Nooooooooooo... this isn't about another instance of "Allahu akbar!" Can't blame you for thinking that though. Believe it or not, there was a time when a "bomber" could be someone other than a half-crazed Islamic extremist. For instance, it could be one of the half-crazed guys or gals taking part in that classic American sport -- roller derby!
A staple of Saturday afternoon TV sports programming in the 60s and 70s, roller derby had it all! It drew 1000s who watched the actors -- a better word than "athletes" -- go round and round and round on small banked tracks at Madison Square Garden and smaller arenas across the US of A and Canada.
Like so many aspects of North American culture, roller derby hit peak wackiness in the 1970s. You can still get a remarkably clear sense of what the decade was like by watching this trailer for Kansas City Bomber, a 1972 soap opera on wheels (and steroids?) featuring Walt's all-time favourite sex goddess, Raquel Welch.
I watched this one-and-a-half times before I figured out where I'd seen that guy playing the evil businessman. He's none other than Kevin McCarthy, who played essentially the same character, 17 years later, in the cult classic UHF. Gotta love these movies from the day when Hollywood turned out entertainment, not politically correct SJW propaganda.
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