The Car that led to The Book

When you write a book, a lot of people ask where the idea came from.

Is it based in personal experience? The materialization of a long-held dream? Did the story kind of write itself? Or, was it simply an epiphany?

Well... kinda, yes, yes, and kinda.

My novel, HIDING BEHIND THUNDER, grew from the seeds of another project, itself the result of a 30-year dream. It started with a car. And my wife.

Pictured above is my 1964 Ford Galaxie that I built as a tribute to NASCAR legend Fireball Roberts. The car is a (barely) street-legal recognition of NASCAR's tumultuous Golden Age, driven (never trailered) to car shows and events near my home town. The car was the realization of a long-held dream, itself based upon witnessing cars kind of like this in the mid-1970s and beyond.

How "The Dream" of "The Car" began

Pretty much since I started walking, I've been a fan of stock car racing, and in the NASCAR Grand National Series in particular. A little over 30 years ago, I was walking back to my job when David Pearson's 1975 #21 Wood Brothers / Purolator Mercury drove right by me on the street!

Well, despite my surprise, I was still pretty confident that it was NOT the REAL car. But I still thought it was pretty cool. I mean, imagine driving what was essentially a race car on the street! It would be a while before I would learn about these promotional cars and how they were simply a factory vehicle with lookalike paint schemes and graphics. Still, I thought it pretty awesome!

Over the next couple years I would also chance upon a Gatorade Olds and later a Skoal Oldsmobile. But, like the Mercury I had seen earlier, they were simply flashy street cars. Sure, I wanted one of my own, but as the dream grew, I also wanted it to be a little different.

Enter "Project Fireball"

Fact is, I really didn't start out intending to build Fireball Roberts' old car. For nearly 15 years I tried to talk my Uncle Ronnie out of his old metallic blue '64 Galaxie that had sat idle in a mass of weeds on his horse property gathering layers of dust and serving as a community housing project for field mice, wasps and black widows. My hope had been to turn that particular car into a replica of Ned Jarrett's 1964 #11 Bondy-Long car simply through fresh paint and decals, in the same vein as the promo cars I has seen in the past. It never happened, but the dream was never forgotten.

Then, in 2006 I came upon an eBay auction for a '64 Galaxie, located in Fresno, CA, only about 170 miles south of my home. The car was the victim of an arson attempt, with a serious dose of fire and smoke damage.

I mean, what better platform for an early NASCAR replica?

Damned if I didn't get it, despite my wife's perpetual eye-rolling!

I gutted the interior, installed a roll cage, and, after removing all of the chrome, filled 161 holes in the body. But then came the task of deciding which car to re-create. Enter my wife.

As flexible as she normally is, she was just not content to see a car in our garage painted in a hue that she found offensive, or the same color as any vehicle we already owned. In frustration, I finally handed her a picture book of 1964 Galaxies raced in NASCAR. She jabbed her finger at a picture and said, "I like the purple one."

Fireball Roberts.

My wife has good taste.

The idea for the book is spawned

So, while researching the purple Galaxie, I also researched further on Fireball Roberts. And there I really learned about the man, the competitor, the athlete, the mentor to young drivers, the legend, and the tragedy. The more I delved into everything that surrounded him, the more I wanted to tell his story from the perspective of one of the young drivers he could have mentored and befriended. And from there, the story did begin to write itself.

Thanks to a dream, a car, a legend, and an understanding wife.

Please check out HIDING BEHIND THUNDER, now specially priced at Amazon.com, and available for downloads to Kindle, Nook, and many other e-readers -- even your PC -- at Smashwords.com

By the way, if you buy the e-book through Smashwords.com, they are offering a 33% discount coupon code if purchased by October 15, 2011.

Download the first 15% of the book for free to get a flavor of the story. Then, if you wish to purchase it in its entirety, enter the code TV78Z at checkout, and instead of paying the normal price of $5.99, you pay only $3.99! Not a Smashwords.com member? It’s free to sign up with no obligation!

Oh, and to read the entire story about "Project Fireball", go to CarDomain.com and check it out!

The Patriotism of NASCAR

Call it a "redneck" thing, but NASCAR and American patriotism go hand-in-hand.

As we honor those who died in the horrid attack on American soil on September 11, 2001, we still hear from those who question the wars we've engaged since this tragedy. Our servicemen and women fight and die for our continuing freedom, much of it because nearly 3000 people, many of multinational heritage, died while enjoying the freedom we hold so dear.

The NASCAR community honored the fallen with an incredible array of paint schemes this past weekend at Richmond International Raceway, and there is already a vast array of memorabilia for sale that will profit from it. Such is the American way.

But the American spirit runs deep in NASCAR, and has well before all of the commercialism we now easily associate with it. America's Armed Forces recognize this, and use the cars, drivers, and races as a recruiting platform. Even that goes further back than this weekend.

During the 1991 Daytona 500, NASCAR recognized the conflict known as "Desert Storm" by sponsoring five cars (already racing with minimal, to no sponsorship that weekend) representing the five branches of the military, and decals of the American flag adorned virtually every car in the field. Not as commercialism, but as a proud display of heartfelt patriotism.

NASCAR grew from the ashes of World War II. Our servicemen -- and women -- returned home and sought some kind of normalcy. American sports are a great platform for that. And NASCAR was a big part of that. American cars, and predominantly American drivers and crews fought on the "battlefield" of NASCAR competition. Many of these participants were veterans of the war, having put their lives on the line to defend their country, and now putting their lives on the line to entertain its people.

And it didn't end there. Through the years many veterans took to the track, having, in my opinion, earned a place there.

60s NASCAR veteran Larry Frank was indeed a veteran. A no-nonsense hard-charging ex-Marine, he wasn't one to back down from a conflict, and was even known to give chase, with or without a car, if he felt it was warranted. He is probably best known for his NASCAR "conflict" that is the stuff of legend.

During one race, "Little Joe" Weatherly was driving in his own hard-charging style, but seemed to focus most of his beating and banging on Larry Frank, doing a lot of damage. After the race, Frank chased ‘Little Joe' into the parking lot. Not wanting to tangle with Frank without the protection of a car around him, Weatherly jumped on a car's roof. Even that wasn't going to stop Larry Frank, so Little Joe ran across the roof of every car parked in that row, leaving a trail of dented roofs along the way. And, in true NASCAR style, both men laughed about it the next day.

Army veteran Nelson Stacy drove a tank as he served his country. That might have had something to do with the way he drove on the Grand National circuit during his brief NASCAR career.

Nowadays, many of the drivers in NASCAR's top three series started too young to have had a career in the military. But, that doesn't mean that they can't show their American pride, even if it comes at 200 miles per hour.

Never Forget.

Falling off the face of the net

Keeping a blog updated isn't necessarily a problem, provided you have a life that allows opportunity to do so. As a writer, the act of writing (a book, a blog, an article somewhere) should make it easy to post just another piece of worthless drivel in some shape or form. I guess that's what I'm doing here.

Between writing, edits, and formatting, I put together my novel HIDING BEHIND THUNDER in about 14 months. I'd like to think that's not too bad if one takes into consideration that I type with only my index fingers, my right thumb (space bar) and my right ring finger (backspace key... which I seem to use a lot). That leaves me with six other rather useless digits that tend to only get in the way, especially over the course of creating a 137,000-word self-proclaimed masterpiece.

Not that those phalanges are wasted in other ventures, mind you. I mean, it's not like I'm going to have them surgically removed just so I can write another book or add another blog here. That would have a detrimental effect on my being able to communicate my feelings about the behaviors of other drivers for their benefit.

Then there's that little issue of actually working a full-time job and having a full-time family. That will slow things down. Oh, and let's not forget the modern time-wasting monster called commuting, which eats up another hour and a half of potential writing time each working day (but doesn't seem to impact my ability to put those previously-mentioned middle fingers to use). So, where am I going with this?

Although HIDING BEHIND THUNDER isn't actually flying off the shelves at your local bookstore (which likely has a lot to do with bookstores not yet carrying the thing), I've already had people asking if I'm working on my next magnum opus. (Not to be confused with a really big cartoon penguin.)

Yeah, I'm trying to work on another novel, but I've found that promoting a book is almost harder than writing one. So, where am I going with this (you ask again)?

I'm wondering if I should take a break from writing and just work on the promotion. (Kind of what I'm doing at the moment.) You know, somehow convince enough people to buy my book so I can retire and just keep writing between attending lots of NASCAR races.

Resting upon one's laurels isn't really a bad thing, provided you have laurels to rest upon. Which I don't.

But, I never wrote my 60s-era NASCAR novel expecting to get rich... although it sure would be nice. No, I wrote it because of my passion for the sport and its rich history, threads that I've woven into a satisfying coming-of-age story. Really.

So, again I ask you --nay, beg you -- to at least check out HIDING BEHIND THUNDER, now specially priced at Amazon.com, and available for downloads to Kindle, Nook, and many other e-readers -- even your PC -- at Smashwords.com.

Who knows? Maybe you'll want to see me write another one, too.

It's a book about NASCAR history... and it's not

I think I need to be specific about what my novel HIDING BEHIND THUNDER is, and maybe, what it isn't.

First of all, it is a novel; a work of fiction. And yet, there is a lot of factual NASCAR history interwoven throughout the story to provide both the new stock car racing fan and the NASCAR veteran with some great glimpses of the world of Grand National racing in the early 60s.

It is a mystery initiated by a suspicious death, as well as a coming of age story of a young man rebuilding his life after a series of tragic events.

It is a story of an almost primal craving for revenge. It is a story about the values of friendship, love, loyalty and trust.

And, according to reviews received by readers, a fun read and overall uplifting story.

Triumph and tragedy fill a number of pages in HIDING BEHIND THUNDER. A significant player in the story, known for his largess with young drivers and taking them under his wing and showing them the ropes, is NASCAR legend Fireball Roberts.

Throughout the story, lead character Davey Sutherland meets and interacts with many of the greats of early NASCAR. Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Nelson Stacy, Cale Yarborough, Joe Weatherly, Wendell Scott, and Fred Lorenzen make appearances, offering history and insight into those early rough-and-tumble days of stock car racing.


Yeah, in a lot of respects it's a Who's Who of early NASCAR. But, it's not a book based in a lot of name-dropping, either. The story line carries the reader through a lot of the 1963 and 1964 NASCAR season and many of the actual races run, and again, it isn't simply an anthology of NASCAR events of the era.

I urge you to check out HIDING BEHIND THUNDER, now specially priced at Amazon.com, and available for downloads to Kindle, Nook, and many other e-readers -- even your PC -- at Smashwords.com.

Hey, I wrote it, I'm proud of it, and I'm confident you will enjoy it.

- Don

Visit the HIDING BEHIND THUNDER official site.

G'Day and Congratulations, Marcos Ambrose!

Marcos Ambrose finally got his due, winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen yesterday, a victory that, while long in coming, wasn't wholly unexpected.

It was only a matter of time before the Australian V8 Supercar champ would break through at NASCAR's highest level. I'm glad that Ambrose found his success behind the wheel of a Ford Fusion, as it was Ford Motor Company that brought the bright-smiling Aussie to the US to work his magic here. Maybe it goes back to that "Loyalty" thing I recently blogged about.

Marcos Ambrose seemed destined to make his mark in American stock cars, and it looked as if he was going to bring a fun and infectious attitude with him from down under from the very beginning. And he's not the first "foreigner" to win in NASCAR's top-tier division.

Virtually every current NASCAR fan recognizes Juan Pablo Montoya, the hard-charging Columbian who has earned three Sprint Cup wins so far. But many of today's NASCAR fans are not aware of another "non-American" to win a race at NASCAR's top level. And, like Juan Pablo Montoya, came over from open-wheel cars to do it.

Mario Andretti not only won in NASCAR, but notched his first and only Grand National win in the biggest event in the series, the 1967 Daytona 500.



It certainly helps a foreign-born driver -- okay, ANY driver -- if he gets his big break with a big-name team and/or owner. Ambrose started his NASCAR run with the famed Wood Brothers and eventually wound up driving for The King, Richard Petty. Montoya started out with, and remains true to his team owner, Chip Ganassi (Ooh! That "Loyalty" thing again!), while Mario Andretti notched his Daytona 500 victory with Holman and Moody.

Again, it's lesson time for the newbies.

While NASCAR hasn't raced in Europe, the Nationwise/Busch series has had recent runs in Canada and Mexico. But you have to go back to the mid '90s, and then again back to the late '80s, to find NASCAR-sanctioned events in Australia and Japan.

In 1988, NASCAR held an exhibition race just outside of Melbourne, Australia, where Neil Bonnett edged out the win over Bobby Allison. Of course, the whole event was rather foreign to the Aussie spectators used to watching their race cars making right turns on their huge oval.

Then it was on to Japan for three years, 1996-98. Those races were won by Rusty Wallace, Mike Skinner and Mike Skinner, respectively.

While those drivers brought home the trophies, Travis Carter Motorsports brought over a driver; Hideo Fukuyama. Unfortunately, Travis Carter didn't have the resources to win that the Woods, H&M, Ganassi and Petty possessed, leaving Fukuyama with a rather stillborn NASCAR racing career when Carter's team closed up shop.

Go even father back in NASCAR history, back to the setting of my NASCAR-themed novel, HIDING BEHIND THUNDER, and you'll find another Grand National driver who raced not only in Japan, but in Germany, Canada and Peru, as well.

Tiny Lund, winner of the 1963 Daytona 500, showed 'em how to do it on all kinds of racing surfaces all over the world.



NASCAR has, and has had for some time, an international flavor, both in its competitors and its fans. And we're better for it.

Congratulations, Marcos Ambrose!

Loyalty, Part Deux

I just recently posted my perspective of the re-signing of Carl Edwards with Roush-Fenway Racing, devoting the post to the concept of loyalty. In a recent post by Mark Aumann on NASCAR.com, he opines that the continued association between Edwards and Roush wasn't about money, loyalty or leverage; it was about winning.

Well, yes... and no. There is no doubt in my mind that, had Edwards jumped ship for Joe Gibbs Racing, his association with a championship-winning team at JGR and championship-winning crew chief in Greg Zipadelli, he would have added plenty wins to his resume. And I'm sure most fans could easily see the possibility of Edwards driving towards a Sprint Cup Championship behind the wheel of the Home Depot Toyota.

But Edwards chose to stay with Roush. You can't tell me that there wasn't a huge dose of loyalty taken into consideration when Edwards remarked, "I talked to Jack on the phone and he said, 'Look, Carl. You do whatever you think is best for you'... That meant the world to me. It meant that I didn't have that pressure to do something for any reason than for what I thought was best..."

Loyalty has played a significant role with some of the most successful and popular NASCAR racers.

Dale Earnhardt has to be one of the greatest examples of loyalty. Even as he founded his own race team, he was still driving for Richard Childress, and there was no intention to jump ship, citing loyalty to Childress as a significant factor.

And it wasn't just the 6 Winston Cup Championship they had earned together. Earnhardt's last Cup championship with Childress and the #3 was in 1994. They remained together, dedicated to each other, right up until Earnhardt's tragic death at Daytona in 2001.

Likewise Jeff Gordon. How many NASCAR drivers do you know of who have signed a lifetime contractual agreement? Is it based in winning? Yes. Is it based in championship chases, past, present and future? You bet. Is it based in loyalty to his team owner? Unquestionably.

There are a couple other drivers that ditched loyalty to a championship-caliber team in hopes of doing something they'd been working towards, anyway (insert Tony Stewart here).

And then there's the sport's Most Popular Driver, whose loyalty was to his father, then to himself when the race team his father founded was wrenched away from him. Now he chooses to stay with Rick Hendrick, the man who gave him his second chance.



One of my all-time favorite movies is The Princess Bride, a wonderful tale of love, honor, and loyalty. Between the film and many of NASCAR's biggest stars, I remain optimistic that loyalty is not dead.

That's my two cents, your mileage may vary.

Oh? The Book?

As I post about NASCAR events, both current and historic, I hint about my novel, HIDING BEHIND THUNDER. Well, I guess I should throw in another post in which the hints give way to out-and-out declaring its existence.

HIDING BEHIND THUNDER is a coming-of-age story set against the background of 1960s NASCAR.

Davey Sutherland is a fugitive, running for his life from a murder he didn't commit. Through a bizarre twist of fate, he finds sanctuary in the rough-and-tumble world of NASCAR. Now known as race driver Colt Kellogg, the young man hides behind his assumed name and identity. He builds a new life, gains trust and friendship, and even finds love. But, will he become a victim of his own growing notoriety? Now caught between the law and people dead set on revenge, Davey spends his new life HIDING BEHIND THUNDER.

There are many reference books available about NASCAR and its rich history. HIDING BEHIND THUNDER is a novel; a seamless blend of fact and fiction, sharing a story of love, loss, death and revenge, while incorporating a significant dose of NASCAR history. Both the famous drivers of the era and the events they raced in over the 1963 and 1964 seasons are portrayed here, intertwined with mystery and adventure.

HIDING BEHIND THUNDER can be purchased in paperback through Amazon ($16.99), my CreateSpace acoount ($14.99), downloaded to Amazon's Kindle reader ($7.99), and purchased for downloads for Nook, Kobo, and many other ePub formats through Smashwords.com (also $7.99).

Yes, it's my first "official" novel, and it's self-published. But, given the encouraging responses I've received about the book so far, I think I need to get started on my next book.

That's my two cents, your mileage may vary.