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Reviews
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Date of last review
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1999
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Mon May 12, 2008
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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None indicated
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10.0
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Description:
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Entitled ‘Best Damn Garage in Town’ Smokey’s autobiography hit the scene a short while after his passing in 2000. I have to admit I was really in no rush to read this book. I sort of assumed it was a vehicle to justify why he did this or that or anything else which had grounds for question when it came to race rules, rule bending or just plain cheating. I have to admit that attitude was based solely on Smokey’s public persona and bearing in mind the proximity, or possible lack thereof of ‘reputation to reality’ I should have known better (hey I can be hard headed too).
For those who knew Smokey his book had a lot of stuff in it that they could well of expected to see and some of the reviews it received reflect that. For instance the New York Times wrote “Smokey was a one-man Greatest Generation whose WWII adventures seemed divided between hot planes and hot nurses” another reviewer wrote “If you are tired of politically correct tomes on NASCAR this book is the antidote” John DeLorean (yes that John DeLorean) wrote “It’s the best book I ever read – bar none. I could not put it down – no one could”. A Hot Rod magazine staffer wrote “I’ve spent hours blowing off my other duties here at the office unable to pull myself from these sweet, straight shooting pages”.
Now I don’t want you to think these are isolated comments by people who are overly condescending and lead an otherwise boring life style. On the contrary, these are people who lead very interesting lives and can also be very critical yet they found Smokey’s book a big distraction - and had to read it cover to cover in a near non-stop fashion. All that said I still did not take the time to read Smokey’s book. Not even when my friend Greg Finnican said he had bought a copy and I just had to read it. After having read it he commented that maybe we should re-name Smokey ‘Fiery” because some pages were about ready to bust into flame. But still I did not get around to reading Smokey’s book. Then last year I was up at Dover on a track day driving a friend of mines school car and I got presented a book by one of my fans (yes I have one or two).
Well the book laid around for a few days. I had a deadline to meet and was working on - well meeting it. Then, as sometimes happens, I ran into writers block and decided to take a break so made a big mug of coffee and sat down and idly picked up Smokey’s book. Now I have never, in 39 years and over 3500 magazine stories, ever missed a copy date. But damn it, the perpetrator of the “Best Damn Garage in Town” damn nearly made me miss a damn copy date – damn it! I confess I did not read this book in one stint – after about 14 hours I just had to get some shut-eye. But I did finish the book next day and then had to work around the clock to meet that deadline.
I knew from his reputation that Smokey could be crass, in your face, argumentative, bone headed, opinionated and a bunch of other things that most of us would not like to be known for. On the other hand Smokey, it seemed, would wear these monikers almost as a badge of office. I have to admit the Smokey I knew from about a dozen or so encounters was not quite that person. I suspect that Smokey reacts to his environment more so than most people and that could well be the result of his situational childhood, youth and adolescence. The Smokey I met was quieter, held more sharing back and forth conversations and was less opinionated and a little more reserved than one might expect. In spite of experiences to the contrary I was still totally influenced by that ‘public persona’.
By the time I finished Smokey’s book I understood that he was stubborn, in your face etc. To that I could now safely add adventurous, oversexed and wilder than most of you can imagine to the extent that if we had de-tuned his sex drive by a bunch we would end up with an Indiana Jones clone. These were all very obvious traits that the book portrayed. What was less obvious but non-the-less there to be seen was the – how shall I say this – softer side of Smokey. Granted this took a little reading between the lines but by the end of the book it was quite plain to see. Smokey actually cared very deeply about a great many things. He was not just one of life’s takers but also a person willing to give to those willing to accept. And he had much to offer.
At the end of his book I understood that Smokey was not just all talk but a man who stood for causes and motivated others. Somewhere along the line he may have been christened Smokey but he was certainly gifted enough to so often see through the smoke when others around him could not and this is all reflected in his book. From the personality Smokey most certainly has been molded by his life’s experiences and that is a major contributor to the books hyper interesting content. Don’t get the idea that Smokey was a saint in disguise. Though I am sure he’s at the big race track in the sky I am also sure he had to do some serious explaining of how the rules were only bent not broken to get his credentials!
Smokey’s aptitude as an innovator also makes it’s presence known within the book but not to the extent you may suppose. The reality here is this book is 2/3rds ribald adventures with planes, alligators, racing and girls and the tech stuff does not happen until the last third of the book. What does go from page 1 to the last page is that Smokey tells it the way he see’s it without any attempt to smooth out the bumps in the road. If there was any editing done on the original manuscript then I fail to see where. All the miss-spelt words and grammatically poor phrases are still there (I can relate to that) – so are all the swear words and blue language – but that is what makes this book uniquely Smokey. If you cannot stomach bad language even in the privacy of your own living room then this book is not for you. If you want to read something that leaves a James Bond book for dead in the water then read this. It’s best if you are over 21 and broad minded – don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I was not the biggest of Smokey fans before I read this book – but damn it - I am now!
I read a fair number of books and this book, one of the best I have ever read, goes for 25 bucks a copy – you can take it from me it’s at least a $50 read. I give this book a solid 5 star GFN rating. Long live Smokey’s legacy.
To get this book go to The Official Smokey Yunick Web Site
David Vizard
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Keywords:
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smokey yunick racer nascar fireball
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Director of Technical Writing
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Posts: 767
Registered: April 2007
Location: Charlotte, NC
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Author
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admin
GFN Administrator
Registered: April 2007
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 14232
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Review Date: Mon May 12, 2008
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 10
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nice work david
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Admin (Sean)
GoFastNews.com
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