Fireball 500 Synopsis (This excerpt is from the original Fireball 500 pressbook, published in 1966 by American International Pictures.)
Stock car racing driver �Fireball� Dave Owens (Frankie Avalon) arrives at the racing center town of Spartanburg, South Carolina, seeking to win some money at the local meet. He contacts racing promoter Charlie Bigg (Harvey Lembeck), and moves on to the town carnival where he watches the spiel of �Big Jaw� Harris (Chill Wills) and becomes attracted to his beautiful niece, Jane Harris (Annette Funicello). Dave soon learns that she is in love with Sonny Leander Fox (Fabian), local stock car racing champion who runs illegal liquor at night and is the town�s leading ladies� man. Dave and Leander meet and, with their mutual interest in Jane, a social and racing rivalry develop.
Their first race is won by Dave and afterwards he is introduced by Charlie to beautiful and wealthy Martha Brian (Julie Parrish) who immediately takes a liking to him. She and Charlie get Dave to drive in what they call a �cross country night race� which he discovers is transporting illegal liquor and evading federal law officers. Meanwhile the rivalry between Dave and Leander culminates in a �figure 8� race in which the two narrowly escape death in a near-head-on collision. As Dave prepares to challenge Leander in the big stock car race, two federal agents ask him to cooperate in breaking the illegal liquor operation under threat of jail for his moonshine driving. He agrees but when Martha confronts him after overhearing the deal, he says that it was only a ruse to avoid arrest.Dave changes his mind about the liquor operation when he learns that a jobber has been killed and his liquor stolen in a mysterious night car crash in which an oncoming car forced the car off the road to avoid a head-on collision. Dave suspects that Leander is connected with the death and even more so when he himself narrowly escapes in the same kind of situation. When Leander beats him in the big race, Dave�s ill feelings explode, and the two come to blows.
Afterwards, the two make up and agree to drive together in an effort to solve the mystery of the oncoming car which threatens to collide head-on. When they encounter the headlights of the car, they refuse to �chicken� and find that it was only an illusion caused by a huge mirror pushed across the road.
They set a trap to find who is behind the plot and catch Charlie who was double-crossing Martha and trying to kill Dave for diverting her from him. With Leander cleared of complicity in the scheme, he and Dave race again to establish their personal racing superiority. This time Dave wins when Leander crashes and is badly burned. Though his racing career is over, Leander wins Jane, while Martha joins Dave to continue racing across the country.
Bright Newcomer Julie Parrish Stars in Stock Car Race Thriller
(This excerpt is from the original Fireball 500 pressbook, published in 1966 by American International Pictures.)
Young actresses with a flair for comedy are pretty much of a Hollywood rarity, especially good-looking and talented ones. One of those rare ones and a beauty with a firm determination to be a successful comedienne-actress is Julie Parrish who after only four years on the Hollywood scene steps up to co-star with Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello and Fabian in American International's Fireball 500.
Julie is not only set on attaining acting-comedy stardom, but she has set herself an unusually arduous and ambitious program. Toward achieving her goal, the young Kentucky-born beauty and eldest of six children has set herself a six-day-a-week regimen designed to prepare her mentally, physically and talent-wise for that type
of career. Temporarily, she subordinates her social life to work preparation with only acting jobs getting higher priority. Included in her six-day, weekly program are two days of metaphysical lessons and study, two days of voice study and practice, one day of dance study and practice, one day which is highlighted by almost six hours of comedy workshop lessons, and one day of piano study and practice.Julie came to Hollywood by way of her Middleboro, Kentucky, birthplace, a Lake City, Tennessee, childhood, schooling in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, and finally Tecumseh, Michigan, not far from Detroit, whereshe went through high school. The extensive family moving about came with her father's government Secret Service assignments.
She had her first taste of acting in high school plays, but her ambition was to be a commercial artist. She went through the University of Toledo and after graduation went to work drawing maps for title insurance companies. Then, while accompanying a girl friend to an audition, she accidentally read for and won the part of the title role in a little theater production of The Diary of Anne Frank.
It changed the whole course of Julie's life because she also started a modeling career to help support herself. It was as a winner of a national "model of the year" contest that she came to Hollywood and her first film role in Jerry Lewis' comedy It�s Only Money.
She also appeared in another Lewis film, The Nutty Professor, in Boeing, Boeing with Lewis and Tony Curtis, and most recently opposite Elvis Presley in Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Julie also has starred in episodes of TV's The Dobie Gillis Show, My Three Sons, Gunsmoke, Ben Casey and toured with Hans Conreid in the stage production Absence of a Cello.
Julie lives alone in a Beverly Hills duplex where she enjoys painting, writing, playing her piano and cooking and staying at home. She says that she is not ready for marriage because "I haven't yet met my kind of man".
Cast and Crew:Julie Parrish ............ Martha Brian
Frankie Avalon ........... Dave
Fabian ................... Leander
Annette Funicello ........ Jane
Tex Armstrong ............ Herman's Friend
Baynes Barron ............ Bronson
Billy Beck ............... Jobber
Linda Bent ............... Fan
Patti Chandler ........... Fan
Jo Collins ............... Fan
Carla Conway ............. Fan
Ed Garner ................ Herman
Sue Hamilton ............. Farmer's Daughter
Mary Hughes .............. Fan
Harvey Lembeck ........... Charlie Bigg
Len Lesser ............... Garage Man
Maria McBane ............. Fan
Michael Nader ............ Joey
Sandy Reed ............... Announcer
Renie Riano .............. Fan
Salli Sachse ............. Fan
Hedy Scott ............... Fan
Vin Scully ............... Announcer
Chill Wills .............. Big JawDirected by .............. William Asher
Writing Credits .......... William Asher
.......... Leo Townsend
Produced by .............. Samuel Arkoff
.............. J. Nicholson
.............. Burt Topper
Music .................... Les Baxter
Cinematography ........... Floyd Crosby
Film Editing ............. Fred Feitshans
............. Eve Newman
Art Direction ............ Daniel Haller
Set Decoration ........... Harry Reif
Costume Design ........... Richard Bruno
Makeup Artist ............ Ted Cooley
Special Effects .......... Frank DeMarco
Musical Director ......... Al Simms
Additional Songs ......... Guy Hemrick
......... Jerry Steiner
Production Company ....... AIP