Each has a story the reader will want to hear. Stories are humorous, ribald, and heart warming. And, if you are intrigued by the coincidences of numerology, you will find some very interesting sequences. For example, Earnhardt (#3) died 3 months and 3 days after winning the Daytona 500 for the first and only time. He had failed 22 times, which is the number of Ward Burton's car; he won the year after Earnhardt died.
This is more than a good story beautifully told. Ernest Hemingway said, "There are only three real sports: mountain climbing, bullfighting and automobile racing." McCrumb captures the excitement and frenzy of living on the edge of death. She interweaves so much insider information that every reader, fan or not, will come away with a deep appreciation of these athletes who drive in circles. Did you know, for example, that the state with the greatest number of these "good ole boys" is California?
This is more than a good story beautifully told. Ernest Hemingway said, "There are only three real sports: mountain climbing, bullfighting and automobile racing." McCrumb captures the excitement and frenzy of living on the edge of death. She interweaves so much insider information that every reader, fan or not, will come away with a deep appreciation of these athletes who drive in circles. Did you know, for example, that the state with the greatest number of these "good ole boys" is California?
McCrumb has written the first great novel of NASCAR. Her story tells an intimate, insider's history of rubbing and racing. She chronicles what may have been the last great period of the old NASCAR. It is now teetering on the cusp between the era of good ole boys who got their start running moonshine through the mountains of North Carolina, and the era of high tech, high experience, money-making/spending, full bore, no muffler racing. The old tracks are disappearing. Hickory and Wilkesboro are gone. The Rock (Rockingham) is gone, now sitting vastly empty beneath the blue Carolina sky. Darlington is nearly gone. All these small towns have given way to tracks seating one hundred thousand fans in cities (Las Vegas, Indianapolis, and maybe New York City soon) where the infrastructure provides hotels, airports, and major roads. NASCAR has not raced real stock cars driven by weekend racers with real jobs during the week for years.
There are no more Junior Johnsons (so famously and brilliantly profiled by Tom Wolf), driving a souped-up engine fueled by gasoline, driven with steel nerves, and filled with moonshine one length ahead of the feds. Think Robert Mitchum in the movie "Thunder Road." It was a romantic image which is no more. Today, Ryan Newman races with an engineering degree from Purdue. He is no longer unusual. The beginning of this change can be pinpointed: Atlanta, 1992. It was the last race for "The King," Richard Petty, winner of a record 200 races. It was the first race for "Wonderboy," Jeff Gordon, a California with movie star looks. "Wonderboy" was not a positive nickname, and he is just now being fully accepted by the masses.
St. Dale epitomizes the best of literature. The characters are memorable and fully realized. They are realistic, whether historical or fictional, evoking a sense of time and place crucial to the story. The parallels and allusions to Chaucer enrich the story. The novel is well paced, as befits a racing tale. I am still no Dale Earnhardt fan, but I have a clearer understanding of his appeal. I know more about NASCAR and appreciate it more than I ever thought I could. McCrumb has said that writing this book changed her life. I can understand that feeling. McCrumb's use of language, characterization, and setting is perfect, combining to create a memorable novel.
