Dixie Speedway seems to attract moviemakers, from the 1982 film “Six Pack” to the upcoming “Turpentine.” Want to get an additional fix of dirt racing? Check out “Champion The Movie,” now streaming on Angel.
The award-winning movie centers around dirt track racer Sean Weathers, who has a rivalry with another racer that turns personal. Weathers’ life changes when the ego that made him successful becomes the reason for a tragedy that then turns his life around.
Champion The Movie was first run in select theaters after its 2016 filming. In 2017, it won awards from the CWVFF [Christian World View Film Festival] for best feature film and audience choice. The film also received a nomination for best gospel presentation.
“We were at First Baptist Church in Woodstock when the future producer of the film, Judd Banon, told us of his idea,” said Mia Green, who owns Dixie Speedway with her husband, Marshall. “Judd was doing video content for us. His dream was to make a movie, and we said yes, absolutely.”
The family-friendly film delivers a a strong message of hope breaking through darkness, according to Angel.
“If someone wants to create a film at our racetrack, and it has a message for family values and strong community, we are all for it,” Green said. “We have had movies filmed at our track over the years.”
They filmed the movie over the course of several occasions during regular racing programs.
“They had to get acclimated,” Green said. “Marshall and I met with them several times to get the lingo down — they wanted the script to be authentic — and it is.”
Green admitted filmmakers staged at least one scene for the movie. Directors told the track’s drivers when to react and the fans when to cheer.
“They loved every minute of it,” Green said. “They filmed scenes in the shop of Capital Race Cars, which is on the property. Also filmed scenes at local sites in our community, Cherokee County.”
Actors used actual super late models — those of Jason Croft and TJ Reaid — in Champion The Movie. Racing action featured those cars in the real-life field of competition.
As Champion the Movie makes its Angel debut, Green, who saw the movie when it debuted at Regal Cinemas in a 2017 red carpet event, is again excited.
“The movie is timeless,” Green said. “It is a good family film because it is about forgiveness — and we all need forgiveness.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
