Fast and Famous | 4

Larger Than Life

Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times, Documentary, Street Racer, Neon Hum Media, Street Car, 60s, True Crime, Drag Racing, Daniel Miller, Watts Riots, Society & Culture, Big Willie, Big Wilie Robinson, 1960s, Race, Class, L.a. Times

4.4 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 16 July 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 4: Big Willie Robinson has a surprising career turn in the entertainment industry, working as an actor, rubbing shoulders with A-listers and appearing in some iconic 1970s films. He even has connections to the “The Fast and the Furious” and “Star Wars” film franchises. Learn more about the story, sign up for new episode alerts and go behind the scenes at latimes.com/LTL

Transcript

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0:00.0	The most famous event at Brotherhood Raceway involved, of all things, Star Wars.
0:07.2	In 1977, at the height of the film's popularity, Big Willie Robinson staged a special night of races on Terminal Island with help from Lucasfilm,
0:16.2	the production company behind the space opera. Stormtroopers were there. Darth Vader was there.
0:22.5	No other racetrack got a visit from the official Star Wars characters.
0:26.3	And it drew a huge crowd.
0:28.4	The only racetrack on the planet, only Big Willie, because the people call, we have a track
0:34.8	here in Tennessee, We want Star Wars.
0:37.8	We want Darth Vader.
0:39.0	This is sorry.
0:40.6	Well, Big Willie had him.
0:42.5	Well, that's a different story.
0:45.0	I didn't tell George Lucas don't do that.
0:47.8	Don't let nobody else have them.
0:49.7	The Star Wars event is legendary among members of the Brotherhood of Street Racers.
0:54.4	I discussed it with Fabian Arroyo during his lunch break at work.
0:57.8	He's a teamster and handles transportation for films and TV productions.
1:02.0	We sat in a van featuring the logo of the Walt Disney Company, which owns Lucasfilm.
1:06.3	But Fabian wouldn't discuss the TV project he was working on, no matter how uncanny of a coincidence
1:11.2	it was.
1:14.5	How weird is it that we're sitting in a Disney-owned van talking about Darth Vader and
1:20.9	the Brotherhood down at Terminal Island, and you're working on this project?
1:25.3	It's too, I don't know, like it's meant to be.
	...

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