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George Lucas is now a world renowned screen writer and director (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, American Graffiti and many more). His first love however was cars and he had planned to become a professional race car driver until a serious accident shortly after his High School graduation in 1962 ended that dream. A few years later, in April 1966, George Lucas was a student at the USC film school with the assignment of directing a short film. Still interested in cars, George wrote a script for a film called "1:42.08 to Qualify" (title later changed to "1:42.08"). Knowing Alan Grant from Shelby American, George asked for a recommendation for a driver for his film. Grant recommended Peter Brock, who had been a consultant and driver for the movie industry (e.g. stunt driver in the 1964 movie The Killers) and had left Shelby American just months before to open his own company, Brock Racing Enterprises (BRE). Brock borrowed a Lotus 23 and a few days were spent filming at the Willow Springs race track under the direction of Lucas. Brock says the most memorable part of the experience were the evenings where they hung out and Lucas shared his vision for a series of sci-fi movies. "It sounded kind of like Buck Rogers with strange creatures and better weapons. Very strange and we just kind of nodded and patronized this enthusiastic kid." Even to this day Brock gets emotional relaying the story. There's nothing that touches Brock more than seeing someone with a unique vision make their dreams come true, especially if they're going against standard conventions... sounds kind of like the story of the Cobra Daytona Coupe, doesn't it? This short film has made it's way onto the Internet and BRE has been asked numerous times to provide the background and details of Peter Brock's involvement. We provide here some of the photos that were taken of the filming which show how it was shot and Lucas' involvement. The film can be seen at Lucas Film Stills -->
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