Steel Arena is a 1973 American sports drama film written and directed by Mark L. Lester, in his feature film directorial debut. A precursor of the Burt Reynolds school of mainstream redneck films such a Smokey and the Bandit, the movie follows the fictionalized career of auto daredevil Dusty Russell as he develops into a world class stunt driver.
The fictional Dusty ties and then breaks the world record for the auto "dive bomber," a stunt where a stock car is driven at high speed off a ramp and over a measured space to come crashing down on top of parked junk cars. Russell actually was a world champion auto daredevil who set the dive bomber record while filming Steel Arena.
The A-list film The Last American Hero that also was released in 1973 deals with a similar character, based on NASCAR driver Junior Johnson. Played by Jeff Bridges, the movie's protagonist, Junior Jackson, also works as a moonshine run driver and participates in demolition derbies before achieving success in motorsports.
Cast
Plot
After being dropped off in front of a bar in a town in rural Kentucky, transient Dusty Russell goes into the bar but doesn't have the cash to pay for the drink he orders. The bartender offers him a job for $100 driving a "tanker", a souped up car for running bootleg moonshine. As Dusty prepares for the run, the police arrive at the still but Dusty manages to escape, eluding the local sheriff and state police in the bar owner/moonshiner's 1939 Dodge, which he rolls during his escape, destroying the 50 gallons of moonshine in the trunk. Coming back to the bar to collect him money, the bartender/moonshiner refuses to pay him and has his bouncers attack Dusty. A stranger joins the fight on Dusty's side and they escape the bar, along with Jo-Ann, a waitress Dusty has taken a fancy to. The stranger turns out to be Buddy Love and he intends to enter a demolition derby but lacks a car. Dusty offers to use the bootlegger's car he ran the moonshine in for the derby, and they become partners. Dusty and Jo-Ann become lovers.
Driving in the demolition derby, Dusty is the last car running and wins the purse of $300. The derby promoter, Gene Drew, turns out to be the head of an outfit of traveling auto daredevils, The Circus of Death, stunt drivers who perform stunts such as head-on collisions and the rolling-over of cars. One of the daredevils, an old German (Dutch Schnitzler, playing himself), does the Texas dynamite trick as "Atom Man", lying in a flimsy box that is blown up by dynamite.
Gene hires Dusty as well as his partner Buddy, and Dusty turns out to be a first-rate stunt driver. Dusty becomes famous on the auto daredevil circuit for the dive bomber, running a speeding car off of a ramp at 55 mph, flying through the air 50 feet, and crashing down on parked cars. The stunt driver Crash Chambers, who has taken an instant dislike to Dusty, becomes jealous as he is relegated to the secondary attraction of smashing through a flaming wooden wall with his head, as he lies on the hood of an automobile. Buddy Love performs "The Slide of Death", a stunt where he is dragged in a sitting position through a burning circle of gasoline, but dreams of moving up to stunt driving.
Dusty quickly develops into a record-breaking auto daredevil with his dive bomber stunt. Touring the state of Texas with the Circus of Death, Dusty ties the world record of 60 feet. At the celebration of his achievement in which Dusty is given a trophy, an inebriated Gene challenges Dusty to set a new record of 100 feet. A jealous Crash verbally attacks both Dusty and Gene, claiming that the trophy should be his, denouncing Dusty is a greenhorn whose success is a matter of luck. Gene calls Crash a coward, saying that even if Dusty's success is a matter of luck, he did the dive bomber stunt whereas Crash chickened out and refused to do it. His hatred on full boil, Crash challenges Dusty to a stunt driving feat mano a mano, in which they will try to drive the other off of the road. Dusty prevails when Crash's auto rolls over due to a blown tire.