View Dale Earnhardt: The Pass in the Grass
“Dale Earnhardt: The Pass in the Grass and Other Incredible Moments from Racing’s Greatest Legend ”
Book by The Charlotte Observer
Audio CD by Performance Racing Network and Mark Garrow
Book Review by Gregg Leary
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
“Dale Earnhardt: The Pass in the Grass” is very good for THREE reasons. The book contains exciting stories and photographs from the Charlotte Observer that chronicle Dale Earnhardt’s magnificent career from his first win at Bristol on April 1, 1979 to the fateful day at Daytona in 2001.
The highlight of the package is the hour long CD that contains 14 audio chapters about “The Intimidator” that include actual race calls and interviews with Earnhardt and his fellow competitors. Mark Garrow hosts the digitally mastered CD compilation of MRN and PRN clips. The combination of the book and CD draw a very complete portrait of Dale Earnhardt. I enjoyed listening to the CD on my commute to and from SPEED. When I cranked up the volume it almost felt like I was trading paint with Earnhardt at Bristol, Daytona and Talladega.
The CD contains 14 Tracks:
1. The Pass in the Grass
2. Clash Follows Crash at North Wilkesboro
3. Remembering Dad (Ralph Earnhardt)
4. Cut Down by a Chicken Bone
5. This Can’t Be Happening
6. Quick Pit and Win at Charlotte
7. Houdini…Alan and Davey…The Joy of Six
8. Seventh Heaven
9. Losing Daytona…Winning the Brickyard
10. You Know It’s Going to Hurt
11. Another Daytona Disappointment…Blackout at Darlington
12. Daytona Victory Lane, Finally
13. Bringing Along Junior…The Spin and Win at Bristol
14. Final Season…Final Curtain
Some of my favorite quotes from the CD include:
“I just think the confidence and the will of what you want to do and what’s in your heart carries you through life and makes you what you are.” Dale Earnhardt
“I didn’t hit him any harder than he hit me!” DE
(About his dad, Ralph) “He’s why I’m here. My dad was the focus of my life. I didn’t like school-I wanted to be home workin’ on dad’s race car, cleaning the shop, washing wrenches. I followed him around and everything he did…situations I go through today still apply to things that he taught me back then…of mechanics and cars, the basics of driving and a little bit of basics and common sense.” DE
(About winning 7 NASCAR Cup Championships in only 14 full seasons)
“It’s hard to impress people in this day and time, but I’ve impressed myself.” DE
“This is the Daytona 500, so I ain’t s’posed to win the #### thing, I reckon.” DE
(After his Talladega crash in 1997)
“I am black and blue all over and have knots and bruises here and there…my collar bone’s broken and my sternum is busted in two from where I hit the wall.” DE
(After spinning Terry Labonte at Bristol)
“I meant to bump him and shake him but I didn’t mean to spin him out.” DE
Labonte responded, “Have you ever heard him say he means to spin anybody out?”
(After winning the 1998 Daytona 500)
“This is the greatest time I’ve ever had in Victory Lane.” DE
“I don’t want to come to the day when I get out of the race car and not get back in.” DE
“I’m anxious to see what’s gonna happen next…what’s around the corner.” DE
The book’s 160 pages are divided into 39 short chapters augmented with scores of color and black and white photographs. The first chapter is Tom Higgins’ account of Earnhardt’s first Cup win at Bristol on April Fool’s Day in 1979, titled “The Future Starts Now.” Legendary crew chief, Jake Elder said, “Dale can be as good as anybody I ever worked with.” How prophetic “Suitcase Jake” was.
The final chapter is David Poole’s article on Dale Junior’s July 7, 2001 win in the Pepsi 400 at the track where less than five months earlier his father had perished. Junior said, “He was with me tonight. I don’t know how I did it. I dedicate this win to him.”
Some of the chapters have very clever titles:
Childress Gets His Wheels of Fortune
Pass the Dirt and Some Moonshine, Boys
Maybe They Should Make it the Daytona 499
A quote by Dale after his July 29, 1979 Pocono accident was full of tragic irony:
“The doctor in charge told me that judging from the way the collarbones were broken, it was an act of God my neck wasn’t broken, too.”
Perhaps Ned Jarrett sums Earnhardt up the best.
“From early in Dale’s career I’ve said if there ever was a natural-born race driver, he is it.”
“Dale Earnhardt: The Pass in the Grass” earns four out of five lug nuts. Enjoy the tribute to the legacy of one of the greatest drivers of all time.