Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

38 mistakes - chronological order

(7 votes)

Continuity mistake: When Ricky is signing autographs and signs his assistant's head, the almost completed signature on the left side of her head (viewer's right) changes between when he stops signing and when she apologizes for standing. (00:11:05)

Continuity mistake: In the long crash scene at the end, the Perrier car loses the front passenger side tire in the initial flip, but in the next shot it is attached to the car again.

Visible crew/equipment: When Reese Bobby is getting thrown out of Ricky's school, if you look in the window to the right of the screen, you can see crew members backing up with the camera.

Factual error: The race held at Texas Motor Speedway has signs showing that it is the Dickies 500. That race is held in November and ends after dark. The race is finished in the daylight.

Other mistake: When Ricky is pinned to the table and has his arm broken by Jean, he has the bone between his elbow and shoulder broken. However, when they show him trying to saw off the cast with a knife, it ends right above his elbow.

Continuity mistake: When Ricky is talking to Carl Jr on the phone a pillow behind him disappears then reappears in different positions several times during the conversation.

Continuity mistake: When Ricky is praying, when Carly and Ricky are talking back and forth, you see Cal's hand changing positions between shots. In one of the shots right before they "do it" on the table, they show Ricky, then show Carly, and when they show Carly, Cal has a beer in his hand for that second only.

Revealing mistake: When Bobby is being chased by the police in his Dad's car it is blatantly obvious that a stunt double is driving.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene towards the end, when Reese is in the racetrack parking lot, sitting on the hood of his car talking to Ricky Bobby and his girlfriend, you can see the reflection of a boom microphone in two shots.

Continuity mistake: When Ricky tries to come back from his crash and pulls in the pits, he throws his helmet to the ground and starts running away. When he's down to his underwear, his helmet is back on.

Continuity mistake: During the final crash at Talladega, Ricky Bobby's car is upside down, but on the laptop screen from which Lucius is tracking the race the car is right side up.

Factual error: At the Talladega 500 race you can see the Food City 500 logo in the infield when they show the blimp view of the track.

Ian Hunt

Factual error: When Reese Bobby gets kicked out of school during "Show and Tell," he drives off in a 69' Chevelle with Weld Racing Prostar rims. However, Weld Racing Prostar rims were not manufactured until the 90's.

Continuity mistake: After Ricky drives his dad's car there is much damage to the driver's side. Near the end, when his dad is waiting for him outside of the racetrack, though the car still has damage to the driver's side, it noticeably differs.

Continuity mistake: At the beginning, when Ricky Bobby is a baby he pulls the car out of the parking lot and turns and you can see that he uses both hands to turn, but later we find out that he uses one hand to turn and the other to push a bat to push down the gas pedal.

Continuity mistake: When Ricky and Cal are arguing before the final race, Carley does not have her sunglasses on in one shot, but when the camera cuts to the next shot from over Ricky's shoulder, they are suddenly on, with no time for her to do so.

Factual error: In numerous race scenes, the Pontiac Grand Prix, Ford Taurus, Ford Thunderbird and Dodge Intrepid are shown as race cars. The Ford Thunderbird has been used since 1995, Grand Prix hasn't been used it NASCAR since 2003, the Taurus since 2005, and the Intrepid since 2005, furthermore throughout the movie they use multiple variations of Chevy Monte Carlo's in the same shots. There are small changes to the Monte Carlo from year to year. Also in the final race (the Talladga 500 also non-existent), Ricky Bobby starts dead last but later on the announcers say he has moved from 26th to 18th.

Factual error: At the end of the movie after the last race is over and the sun is going down, the last shot shows the car leaving Talledega Superspeedway and riding off into the sunset. There are two correlated problems here. The first is that there is dew rising off the grass in the distance which only happens in the morning. The second is that when you turn right at the main Talledega Superspeedway sign when leaving, you are facing east. The scene was shot in the morning and they are riding off into the sunrise. There are campers in the background that were actually there for a race, but this is the only time of day when the director could get a shot of the car leaving by itself without traffic.

Continuity mistake: Before Ricky starts the first race, there is an orange strip of tape on the steering wheel, but in the following shots it's not there and then reappears.

Female Fan: Hey driver, drive these! [Lifts shirt.]
Ricky Bobby: Oh God, please be 18.

More quotes from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
More trivia for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.