IWERKS TEAMS ON THRILL RIDE FOR RACE FANS.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer BURBANK - For auto racing fans looking to capture the excitement of Sunday's Daytona 500 with a big screen, thundering stereo and a fan to blow their hair back, Iwerks Entertainment Iwerks Entertainment was founded in 1985 by Stan Kinsey and Don Iwerks, two former Disney Executives, and became well known through 1996 as a leading developer of special venue and virtual reality theaters throughout the world. Inc. has done one better. The Burbank-based company will use the race to film scenes for a theme park ride that will take fans on a hair-raising, 200 mph ride to victory in the famed NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Winston Cup race. Fans will experience this from hydraulically gyrated seats in the ``Daytona Dream Laps'' simulator set to open in June at a park outside the racetrack in Daytona Beach Daytona Beach (dātō`nə), city (1990 pop. 61,921), Volusia co., NE Fla., on the Atlantic coast and Halifax River (a lagoon); inc. 1876. Center of a rapidly urbanizing area, in a region settled by Spanish Franciscans in the 17th cent. , Fla. Much of the four-minute ride was filmed Thursday in a 15-minute gap between qualifying rounds, with two camera cars chasing eight stock cars around the two-mile track before 150,000 fans. The action is experienced from a first-person perspective. ``You push the car to the limit and are having fun and then the ride gets a little wilder and suddenly you make a mistake and do a 360(-degree spinout spin·out n. An instance of spinning out: a motorist who was injured in a spinout. ),'' said Iwerks executive producer Doug Yellin. The distraction can be blamed on the fact that after a warmup lap, riders suddenly find themselves racing against motorsports legends Dale Earnhardt This article is about the elder Dale Earnhardt. For his son, see Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. For the racing team he founded, see Dale Earnhardt, Inc.. Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. and and Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937) is a former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver. "The King," as he is nicknamed, is most well-known for winning the NASCAR Championship seven times (Dale Earnhardt is the only other driver to accomplish this feat),winning a record 200 races . The driver then takes a pit stop for reassurance from the crew before rejoining the race for the final two laps and the checkered flag. ``We are extremely excited to be working with Iwerks again on this unique project,'' said Aubrey Harris, director of operations at Daytona USA Daytona USA may refer to:
The 32-seat theater, ride equipment and high-definition projection system that shows the images on a 23-foot screen will be owned by Daytona USA. It is the second project Iwerks has done for the park, the first being an attraction that opened in 1996 and continues to show a large-format film about auto racing. Iwerks has been designing and building these projection systems and ride simulators since 1986. It now has almost 200 installations in 38 countries at amusement parks This page contains a list of amusement parks by
Until now, Daytona USA did not have an action ride. Footage from Sunday's race, which kicks off the Winston Cup circuit with an $8 million purse, will be used to highlight the race and its history in clips to be shown before people board the ride. ``Ever since he joined the company four years ago, Doug Yellin has brought a special, dynamic quality and versatility to our production department,'' said Don Iwerks, chairman and co-founder of Iwerks Entertainment. ``Once again, he has assembled a first-rate team to produce a film that audiences will respond to and want to see more than once.'' |
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