Although this film has been criticized as "the beach party gang on wheels," it's actually quite a bit more daring than the beach party films. Much more adult in nature than the
innocence of Bikini Beach (1964), Fireball 500 features far more sexual situations than all of the beach party films put together.
The crux of Fireball 500 hinges upon transporting moonshine whiskey, much like Thunder Road, but with more plot twists. Frankie Avalon
portrays "Fireball" Dave Owens, a stock-car racer. He meets Jane (Annette Funicello) and becomes infatuated with her, although she is dating
another stock car driver, Leander (Fabian). On the side, Leander runs moonshine whiskey. Dave meets Martha (Julie Parrish), who is in cahoots with racing
promoter Charlie Bigg (Harvey Lembeck) in the illegal transport of moonshine. Martha dupes Dave into running moonshine whiskey, telling him that he's running a nighttime cross-country race.
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