View Ed Hinton
Ed Hinton
By Gregg Leary
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
Edward Talmage Hinton
DOB: 7-21-48
Laurel, MS
Resides: Jamestown, NC
Graduate University of Southern Mississippi 1970
Starting in 2000, auto racing writer for The Tribune Company Newspaper Group:
Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Newsday in New York, The LA Times
Has been going to races for over 40 years and being paid to cover it for over 30
Has covered NASCAR, Indy cars and Formula One
Has also covered NFL, Major League Baseball, The Olympics and NCAA Division I football
Was Senior writer at Sports Illustrated
National Writer at The National Sports Daily
12 years at The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Reported on auto racing for CNN, ESPN documentaries
Contributing writer for GQ, Car and Driver, Autoweek
Author of two books:
“Turning the Thing Around” with NFL coach Jimmy Johnson c. 1993
“Daytona :From the Birth of Speed to the Death of the Man in Black” c.2001
“Covering auto racing is as near as a sportswriter ever gets to covering war.” Bill Robinson
Hinton wrote a series of stories pointing out the shortcomings of NASCAR safety…and the dangers of basilar skull fractures….that appeared nationally the week BEFORE Dale Earnhardt died at Daytona. Hinton had known Earnhardt since 1979…dubbed him “The Man in Black” in 1988…they were very close until Hinton wrote a 1995 SI story titled “Attitude for Sale” that talked about Earnhardt’s “hardscrabble past” and ended their friendship. I’d like Ed’s take on why NASCAR did essentially nothing after Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin’s deaths at New Hampshire…Ed wrote about the potential of a driver’s strike at NH in September 2000…pressure about “soft walls….why it took Earnhardt’s death to bring about rules for mandatory HANS device and almost universal use of “Safer Barriers.” Does Hinton get credit for fueling the NASCAR R&D;Center?
Hinton was banned from the Indianapolis 500 in 1999 after writing a critical article in the May 10, SI titled, “Fatal Attractions” about the IRL following three spectator deaths at Charlotte in the May 1 VisionAire 500. (Hinton also mentioned the three CART spectator deaths in the previous year’s Michigan race) Tony George was extremely upset at SI running a photo of a sheet draped body. Hinton said the tragedies “should ignite a public outcry that doesn’t dissipate until track officials devise a plan to prevent further episodes of this nature.” He also wrote that IRL and CART should stop racing on high-speed oval tracks. The Speedway backed down when other media outlets threatened to not cover the event unless Hinton was reinstated. Does Hinton deserve some credit for wheel tethers and taller and more sturdy catch fencing?
Hinton’s “Daytona” book is a must read for true NASCAR fans. It traces the history of speed at Daytona…dating from 1903….before the Wright Brothers flew…8 years before the first Indy 500 and 20 years before the first 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Hinton wrote that Chris Economaki verified with Hemingway that he really had said “There are but three sports…bullfighting, mountain climbing and automobile racing. All the rest are games.”
Ed writes about A.J. Foyt having Bill France Junior in a headlock after being kicked off the Daytona 500 pole.
Donnie Allison asking him about how to handle death threats after the 1979 Daytona 500 fight with Cale Yarborough.
Why Richard Childress is “the only filthy-rich man you’ll ever see who deserves every cent.”
How DW “ in his prime was every bit as ruthless as Earnhardt and twice as slick about it.”
How Earnhardt got Waltrip to “hear footsteps.” How DW’s 1983 Daytona 500 crash changed his style to “I want to win as many races as I can, going as slow as I can.”
Dave Marcis getting kicked out of all you can eat buffets…”And don’t come back.”
The “Big Bill” France quote, “I can hold my board meetings in a phone booth.”
How Fidel Castro helped Bill France build Daytona.
Why Indy cars don’t race at Daytona. (Marshall Teague and George Amick.)
Lee Petty protesting at Lakewood in 1960. (Would have been Richard’s first win.)
The Marvin Panch/Tiny Lund Wood Brothers 1963 Daytona 500 story. (Ed’s version is accurate…I confirmed it with Marvin Panch today.)
Cale Yarborough getting bit by a rattlesnake…and a couple days later finding the snake DEAD.
Lloyd Seay
Tim Flock
Junior Johnson
Fireball Roberts
Richard Petty
David Pearson
Petty versus Pearson
Bobby Allison
Mario Andretti
A.J. Foyt
DW
Cale Yarborough
Lee Roy Yarbrough
Tim Richmond
Dale Earnhardt
Jeff Gordon
Parnelli Jones having trouble with a NASCAR tech inspector at Riverside…he asked the inspector to look under the hood and show him what was wrong…and slammed the hood on the inspector.