Lake Norman mansion for sale hosted famous ‘Talladega Nights’ Hollywood dinner scene
Dan Moore is a big fan of Will Ferrell’s Ricky Bobby character in the 2006 classic sports comedy, “Talladega Nights.”
Yet he never knew the Lake Norman mansion that he and his wife, Judith, were about to buy in 2018 hosted a famous Hollywood dinner scene in the movie.
He learned of the mansion’s memorable setting in the film only after the couple’s $4 million purchase of the home at 17240 Connor Quay Court in Cornelius, Moore told The Charlotte Observer on Friday.
The only feature the couple saved when they redid the interior of the 12,000-square-foot mansion was the fireplace. You see it in the movie when Ricky and his family sit for Thanksgiving dinner, Moore said.
“99% has changed,” he said of the interior of the mansion.
The couple recently decided to list the home for sale to live closer to their son and grandchildren in Huntersville, Dan Moore said.
The Moores put their six-bedroom home on the market for $9.9 million, according to its listing by Realtor Kandi Lowe of RE/MAX Executive. The Charlotte Business Journal first reported the home was for sale.
Mansion’s 2 docks attracted couple
The couple bought the mansion a year after Dan Moore sold his Moore Freight Service Inc., which transports crated and uncrated flat glass via flatbed trucks, to Texas-based flatbed transportation leader Daseke Inc., mergr.comreported at the time.
Moore founded his company in 2001 in Mascot, Tennessee, 14 miles from Knoxville. Originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Moore said he lived in Knoxville for 40 years. His wife is from Los Angeles, he said.
The mansion’s two docks were among the features that attracted the couple to the home, as was the outdoor putting green, Moore said. He likes fishing off the floating dock, and his grand kids have enjoyed Jet Skiing there.
The home is the only one on the lake with two piers, as another home also once stood on the property, the Observer reported in 2018.
The couple’s son, 32-year-old John Moore, also keeps an apartment in Greenville, where he attends Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. The couple’s daughter, 37-year-old Tiffani Swalley Moore, is a director of theater master of fine arts candidate at Columbia University School of the Arts in New York.
Built in 2002, the home is perched on 1.3 acres in a private gated community and has views of both the sunrise and sunset.
The mansion has six full bathrooms and three partial bathrooms.
Rare chandelier, Civil War exhibit
The living room of the home features a Bocra chandelier made in only two places in the world, according to the listing. An 8-foot gold medallion surrounds the chandelier to match the front door.
A gourmet kitchen includes a Wolf stove, double ovens, two dishwashers and built-in charging stations on the island.
A full bar, projector screen and dart board highlight an entertainment room, while wine is stored beneath the main stairs, according to the listing.
Moore said he had a third-floor chapel built in former attic space and an outdoor French courtyard constructed to replace a basketball court.
A panic room in the home has 6-inch-thick steel doors and its own heating and air conditioning units and phone line. He stores his collection of 30 guns in the room, he said.
Moore also has a Civil War exhibit in the home with guns and other artifacts and letters and documents signed by Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis and other leaders of both sides.
“I like to collect different things,” Moore said about the exhibit, which he said the home buyer can choose to keep or have him cart off.
His sister-in-law, Jeanne Gooch, is a professional interior decorator in Colorado who helped completely redecorate the mansion, Moore said.
Well, nearly all of the interior.
“NASCAR Row” neighbors
The Moores decided to keep the Ricky Bobby fireplace.
They live on “NASCAR Row,” for one, Dan Moore said.
Former open wheel driving great Billy Boat lives across from him, Moore said. Neighbors down the street include NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Joe Gibbs and NASCAR engine builder Doug Yates, president and CEO of RoushYates Manufacturing Solutions.
And the Hollywood dinner scene in “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” for two, Moore said.
“How many times,” he said when asked if he’d seen the movie, meaning he’d watched it so many times he couldn’t count the number.
Famous scene
In one memorable scene filmed in the home, Ricky says grace before everyone dives into a home-cooked dinner of fast-food take out.
Ricky starts the prayer with “Dear Lord Baby Jesus” and then, “Dear tiny Jesus, in your golden-fleece diapers, with your tiny, little, fat, balled-up fists ... ” before he is interrupted by the character Chip, played by Ted Manson.
“He was a man! He had a beard!” Chip says.
“Look, I like the baby version the best, do you hear me? I win the races and I get the money.”
“Ricky, finish the damn grace,” says his wife, Carley Bobby, played by Leslie Bibb.
Moore repeated a different famous Ricky Bobby line from the film.
“If you’re not first, you’re last,” he said.
This story was originally published March 4, 2023 at 2:02 PM.