Vintage Racing?

[Bored5000]

I just wanted to give a heads up on here to an outstanding racing book that I finished reading a few days ago: "J.D. The Life and Death of a Forgotten NASCAR Legend" by Brock Beard.

https://www.amazon.com/J-D-Forgotten...=UTF8&qid=&sr=

I am not affiliated with the book or anything like that; it's just a fabulous read. Initially, I thought how interesting can a book be about a guy who ran 653 Cup races and never won (J.D. McDuffie) ? But after a reading a few of the Amazon reviews, I decided to buy the book. There is a reason the Amazon reviews are what they are for the book; it is outstanding. The book really makes me think differently about McDuffie and all the independent Cup racers of that era. About half the book is about McDuffie's overall racing career and his struggles as racing in the Cup series became increasingly expensive in the 1980s, while the other half of the book is about the fateful weekend at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) during which McDuffie lost his life. The book also touches on the hardship of his family following his death and what so many of the people involved with his team did in the decades since.

When I look at what the Cup series is now, McDuffie's story seems like it happened a million years ago,.

Among the things that really stood out to me:

* McDuffie had difficulty reading and writing (something I also learned about Rich Vogler after reading John Sawyer's book about him many years ago), and he rarely if ever allowed anyone else to drive his "Old Blue" ramp truck to and from the races.

* He typically allotted himself one stogie for each 100 miles of a race. A good day was when he smoked all five cigars during a 500 miler because it meant that he finished the race.

* The book also contains a great chapter of close McDuffie friend and fellow independent Jimmy Means. Means was involved in the Watkins Glen accident that killed McDuffie. After giving a shellshocked interview with Ned Jarrett following the crash, Means was so distraught that he immediately left Watkins Glen that day.

* I had known about McDuffie winning a match race in a Late Model at Shangri-La (New York) Speedway among various crew guys the night before the Watkins Glen race, but the night at Shangri-La is really fleshed out in the book. McDuffie drove the car of track points leader Tom Schwarz that night. For the first time in decades, McDuffie felt what it was like to have the best car in the field; he started last in the eight-car field that night and took the lead on the second lap. In Victory Lane, promoter Dale Campfield gave McDuffie a handshake with a $100 bill in it.

The next morning at a local diner for breakfast, McDuffie, still beaming from the night before, grabbed the breakfast check, pulled out the $100 bill and said simply "Winners buy." The ragtag crew that helped McDuffie typically paid for their own meals because they knew how tight money was for the driver.

At the Watkins Glen drivers meeting on the fateful Sunday morning, McDuffie's win at Shangri-La the previous evening was brought up. Ernie Irvan, who would win the tragedy-marred Cup race, joked with McDuffie, "You've been holding out on us all these years, J.D."

* One of the further tragedies of the McDuffie accident was that a North Carolina scammer by the name Jeff Tobias Bennett posed as McDuffie's brother and was given the driver's uniform and other effects he was wearing that day. Bennett then sold McDuffie's uniform to a hobby shop for $150. The bubble goggles McDuffie was wearing that day and the tire that broke off his car to cause the accident have never been seen since.

* McDuffie's family received the $30,000 driver death benefit from NASCAR's insurance policy, but the family had to repeatedly fight for the $15,000 car owner benefit.

* His family remains deeply troubled by NASCAR's insinuation that McDuffie died because he was driving junk. He obviously raced used parts, but he did not use stuff that was worn out because he knew it was his life at stake.Since the tire and attached suspension parts disappeared shortly after the accident, it was impossible to ascertain exactly what broke on McDuffie's car -- not that NASCAR was much into thorough investigations prior to Dale Earnhardt's death.

* McDuffie's "Old Blue" ramp truck hauler was purchased at auction in 2013 by Ken Schrader. The truck is now owned by a Late Model team in Michigan and serves as a functional shrine to McDuffie. The truck still contains the issue of "NASCAR Illustrated" that was current at the time of the Watkins Glen race, several smoked cigar butts in the ashtray and the "Winner's Buy" diner receipt that McDuffie stuck above the driver's side sun visor after purchasing breakfast for his crew.

Again, the book is far greater than I expected a book about J.D. McDuffie to be, It is unfortunate that there aren't guys like that at the highest levels of racing anymore.