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Summary
Summary
He was The Intimidator. A nightmare in the rear-view mirror. A unique winner in the boardroom. A seven-time Winston Cup champion. A driver whose personal success story and dedication inspired the adoration of millions of fans. Then on February 18, 2001, just seconds from the Daytona 500 finish line, the world of stock-car racing suffered a devastating loss as Dale Earnhardt fatally careened into a track wall. The tragic shock waves, and an unprecedented outpouring of respect and love, have not stopped since. At the Altar of Speedtakes readers behind the scenes of Earnhardt's celebrated life, tracing his rags-to-riches journey to the top of America's fastest-growing sport. Beginning with Earnhardt's early days growing up in small-town North Carolina, veteran sports writer Leigh Montville examines how a ninth-grade dropout started on the dusty dirt tracks of the South, went through two marriages and a string of no-future jobs before turning twenty-five, then took about a million left turns to glory. Through the pitfalls and triumphs, Earnhardt would ultimately become a celebrated champion, whose lifetime earnings would top forty-one million dollars. The son of a legendary racer, the father of a NASCAR star, he lived a total auto-racing life filled with triumph and sadness, great joy and great pain. Transporting readers to the colorful, noisy world of stock-car racing, where powerful engines allow drivers to reach speeds of 200 m.p.h.,At the Altar of Speedvividly captures the man who drove the black No. 3 car, a man whose determination and inner strength left behind a legacy of greatness that has redefined his sport. Illustrated with a section of full-color photographs,At the Altar of Speedis a tribute to both the man and his unbeatable spirit.
Author Notes
A senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Leigh Montville also served for twenty-one years as a sports columnist for The Boston Glove. He lives in Winthrop, Massachusetts.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
A senior writer for Sports Illustrated memorializes the stock-car racer who recently lost his life at the Daytona 500. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Sports Illustrated senior writer Montville (Manute, 1993) puts a lot of twangy energy into this biography of stock-car great Dale Earnhardt, who died this year after hitting the wall on the final turn of the final lap at Daytona. Stock-car racing has come a long way from its moonshiner and revenue-agent roots, and Earnhardt is a kind of poster boy for the transformation: a man who drove as if his hair were on fire, a fearless southern boy who loved to draft along on another's bumper at 200 mph, who could come out of nowhere to win at the wire, all the while flipping the finger at any driver daring to impede his progress, who nonetheless learned to wear neckties, attend board meetings, and submit to public-relations handlers. Still, "he brought the dirt track with him into the big time," says Montville in what approaches an idolatrous voice: Earnhardt was dangerous and fun, pretty much the embodiment of stock-car racing, and his fans were legion. Montville traces Earnhardt's racing life, through all the junkers and crashes and tiny dirt tracks, the long wait for a good car and asphalt, his friendship with Neil Bonnett (drivers don't often become friends: "Do you want to get close to someone who might not be around in the near future?"), right up to the Learjets and yachts. Then his death at Daytona, a race he had finally won a couple years before after 19 tries. Montville works a little too hard at being thunderstruck by Earnhardt's death, with stunted sentences to convey his distraction and disbelief-"Seven titles. Six in a nine-year span. Who could argue with this kind of success? He was the best. Maybe the best who ever lived"-that compromise the embrace of his narrative. A private man uncomfortable with words, Earnhardt was no biographer's dream, but Montville draws a forceful portrait, letting the evolving atmosphere of NASCAR and Earnhardt's achievements speak for themselves. (Color photographs, not seen)
Booklist Review
The death of superstar NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt on February 19, 2001, reverberates through the sport seven months later, as controversy builds regarding the official NASCAR report on the fatal accident. Non-racing fans wonder what the fuss is about; sure, it's a sad loss, but these guys know the risks they're taking. Don't they? Montville, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, drills down deeper than one would expect in a quick-turnaround biography to explain Earnhardt's incredible appeal to racing fans and why his loss is so difficult to absorb. Earnhardt was born and raised in little Kannapolis, North Carolina. His daddy, Ralph, was also a race driver, on the small southern circuit in the 1950s and 1960s. Unlike his more cautious father, who had only one car and couldn't afford to crash it, Dale was fearless to the point of recklessness but was such a skilled driver that he seldom created dangerous situations for himself or other drivers. Montville's portrait of Earnhardt as the quintessential country boy who made good proves surprisingly moving. The Earnhardt story is a real-life vindication of one of popular culture's most enduring ideals: the idea that it's possible to overcome a lack of education and background with nerve, native intelligence, and charm. When Dale Earnhardt saw a clear road out of the routine world into which he was born and took it, he was driving for all of us. --Wes Lukowsky
Library Journal Review
A senior writer for Sports Illustrated memorializes the stock-car racer who recently lost his life at the Daytona 500.(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.