Chuck Bown 1986-1993
What happened to Chuck in 1986?
What happened to Chuck Brown in 1986?
In 1986, Bown returned to NASCAR, running in the Busch Series. His first start came at the Goody's 300, where he started 28th but finished 40th after wrecking his No. 67 Buick early in the race. He made his only other start of the year at the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway, where he's started 13th and won his first career Busch race. The following season, Bown ran three races in the No. 7/56 Pontiac, but did not finish a race.  In 1989, Bown ran his first full season in Busch driving the No. 63 Pontiac at Lanier Speedway and at South Boston Speedway. He finished the season with 5 top-5s and 12 top-10s wound up ninth in the championship standings. The following year, Bown won six races and four poles. He had a total of thirteen top-fives and won the Busch Series championship over Jimmy Hensley by 200 points. That same season, he returned to the Cup series, running three races in the No. 97 Pontiac for Tex Powell, his best finish 23rd at the Atlanta Journal 500.  In 1991, Bown won three times and garnered four poles, but dropped 4th in the Busch Series points. He made one Winston Cup start driving Cale Yarborough's No. 66 Pontiac at North Wilkesboro Speedway where he finished 26th. The following season, Bown failed to win a race and had only five top-five finishes, and dropped to eleventh in the standings. In 1993, Bown won his final career pole at Richmond International Raceway and won his final race at Martinsville Speedway. He recorded 5 top-5s and 13 top-10s en route to a fourth-place points finish. He made one Winston Cup start driving the Roulo Brothers' No. 39 Chevrolet at Phoenix, finishing 24th. CANNOTANSWER
In 1986, Bown returned to NASCAR, running in the Busch Series.
Richard Charles "Chuck" Bown Jr. (born February 22, 1954) is a former NASCAR champion. His last ride came in 1999. He lives with his wife in Asheboro, North Carolina. He is the brother of former fellow NASCAR competitor Jim Bown.

1970s 
Bown made his NASCAR debut in 1972 in the Winston Cup Series. At the age of seventeen, he ran the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway the No. 27 Plymouth owned by his father Dick. Bown started 22nd but finished 32nd that day after crashing on lap 88. Bown made 2 more starts in the No. 27 that year, with his best finish being fourteenth at the second Riverside race.

In 1973, Bown returned to the Winston Cup Series driving his father's No. 03 Dodge, finishing in the top-10 for the first time in his career at the Tuborg 400 at Riverside. In 1974, Bown again competed in the three California races on the Winston Cup Series schedule, the two events at Riverside as well as at Ontario Motor Speedway. His best finish was 20th. In 1976, Bown began driving for Gerald Cracker, driving the No. 01 Chevrolet in four races, and the No. 03 at Riveside, where he had his best finish. Bown was named the Most Popular Driver of the Year in the NASCAR Winston West Series in 1977. In 1979, Bown drove Jim Testa's No. 68 Buick and Chevrolet in 7 Winston Cup events. He scored a 7th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a 6th-place finish in the Firecracker 400. He drove eleven races for the next two years for different owners, but did not reach the top-ten.

1986–1993 
In 1986, Bown returned to NASCAR, running in the Busch Series. His first start came at the Goody's 300, where he started 28th but finished 40th after wrecking his No. 67 Buick early in the race. He made his only other start of the year at the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway, where he's started 13th and won his first career Busch race. The following season, Bown ran three races in the No. 7/56 Pontiac, but did not finish a race.

In 1989, Bown ran his first full season in Busch driving the No. 63 Pontiac at Lanier Speedway and at South Boston Speedway. He finished the season with 5 top-5s and 12 top-10s wound up ninth in the championship standings. The following year, Bown won six races and four poles. He had a total of thirteen top-fives and won the Busch Series championship over Jimmy Hensley by 200 points. That same season, he returned to the Cup series, running three races in the No. 97 Pontiac for Tex Powell, his best finish 23rd at the Atlanta Journal 500.

In 1991, Bown won three times and garnered four poles, but dropped 4th in the Busch Series points. He made one Winston Cup start driving Cale Yarborough's No. 66 Pontiac at North Wilkesboro Speedway where he finished 26th. The following season, Bown failed to win a race and had only five top-five finishes, and dropped to eleventh in the standings. In 1993, Bown won his final career pole at Richmond International Raceway and won his final race at Martinsville Speedway. He recorded 5 top-5s and 13 top-10s en route to a fourth-place points finish. He made one Winston Cup start driving the Roulo Brothers' No. 39 Chevrolet at Phoenix, finishing 24th.

Final years 

In 1994, Bown moved back up to the Cup series, driving the No. 12 Ford Thunderbird for Bobby Allison. He won the pole for the Food City 500, setting a new track record. He was seriously injured in a wreck at Pocono Raceway which sidelined him for the season.

Bown returned to racing in 1995 in four Busch races, finishing ninth at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the No. 05 Key Motorsports Ford.  He competed in nine Cup races in the No. 32 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Active Motorsports, his best finish a 21st at Charlotte. In 1996, Bown drove for a variety of teams in the Busch Series, his best finish 21st at Darlington Raceway. He drove the Sadler Brothers Racing' No. 95 Ford in three Winston Cup Series events but only finished one race.

In 1997, Bown began racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 99 Ford F-150 for Roush Racing. Despite not winning a race, he had four top-fives and finished ninth in the standings. The next season, Bown qualified on the pole at the season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway, but finished 25th. After that race, he was released from Roush due to downsizing. He moved to the No. 57 CSG Motorsports Ford driving in six events before being released. He ended the season driving the No. 67 Chevrolet Silverado in a pair of races, finishing seventeenth at Phoenix.

In 1999, Bown returned to Hensley to drive their No. 63 Chevrolet. Despite a seventh-place finish at Charlotte, Bown was released from the team halfway into the season, and soon retired.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

Daytona 500 results

Busch Series

Craftsman Truck Series

Awards 
Bown was inducted in the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2009 along with Wayne Spears, Doug George, and Rick Carelli.

References

External links 
 
Speedway Media profile

Living people
1954 births
Racing drivers from Portland, Oregon
NASCAR drivers
CARS Tour drivers
NASCAR Xfinity Series champions
"Chuck Versus the Final Exam" is the eleventh episode of Chucks third season. It originally aired on March 22, 2010. Chuck faces his final test as a spy, under the watchful eyes of Sarah and Shaw. Meanwhile, Casey must readjust to his life as a civilian.

Plot summary

Main Plot
As the episode begins, Chuck corners a rogue agent fleeing outside a train station and aims a gun on him. The man begs for his life but Chuck warns him that he had his chance, and a shot rings out.

Three days earlier, Chuck arrives in Castle after promising Casey to help him get reinstated, hoping to gain Sarah's support in strong-arming Beckman into doing so. However, as he arrives, Sarah, Shaw and Beckman advise him that he will be undergoing his final test - a last solo mission to determine if he is ready to be a spy. The morning after, Sarah briefs him at his apartment with a message from Beckman. Chuck is to find an ex-FSB agent-turned information broker named Anatoli Zevlovski, who is contacting a mole within the CIA providing information to the Ring. Chuck and Sarah meet to stakeout the hotel where Zevlovski is staying, and they nearly miss him when Chuck tries to talk with her about what happened in Prague (in "Chuck Versus the Pink Slip"), and asks her for a second chance to be together. Chuck and Sarah, who are just about to share a kiss, are interrupted by Shaw, who orders Chuck to infiltrate the hotel where Zevlovski is waiting in the steam room with two of his men.

A hotel clerk delivers a message to him, which Zevlovski crumples up and throws on the floor before leaving with his guards. As Chuck recovers it, the two goons spot him, but Chuck flashes and defeats them, before hurrying after Zevlovski. Chuck gains access to the hotel room next door to the mole's and slips out onto the balcony where he watches the mole dispatch Zevlovski. Chuck manages to get a glimpse of his face, and Shaw and Sarah (watching on a feed from Chuck's glasses) identify him as Hunter Perry.

The next morning, Chuck heads to Orange Orange to ask Sarah out on a celebratory date, but she asks him to dinner first. They arrange to meet at a restaurant later that evening. He then returns to the Buy More and  tells an uncertain Casey he passed his spy test, and thanks him for the help he's given him. In return, Chuck gives Casey back his gun, which he lifted (illegally) from Castle.

Shaw reveals to Sarah that Chuck must now complete his "red test", by killing Perry, against Sarah's objections. That night she tells Chuck they're not on a date but that he has one final test, and orders him to eliminate the mole, who will be meeting him shortly. Sarah leaves and Perry arrives. As Sarah had warned Chuck, he is suspicious and promptly excuses himself to go to the bathroom. Chuck follows and after being ambushed in the restroom, he flashes and disarms his opponent. Chuck is unable to kill Perry when he protests he has no choice but to work for the Ring, and arrests him instead. Perry attempts to flee and Chuck gives chase through the train station. The two end in a footrace outside the station, as seen in the beginning of the episode, with Chuck eventually cornering Perry. He once again hesitates, and Perry attempts to use this as a chance to draw his gun on Chuck. However, Casey shoots Perry first from the shadows. Though Chuck sees him, Sarah arrives and is stunned, believing Chuck went through with the killing.

Later that evening, Casey warns Chuck not to tell anyone what happened. Without government sanction he has committed murder, and Chuck has "cheated" on his "red test." Chuck tries to call Sarah to follow up on their conversation from earlier, but she refuses the call. When Shaw asks if she still loves Chuck, she tells him not anymore, fearing that Chuck will never be the same again, and relates her own experiences on her "red test." At his apartment, Chuck receives orders from Beckman to fly to Washington D.C. to be inducted as an agent and receive his assignment.

Casey

Casey is experiencing difficulties readjusting to civilian life following his dismissal. He assaults Jeff and Lester when he catches the two goofing off at the store, and despite his threats,  they intend to sue him and the store. Big Mike takes it upon himself to rein Casey in an attempt to help him smooth over his "jagged edges" with a new suit, and by apologizing to his coworkers. Big Mike mediates between them, and Jeff and Lester agree to drop the lawsuit after humiliating Casey by making him buy them lunch, and bonding with him by sharing a "tunaroni" sandwich with Jeff.

Production

Production details
 Casey mentions that his killing of Perry on Chuck's behalf was unsanctioned murder, in reference to a "license to kill". Although popularized by the James Bond novels and films, the reality of such a concept is far more legally complicated.
 The stakeout scene with Chuck and Sarah references the first-season episode "Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp".

Flashes
 Chuck flashes on grappling combat techniques when confronted by Zevlovski's two henchmen in the sauna.
 Chuck has another flash on knife combat when ambushed by Perry in the restroom, allowing Chuck to disarm and defeat him.

Reception

Alan Sepinwall of the Star-Ledger continued to praise the direction of the series after the post-Olympics break. He noted a number of moments requiring suspension of disbelief, but considered it worth the effort due to its blend of suspense, comedy, romance, and self-reference to the beginning of the series.

References to popular culture
 Zevlovski uses the alias Ivan Drago while staying at the hotel. Ivan Drago was the antagonist in the film, Rocky IV, and Chuck comments on the silliness of using such a name.
 The sauna fight, including the tattoos, is reminiscent of the famous fight scene in Eastern Promises.
 The fight between Chuck and Perry in the restroom when Chuck is given his "red test" is similar to that of James Bond's first kill assignment at the beginning of Casino Royale.
 The videos Chuck watches to obtain his missions self-destruct after viewing, similar to assignments in Mission: Impossible.
The end scene in which Chuck and Casey train is also in reference to Rocky 3

References

External links 
 

Final Exam
2010 American television episodes The Man Without a Face is a 1993 American drama film starring and directed by Mel Gibson, in his directorial debut. The film is based on Isabelle Holland's 1972 novel of the same name. Gibson's direction received positive reviews from most critics.

Plot
In 1968, Justin McLeod has been living an isolated existence as a reclusive painter for the past seven years, following a car accident that left him disfigured on the right side of his face and chest burns sustained in the post-crash fire.

Chuck Nordstadt is a young boy who endures a dysfunctional relationship with his academically brilliant half-sisters and their oft-divorced mother. One day, Chuck meets McLeod on a ferry when McLeod witnesses Chuck in an act of vandalism born of escalating frustration. Chuck is both intrigued and slightly scared of him. Chuck needs a tutor to help him pass a military academy's entrance exam that he'd failed earlier that year. Eventually, upon discovering that McLeod is a teacher, Chuck persuades him to become his tutor. While he is initially baffled by McLeod's unorthodox methods, the two eventually develop a close friendship.

Chuck keeps his daily meetings with McLeod a secret in order to avoid being scorned for associating with a disfigured man whose past is shrouded in mystery. No one knows much about McLeod and few people have ever made an effort to know him. As a result, McLeod has become the object of gossip, speculation, and suspicion. "A proper troll," McLeod notes with self-deprecating humour. "Tourist board oughta pay me."

Ultimately, Mrs. Nordstadt learns that her son has been visiting McLeod. She and the rest of the town convince themselves that McLeod is molesting Chuck, despite Chuck's adamant denials. Chuck researches McLeod's car accident, which involved the death of another boy, thus causing McLeod's fear of another attachment. Chuck is forcibly taken to a psychiatrist, who Chuck correctly suspects is also biased against McLeod.

Chuck inevitably confronts McLeod to learn the truth of his disfigurement and to discover the identity of the youth who was killed in the car crash. As it turns out, the boy was a student of McLeod's. Consequently, McLeod was unjustly branded a pedophile, exiled from his hometown, convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served three years in prison. Once his relationship with Chuck is openly known, McLeod is once again run out of town and ordered by the authorities not to have any contact with Chuck.

Chuck enters the military academy he'd worked so hard to get into. At mail call, he gets the letters he'd sent to McLeod, marked Undeliverable. Needing to know what's happened to his friend, Chuck quietly leaves his school that night, and goes back to McLeod's house. He finds it empty, but for a painting he'd done of Chuck that summer, and a letter written by McLeod. The letter tells Chuck that he's moved on, and that he wishes him the best of luck in his academic goals, thanking him for the gift of grace he'd so unexpectedly been given.

In the film's final scene, Chuck is shown graduating from the military academy as his sisters and their mom (along with her newest husband) look on proudly. Chuck sees a familiar figure in the background and recognizes it as his "faceless" tutor. They silently greet each other.

Cast
 Mel Gibson as Justin McLeod
 Nick Stahl as Charles E. "Chuck" Norstadt
 Robert DeDiemar Jr as Charles E. "Chuck" Norstadt (older)
 Margaret Whitton as Catherine Palin
 Fay Masterson as Gloria Norstadt
 Gaby Hoffmann as Megan Norstadt
 Geoffrey Lewis as Chief Wayne Stark
 Richard Masur as Prof. Carl Hartley
 Michael DeLuise as Douglas Hall, Gloria's boyfriend
 Ethan Phillips as Todd Lansing
 George Martin as Sam the Barber
 Jean De Baer as Mrs. Lansing
 Jack De Mave as Mr. Cooper
 Viva as Mrs. Cooper
 Justin Kanew as Rob Lansing

Release
The Man Without a Face was released on August 25, 1993, in 865 theatres. It ranked fourth at the US box office, making $4.0 million in its opening weekend. In its second weekend, it opened in 1,065 theatres, grossed $5.4 million and ranked second. After five weeks in theatres, the film went on to gross $24.7 million. Internationally, it grossed $11.9 million for a worldwide total of $36.6 million.

Reception

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Man Without a Face holds a 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews with an average rating of 5.7/10.

RogerEbert.com gave it three out of four stars, praising Gibson’s performance calling it "a reminder of his versatility; not many actors can fit comfortably in both Lethal Weapon and Hamlet (1990), and here he finds just the right note for McLeod: Not a caricature, not a softy, not pathetic, but fiercely sure of what is right and wrong".

Treatment of sexuality
The film's treatment of sexuality between Justin McLeod and Chuck Norstadt differs from the book by Isabelle Holland. In the original novel, McLeod behaves in a way that could be interpreted as child grooming, taking Chuck swimming and behaving affectionately toward him. Chuck, meanwhile, seems to be attracted to McLeod as more than just a father figure. There is one scene where it is strongly implied that Chuck and McLeod have some kind of sexual experience in his bedroom. In the film, McLeod demonstrates no sexual interest in the boy at all, even though Chuck appears downstairs in his underwear when the police officer calls. Critics have noted that the book's criticism of homophobia had been obscured in the film version.

Gibson has expressed dislike for the book because of its implied sexual contact between McLeod and Chuck: "I read the script first and that's what I liked. The book is just – I'm sorry, but the guy did it. And you know, like, why? I just wanted to say something a lot more positive."

Urban legend
Around the time of the release of Gibson's 2000 film The Patriot, and again around the time of the release of his 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, an Internet rumor falsely attributed to radio commentator Paul Harvey claimed this film was based on an actual incident that happened to Gibson as a young man. The rumor proved to be false.

References

External links
 
 

1993 directorial debut films
1993 drama films
1993 films
American drama films
American films
English-language films
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Mel Gibson
Films produced by Bruce Davey
Films scored by James Horner
Films set in 1968
Films set in Maine
Films shot in Maine
Icon Productions films
Warner Bros. films