Seen the scene a hundred times, but I still don’t get… At the start of the drag race, Kinicky asks Danny if he can be his #2? I think he even makes reference to some movie character of that era, but it is not James Dean (as I would have expected). What is this all about? I WAG Kinicky is saying (in his own way) he doesn’t want to see Danny, the leader of the T-birds, get hurt or killed? Aye, am I right, or am I right? …Right?
[Ironically, Danny winds up driving anyhow as Kinicki gets knocked out cold.]
*Each party would name a trusted representative (a “second”) who would, between them, determine a suitable “field of honour”. It was also the duty of each party’s second to check that the weapons were equal and that the duel was fair. *
Hey, Danny, uh… We’ve been friends a long time, right?
Yeah.
Remember the drive-in the other night. There was the duel. The guy’s best friend went with him, like his second?
Yeah. So?
Well, uh… I thought that you could be my second at Thunder Road.
I was asking what a “second” is. The scene is really poorly written. There are ways to clue in the audience without spelling it out for them. I’d wag this one is just lost on most audiences.
