So drag racing got its moment in the spotlight with "Heart Like A Wheel", and I think we'd all like to forget Hollywood's attempts at dramatizing NASCAR and street racing. However, the fastest form of wheeled racing on earth only now gets a chance to hit the silver screen (At least I think this is the first movie about land speed racing; I'm sure I'll find out from our readers if I'm mistaken). In The World's Fastest Indian (tagline: "Based on one hell of a true story"), Sir Anthony Hopkins will play the role of Burt Munro, a crazed Kiwi who's goal in life was to bring his Indian Chief motorcycle and peculiar brand of backyard engineering to the Bonneville salt flats.

Stories of Munro's inventiveness abound, from casting pistons in beach sand to machining his own connecting rods from tractor axle components. How much of this is truth and how much is gearhead urban legend, I can't say; what I do know is that any 68-year-old man who lays his bike down at estimated speeds of over 200 MPH is someone that I would have been happy to hang with. Whether this will be properly captured on celluloid, I have no idea, but I'm getting goosebumps and chills thinking about how cool this movie could be (sorry, folks - I'm a real nerd when it comes to this type of thing).  

For those seeking additional info on Burt Munro, there's a page dedicated to the man and his motorcyle.