There had to have been at least 30 people with different duties, and it was one of those hurry up and wait kind of deals. Optima had rented the Great Lakes Dragway from 1 to 5. I got there a bit early, unloaded, cleaned the bugs off the car, torqued the lug nuts, etc.
The whole premise of the shot was my car doing a burnout, stage, and launch - all in 5 seconds or less. Now there's no way that can be done using a typical water box, staging lights, etc. So we had a person from the track manually running the tree with the staging lights already blocked so they were on. I'd start my burnout in the staging area, run it until I got decent smoke, lift, roll ahead 4 feet and 'hit my mark', the track guy would trigger the tree, and I'd launch, running the car WOT through 1st and 2nd.
I had a two radio in my car and the Director would yell all that typical Hollywood stuff; ready, positions, video, and... action. It was really odd, I've never done a burnout on an 'action' command. I would do all the predescribed actions while hitting my marks, then stop at about the eighth mile and back down the staging area again. In all, I'm guessing I did that about ten times.
The filming was being done from inside the box of a Toyota truck, with him in the left lane and me in the right. The truck would launch the same time I would, so the camera's perspective would follow the car. For two of the takes, the Director wanted me to equal the acceleration of the Toyota truck. Sure, no problem. Well, easier said than done. I was so focused on the steps, hitting my marks, launching with the tree, I totally forgot that I was supposed to lose. lol That's REALLY hard to do!
Optima had loaned me a really nice Sparco racing suit, but it was black. Between the black suit, black gloves, and helmet, that hour or so of sitting in the car got pretty hot! I was required to wear all the safety gear since this will be seen on TV. You know, professional driver, closed course stuff they have on commercials. From the angle they were shooting, I doubt anyone will even be able to see me anyways.
I didn't know it at the time, but there was a test and tune at the track starting at 5. As we were wrapping up, the locals had have been wondering WTH I was doing, going down the track and backing back up again.
I know I used up a bit of the Nitto DR's, but I learned what they like and got a pretty good idea on what the car wants for a good launch. I was leaving at about 3000 with a quick clutch release. It was spinning pretty good in the top of 1st and into 2nd. Unfortunately, I was never able to make a full pass with timing lights. I'll try to get to my local track sometime this month.
Cam thought the TV commercial would hit the air in about 90 days as they have post production, corporate reviews, and distribution to work through. I'll get a copy, so I'll post it once I have it. As for the commercial itself, it takes place from the perspective of a truck, first driving through a marina, through some tuner crowd, past some mud trucks doing their thing, then closing with my launch at the track. So ultimately, it will probably be all of 5 or 6 seconds of my car.
In the end, it was something really cool to be a part of. It was a bit of a tow, but it was a really fun experience. It's pretty high exposure, Cam said this commercial will be distributed to all their global markets.
Many thanks to Randy Johnson for taking pics of all the action while I was driving. He has one bitchin Chevelle!
What a cool view, the whole track all to myself.
Figuring out what angles to use, where our marks would be, etc.
Rigging the camera. I forgot to ask if they were filming in HD, but I suspect they were.
ALL of these people were involved with the filming.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Filming OPTIMA Batteries TV commercial
Thanks for sharing the pictures.
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