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SPEEDtv.com Book Review: “Along for the Ride: A Collection of Stories from the Fast and Furious World of Stock Car Racing”
Written by: Gregg Leary Charlotte, NC – 3/24/2006
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
“Along for the Ride: A Collection of Stories from the Fast and Furious World of Stock Car Racing”
By Larry Woody
Review by Gregg Leary
Larry Woody begins “Along for the Ride” with a glimpse into his sense of humor. “Man, what a job—getting paid to travel all over the country, attend NASCAR races, and hang out around the drivers! All the stories you are about to read are true. An occasional name has been changed to protect the guilty.”
What credentials earned Woody his dream job? “The first stock car race I ever saw, I covered. I never had the slightest desire to watch a race. I don’t know anything about cars and mechanical stuff. I don’t know a manifold from a mule’s butt. I can barely pump my own gas at a self-service station.”
When a sports writing colleague with “The Tennessean” was unable to cover a race due to a “death” in the family, the paper sent Larry. “I don’t recall much about the race (except) it was just about the most exciting thing I’d ever seen. Action … Drama … Emotion … Harsh words … Controversy.”
Woody’s sports editor wasn’t concerned about Larry’s lack of mechanical knowledge … and offered excellent advice, “I don’t want you to write about cars. I want you to write about the drivers and all the other wild and crazy people in racing.”
Larry’s “pinch hitting” assignment has lasted for more than 30 years. Woody tells of the first time he interviewed Richard Petty as “a nervous kid clutching a notebook and ‘rookie reporter’ branded on my forehead.”
“I sat in the shade with Richard Petty and we talked for about 45 minutes, which is approximately 44 minutes more time than a writer is likely to get with today’s average NASCAR superstar who happens to be a mere 199 wins shy of Petty’s all-time record of 200.” Petty offered a little advice on how to treat people. “Never forget where you come from …’cause some day you may go back there.” Woody even had a pleasant interview with Richard’s dad, Lee. Other reporters had said that Lee “was like a grizzly with an abscessed molar. He’ll bite your head off.” Woody’s experience was “delightful.”
Larry grew to like Dale Earnhardt. They developed a special rapport and talked “racing, fishing, and hunting.” In trading hunting insults with Dale, Larry came up with one of my favorite lines in the book. Earnhardt was bragging about a ten-point buck he had bagged on a televised hunting show.
“Along for the Ride” also contains a great collection of vintage stock car racing photos...like this candid of a laughing Cale Yarborough.
Woody writes: “Yeah, Dale. I saw you hunting on that fancy stocked game preserve. I couldn’t tell for sure exactly how close were you standing to that 10-pointer’s cage when you shot him?” He wrote that Earnhardt, “whooped with laughter.” So did I.
The author writes of good times and bad, triumphs and tragedies … with a keen ear for humor. He tells of Bobby Allison and Neil Bonnet trying to have a conversation after they both had sustained head injuries with resultant amnesia. Sounds sad, but Bobby Allison’s sense of humor comes to the rescue. “Between me trying to say what I was thinking and Neil trying to remember what he was talking about, we had a helluva conversation.”
Bobby also commented about the famous televised post-race fight after the 1979 Daytona 500 between himself, brother Donnie and Cale Yarborough that helped put NASCAR on the map. “Aw, I wasn’t fighting. I was just swinging my fist around to get a little exercise and Cale kept putting his nose in front of it.” Allison’s sense of humor may have helped carry him through his devastating career ending crash at Pocono and the loss of his two sons.
“Along for the Ride” tells true tales of Sterling and Coo Coo Marlin, Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Hamilton, Benny Parsons, Junior Johnson, Harry Gant, Buddy Baker and many others. It is divided into twenty bite sized chapters … about nine pages each…just right for a “racing fix” to go along with your morning coffee.
Larry Woody has the rare talent of being able to condense and crystallize his thoughts into a few words. To critics of Jeff Gordon who say that Gordon would have been nothing without crew chief Ray Evernham’s genius, Woody writes, “Evernham was just the caddy that handed Gordon his club.” Touché! The book is sprinkled with many such literary gems - mine it.
I give it four out of five lug nuts.
“Along for the Ride: A Collection of Stories from the Fast and Furious World of Stock Car Racing” is available now in the SPEED Bookstore.
Gregg Leary is the Researcher/Writer for “Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain” and
Book Reviewer for SpeedTV.com.
Leary was track announcer for Hooter’s IHRA Drag Racing at National Events in the USA and Canada and entertained event crowds during “down time” by conducting “crowd participation” and product giveaways with the Hooter’s Girls. He was Marketing and PR Director and track announcer at Lake Erie Speedway.
As Photo Editor, feature writer, columnist and swimsuit calendar chief photographer for “Sports Jam Magazine,” Leary covered Auto Racing, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association. He has photographed dozens of celebrities from A-Z…including Mario Andretti, Jim Brown, AJ Foyt, Ken Griffey Jr., Michael Jordan, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Mark McGwire, Paul Newman, Walter Payton, Alex Zanardi and Presidents Gerald Ford, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Gregg’s wife, Lynn and daughter, Caitlynn live in Jefferson, Ohio and his son, Sean is a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.
Leary has conducted motivational seminars and performed stand up comedy around the country. He is a graduate of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and Exeter University in England. Gregg has hitchhiked 40,000 miles through 36 states and 10 European countries and is a licensed pilot and skydiver. Leary is available for motorsports consulting on a limited basis. Contact him via email at gleary@speedtv.com .