Grand Prix (1966)

James Garner: Pete Aron

Photos 

Quotes 

• Izo Yamura : Why do you drive racing cars, or do you not think about it?

  Pete Aron : Oh, Mr. Yamura, I don't think there's one of us who doesn't ask himself at least once in the middle of a race, "What the hell am I doing here?" Of course, when it's over, we conveniently forget that we asked ourselves that question. I think about it and a lot of reasons I don't know. Maybe to do something that brings you so close to the possibility of death and to survive it is to feel life and living so much more intensely.

• Pete Aron : [voiceover, during the race at Monza]  Well, none of us like Monza very much. It's so damn fast and they run so close together, it requires fantastic concentration and special skills. Slipstreaming, for instance. At speeds reaching 180 miles an hour, a race car's making a big hole in the air. As the car goes through, the air rushes back into the hole and creates a hell of a draft. And that draft's strong enough to pull a following car along at, oh, 10 miles more than his usual speed. If yours is the last car in a bunch, you can get a terrific tow. You can back way off the gas pedal and maintain the same speed. Then you can put your foot down, pull out of the slipstream and maybe overtake two, three cars at once.

  Pete Aron : [voiceover continues]  The only thing to do here is to drive just as fast as you know how, and hope your car doesn't break.

• Pete Aron : [voiceover]  You have to remember that at Monte Carlo, because of the nature of the circuit, you have to shift gears over 2600 times during the race. That's an average of once every three seconds. No reason to expect gear-box trouble... on the other hand, potential problems *are* in the back of your mind at all times.

• Pete Aron : Ah, were you in the war?

  Izo Yamura : Yes, and you?

  Pete Aron : No, I missed it by a year.

  Izo Yamura : In the war, I was a fighter pilot. I shot down 17 American planes.

  Pete Aron : Okay.

  Izo Yamura : I believe that some things must not be left unsaid. There will come a time when you will ask yourself, "What did he do in the war, this man, Yamura?"

  Pete Aron : Mr. Yamura, I like you.

  Izo Yamura : Why?

  Pete Aron : Well, because... because you come right to the point.

  Izo Yamura : In a sense, you are here because you drive a car the way I conduct my business. You come right to the point.

• Izo Yamura : Right after the war, my house in Tokyo was used by an American general and his family. When it was returned to me, it had: flowered wallpaper, three new bathrooms, and four new closets. Americans, I think, are over-devoted to bathrooms and closets.

  Pete Aron : Well, we accumulate things.

  Izo Yamura : And then you lock them away in closets. And the bathrooms?

  Pete Aron : No, no, you don't get me on that one.

• Izo Yamura : Some years ago, when I decided to race cars, I tried to buy the Jordan-BRM company.

  Pete Aron : Oh yes, I had heard that.

  Izo Yamura : Impatience on my part. I also manufacture radios and sewing machines. In order to save time, I wanted a proven product. That was not to be, however. Racing cars are not merely another product. They require great attention if any success is to be hoped for.

  Pete Aron : Then that's why you're here.

  Izo Yamura : I have been racing my cars in Formula One for two years, and have yet to win my first Grand Prix. I intend to win, by whatever means are open to me.

  Pete Aron : That's the right attitude. All you have to do is go fast enough and long enough.

  Izo Yamura : And with the best drivers! Do you want a job with me?

  Pete Aron : Driving?

  Izo Yamura : Driving, of course.

  Pete Aron : Who are you dumping?

  Izo Yamura : Dumping?

  Pete Aron : Ah, which one of your drivers are you getting rid of?

  Izo Yamura : Neither one. I am entering a third car.

  Pete Aron : That'll be expensive.

  Izo Yamura : Yes.

  Pete Aron : You've got a driver.

  Izo Yamura : My racing headquarters is at Silverstone, in England. Can you be there next week?

  Pete Aron : Yes, sir.

  Izo Yamura : We must begin to think about - Spa!

  Pete Aron : Next week, then.

  Izo Yamura : By the way, you are a terrible broadcaster!

  [Aron turns and starts heading for the door] 

  Izo Yamura : Oh, Mr. Aron, if giving you the job would have meant firing one of the other drivers, would you still have taken it?

  [Aron glares at Yamura] 

  Izo Yamura : Good!

• Pete Aron : I wanna' drive for you again, Signor Manetta.

  Agostini Manetta : Aron, your last season with me, you did nothing but tell me what was wrong with our cars. Then you left us, to follow hopes that lasted only a season. Then to Jordan, now back to me.

  Agostini Manetta : [continuing]  You confuse me, Aron. And I don't like men who confuse me driving my cars.

• Nino Barlini : And what do you think of this man? In the middle of the race, he decides to take a swim! It cost me two seconds!

  Jean-Pierre Sarti : Pete, do you ever get tired, of the driving?

  Pete Aron : No.

  Jean-Pierre Sarti : Lately, I sometimes get very tired, you know? Very tired.

• Pete Aron : Jordan says I was blocking Stoddard. Said I didn't give him a signal to pass.

  Jean-Pierre Sarti : Did you?

  Pete Aron : Of course I did. The gear box froze coming out of the tunnel and I waved him through. Got on the brakes, locked up, and threw me in front of him. Next thing I knew, I was in the Mediterranean.

  Jean-Pierre Sarti : What are you going to do now?

  Pete Aron : I don't know. Gotta' get a ride for the rest of the season. I don't know where.

• Pete Aron : I apologize for that.

  Pat Stoddard : Why?

  Pete Aron : Because it was bad manners.

  Pat Stoddard : What does it matter to you what I do or don't do? Girl has to make a living.

  Pete Aron : Last time a girl said that to me, she was stepping out of her skirt and asking for a hundred-dollar bill.

  Pat Stoddard : Making a comparison?

• Louise Frederickson : You're very superior, Mr. Aron. For the man to put Scott Stoddard where he is.

  Pete Aron : Scott put Scott where he is.

• Pat Stoddard : Why are we being so offensive?

  Pete Aron : Probably because we don't like each other.

  Pat Stoddard : Speak for yourself.

• Pete Aron : The only thing to do here is to drive just as fast as you know how and hope your car doesn't break.

• Jean-Pierre Sarti : Pete... do you ever get tired of the driving?

  Pete Aron : No.

  Jean-Pierre Sarti : Lately, I sometimes find myself getting tired. You know what I mean? Very tired.

• Pete Aron : Why do you all do that?

  Pat Stoddard : Do what?

  Pete Aron : Wear your sunglasses on top of your head.

  Pat Stoddard : I don't know...

  Pete Aron : It looks ridiculous.

• Pete Aron : It's bad enough to lose without having to watch yourself do it.