This has been very 80’s kind of week for the Demaras Racing family. Last weekend was the OBLIVION VI car show featuring vehicles from that pastel pink and baby blue era. Therefore, this week’s Fast Film Friday looks back at ‘Miami Vice‘ specifically the episode that guest starred Indianapolis 500 winner, CART IndyCar Series champ and former Formula 1 driver Danny Sullivan as a murderous race car driver. Titled ‘Florence Italy‘ this was episode 16 of Miami Vice’s 2nd season.
In this episode begins, Crocket and Tubbs are in black the Ferrari Daytona Spyder, cruising around the street circuit where the Grand Prix of Miami will take place that weekend. Suddenly, a Porsche Carrera 906 blows his doors off while running a red light. Without sirens or flashing lights to let the speeder know they are cops, Crocket and Tubbs chase the race car through downtown Miami. When the Porsche momentarily shakes off the cops, the driver pulls over and pushes a dead hooker out the passenger’s side door! Crocket and Tubbs screech to a halt just before running over the young woman’s body. They’ve stumbled across a racing-themed homicide.
Much of the episode is glamourous footage of the IMSA race cars through the colourful lens of the era. The show was actually filmed during the Lowenbrau Grand Prix of Miami, an IMSA GT Championship series race that took place on March 2 1986. IMSA races back then featured prototype race cars including the Jaguar XJR-5, Lola T616 Mazda 13B and the March 84G powered by a turbocharged Buick V6 engine.
The dynamic duo determined that the highly-conspicuous and extremely rare Porsche was owned by Danny Tepper (played by then CART IndyCar driver Danny Sullivan) one of the drivers in the Grand Prix. Crockett and Tubbs confront Danny but he denies killing the young girl and even claimed that he just found out the Porsche was stolen. Besides, his pregnant wife is in the hospital with an overdue baby. Why would a famous race car driver like him pick up a hooker right off the street corner where he so easily be spotted? Danny is so stiff that the cops assume he’s lying, but the reality is that the real Danny Sullivan may be a great race car driver, but he’s a terrible actor!
There’s another great chase scene at the end of the episode, both on and off the race track, culminating in a calamitous ending. Here’s a clip.
Why would a world-famous race car driver like Danny Sullivan, a guy who raced in Formula 1 and IndyCar portray a woman-beating, wife-cheating, killer? Because it was Miami Vice, man!
More that just a Top 10 rated TV show that millions of people watched every week. It was revolutionary with its cinematic style, MTV-era music and focus on ultra-stylized 80’s fashions that influenced popular culture. It changed the tired, old police detective genre into something visually cutting-edge. Everyone wanted to be in the show; it was that impactful.