Talladega Nights Characters Featured in New Dodge Commercial

Dodge celebrates J.D. Power titles with the help of the newest Charger, Durango and Challenger models.

Dodge recently claimed the top spot in the J.D. Power APEAL Study and J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, marking the first time that a domestic automaker has taken home those titles in the same year. The brand management wanted to celebrate winning those two titles in the same year, but they wanted to go big. After all, this is Dodge – the company with an 807-horsepower muscle car, a 797-horsepower sedan and a 710-horsepower three-row SUV. An average commercial just won’t do.

So Dodge teamed up with Sony Pictures and actor Gary Cole to create a commercial themed after the hit movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. With the help of a pair of child actors and a trio of the newest high performance Dodge vehicles, the resulting commercial is pure gold. It combines the high performance bloodlines of the brand with the humor of the movie, leading to a 60-second video that has already proven to be very popular on social media.

“In our 60-second film, we needed to stay 100 percent true to the spirit of the original film, while simultaneously communicating the Dodge brand’s record of ‘firsts’ as ranked by our owners,” said Olivier Francois, Chief Marketing Officer. “Maintaining brand authenticity extended beyond Sony Pictures, including our music alliance with Columbia Records and AC/DC, in addition to Gary Cole reprising his role as Reese Bobby, and having the original movie’s cinematographer, Oliver Wood, involved with this project. Together, we were able to accomplish this epic creative endeavor celebrating the Dodge brand’s first-place wins, which could almost be envisioned as a deleted scene from the original movie.”

Dodge Family Motto

This new Dodge commercial is titled “Family Motto” and it takes place in Talladega County circa 1981. The first clip shows a white Charger Redeye being chased by a Durango Hellcat. When the camera moves inside the supercharged SUV, we see Cole acting as Reese Bobby, scolding his son Ricky Bobby. When the camera bounces into the 797-horsepower sedan, we see that Ricky is 10 years old. The young boy proclaims that he just wants to go fast while his dad insists that he was only to do burnouts and donuts in the new Charger.

As the younger Bobby attempts to avoid his dad, he is joined by his young friend Cal Naughton Jr, in a 2020 Challenger SRT Super Stock. While the two kids continue to hoon the high performance Mopar machines, they point out that they aren’t actually driving, going so far as to show the driver who actually drove the red Challenger.

As the commercial nears its end, Reese Bobby tells his son to remember the family motto. Ricky suggests the motto of “wake up in the morning and piss excellence” while young Cal replied with “always get a DNA test”, both of which are great advice. However, the dad is looking for the most famous line from the movie, “if you ain’t first, you’re last”.

As the three race off into the distance, we get a look at the J.D. Power, reminding us that in those key categories, Dodge is first and everyone else is last.

Crank up your speakers and enjoy!

Photos: FCA

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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