While I have been following NASCAR for many years, this year marked a significant uptick in my NASCAR fandom. With today being the finale of the 2020 season with the Championship 4 racing for the crown, it was only appropriate to review a NASCAR book. This one about the 1979 season is a very good and entertaining read. Here is my review of "He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back."
Title/Author:
“He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back” by Mark Bechtel
Tags:
Auto racing, NASCAR, professional, history
Publish date:
February 8, 2010
Length:
309 pages
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
One of the most famous scenes from the Daytona 500, “The Great American Race”, came in 1979 when Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough were fighting when they were involved in a wreck on the last lap of the race. While that type of scene was not that uncommon for stock car racing at the time, what made it memorable was that a then-record television audience saw this drama play out. Because of a massive blizzard that affected most of the eastern and Midwestern part of the country, many snowbound viewers tuned into the CBS broadcast of the race. This moment is considered by many to be the introduction of NASCAR to most of the country and is the backbone of this book on the 1979 NASCAR season by Mark Bechtel.
As Bechtel notes throughout the book, calling this moment a turning point for the sport doesn’t fully explain the how NASCAR became a bigger part of the American sports conscious that year. Yes, the Daytona 500 may have had that fight, but it was far from the only exciting race that year and the best of them are captured by Bechtel in a manner that one doesn’t think that he or she is just reading rehashed newspaper accounts of the races.
This is mainly because of the excellent portrayal of the sport’s biggest names at the time. The first chapter in the book on the Pettys – Richard, who was the king of the sport then and his son Kyle, who was a rookie that year- sets the tone for how the stars of NASCAR will be portrayed in the book. No matter which star driver from that era one wishes to read about, chances are the reader will find information on that driver in this book. This is also the case for many others in the sport, including owners, crew chiefs, crew members and even the founding father of NASCAR, Bill France. The story of how he supposedly made the rain stop in time for the Daytona 500 is very good and even will make one chuckle at the comparison to France controlling weather as much as God.
Like other sports books about a particular year, the politics and social movements of the time are covered and contrasted with racing as well. For NASCAR, this is particularly notable for 1979 as the country faced a gasoline shortage. The sport did well to protect its public image despite this problem. The other big news that affected the sport greatly was the introduction of a 24 hour sports cable station called ESPN in 1979. Trying to continue to expand its exposure, NASCAR began building a relationship with the fledgling network that continued for many years.
NASCAR fans will enjoy reading about this watershed season for the sport, whether they saw these drivers and races from that era or only know about them through grainy highlights and stories passed down over the generations. It’s a great look into the sport and how 1979 planted the seeds to see NASCAR grow into what it is today.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
One of my favorite comments ever is when Bobby said that "Cale punched him in the fist with his face". That's probably the most replayed clip in all of NASCAR history. I suspect even non NASCAR fans have probably seen it.
ReplyDelete