Racing Truth
01-22-07, 09:12 PM
It was mentioned earlier in a Christmas-time thread, but I thought I'd start a separate thread for Rapid Response, by Steve Olvey. Thoughts:
1. It's a quick read, written very conversationally. If anything, perhaps too much so, as one could (if one were a total Richard about it) say, for example, that Olvey uses too many exclamation marks. Again, maybe, but, for the most part, it all fits with the No-BS tone of the book.
2. The many "behind the scenes" tails that Olvey tells are, IMHO, great reading for all race fans. I was amazed at the full backstory of the Mears Sanair crash and aftermath.
3. Olvey (and Trammell) love(d) their jobs, and that really comes out throughout the book. He writes positively about most drivers (despite everything, he was a big Foyt fan), but is rightfully skeptical about the geniuses (starting with, but not limited to, Tony George) who have run this thing into the abyss.
4. Those looking for a polemic against the IRL will want another book. Olvey criticizes, pretty strongly, TG, but never attacks the "League" as a whole.
5. He is very blunt in his astonishment at NASCAR's past ambivalence towards safety. Very damning, IMHO.
6. Final thought: I think Olvey senses, in a subtle way, that motor sports as a whole, esp. OW racing, is less colorful than it was, with much less focus on the real people who make it special (drivers, mechanics, officials). It has become far more sterile, with less attention paid to those who do this because they love it. On a related note, he criticizes old CART for never marketing the drivers (a problem that still exists BTW). He still loves it and always will, but it is different.
A great read that I HIGHLY recommend.
1. It's a quick read, written very conversationally. If anything, perhaps too much so, as one could (if one were a total Richard about it) say, for example, that Olvey uses too many exclamation marks. Again, maybe, but, for the most part, it all fits with the No-BS tone of the book.
2. The many "behind the scenes" tails that Olvey tells are, IMHO, great reading for all race fans. I was amazed at the full backstory of the Mears Sanair crash and aftermath.
3. Olvey (and Trammell) love(d) their jobs, and that really comes out throughout the book. He writes positively about most drivers (despite everything, he was a big Foyt fan), but is rightfully skeptical about the geniuses (starting with, but not limited to, Tony George) who have run this thing into the abyss.
4. Those looking for a polemic against the IRL will want another book. Olvey criticizes, pretty strongly, TG, but never attacks the "League" as a whole.
5. He is very blunt in his astonishment at NASCAR's past ambivalence towards safety. Very damning, IMHO.
6. Final thought: I think Olvey senses, in a subtle way, that motor sports as a whole, esp. OW racing, is less colorful than it was, with much less focus on the real people who make it special (drivers, mechanics, officials). It has become far more sterile, with less attention paid to those who do this because they love it. On a related note, he criticizes old CART for never marketing the drivers (a problem that still exists BTW). He still loves it and always will, but it is different.
A great read that I HIGHLY recommend.