Background

Madison, Indiana, on the Ohio River, has sponsored powerboat racing since 1911 and began holding an annual race called the Madison Regatta in 1929. Beginning in 1954, the race became affiliated with the American Power Boat Association, held annually in July. Though Madison has a population of only 12,000, the Regatta maintains its place in the Unlimited hydroplane American Boat Racing Association series, whose other races are in Seattle, Kennewick, Detroit, San Diego, and Doha.

The Regatta regularly draws about 70,000-100,000 people and is a tremendous source of pride for residents of the town. Also significant is that Madison has the world's only community owned unlimited hydroplane, Miss Madison. The boat was traditionally near the bottom of the circuit. In 40+ years of racing, U-6 (its number regardless of its name) had won just six races before 2005.

One of those was an upset in the 1971 Regatta, which is the basis for the movie. Making that victory even sweeter was that it was also for the APBA Gold Cup.

Caviezel's character, Jim McCormick, was a real-life veteran racer and boat owner who drove Miss Madison in 1966 and 1969–71, then raced his own boat until seriously injured some years later. Many of his actual seven-man pit crew, including Harry Volpi, Bobby Humphrey, and Tony Steinhardt, were also portrayed in the film, while Steinhardt himself appeared as a fan in a cameo.

With Jake Lloyd's retirement from acting in 2001 (he completed filming his scenes the previous year), Madison stands as his final film to date.

Delayed release

Filmed in 2000 and completing post-production in 2001, Madison was selected to be the opening film at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. Playing to a standing ovation at Sundance,^[3] it was picked up for distribution by a company that went out of business, stalling its release. On April 22, 2005, MGM released the film worldwide, making it the last film ever released by the studio as an independent company.