By Sean O'Connell
When you look back on it, the Fast & Furious films have been a globetrotting affair ever since the action shifted to Miami for 2003’s 2 Fast, 2 Furious. Since then, the story has taken Brian (Paul Walker), Dom (Vin Diesel) and the crew to Mexico, Brazil and London – with a pit stop in Tokyo for the third Fast & Furious film. But the roots of the franchise have always been Los Angeles, and the above Facebook post makes it evident that the upcoming Fast and Furious 7 will return to that "home" and honor the series’ automotive legacy.

Vin Diesel shared the above post on his popular Facebook page, showing Dom surrounded by scantily-clad, beautiful race fans gearing up for what the actor calls "Race Wars." As you can see, Dom is very happy with whomever he’s staring down. This is the trash talk segment that happens before the race, when drivers are able to brag, throw shade, and make boastful promises they actually have the sack to back up.

In the Facebook post, Vin Diesel goes out of his way to thank Universal Studios, who "made sure we could deliver on the promise, to bring the saga home... where it all began." Does Diesel mean L.A. in that message? He has to. At the conclusion of Fast & Furious 6, the gang had finally cleared their names, and were able to return to the United States without having to worry about facing up to past crimes. The movie ended with the "family" sitting around the table in the backyard, breaking bread.

Well, until this guy showed up.

The original The Fast and the Furious film had a large-scale car race known as Race Wars, where Brian had to prove his worth to the Dom and the gang. It was an early promise of the auto insanity that would become the trademark of this franchise. Remember this clip?



The initial Race Wars sequence was filmed at the San Bernardino International Airport (according to production notes). Is that where Vin Diesel is in the above photo? Will we have a sequence that ties us back around to that first Race Wars sequence? It’s sounding more and more like Fast & Furious 7 will be as much a tribute to the previous films – and the legacy of Paul Walker – as it will be a standalone movie. And I’m sure fans of the series are fine with that.