The Last Lap , livre ebook

The
L AST L AP

U PDATED
The Life and Times of NASCAR s Legendary Heroes
PETER GOLENBOCK

Hungry Minds, Inc.
Best Selling Books Digital Downloads e-Books Answer Networks e-Newsletters Branded Web Sites e-Learning
New York, NY Cleveland, OH Indianapolis, IN
Published by Hungry Minds, Inc. 909 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 www.hungryminds.com
Copyright 1998, 2001 Peter Golenbock
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
Trademarks: Hungry Minds and the Hungry Minds logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Hungry Minds. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
For general information on Hungry Minds products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993 or fax 317-572-4002.
For sales inquiries and reseller information, including discounts, premium and bulk quantity sales, and foreign-language translations, please contact our Customer Care Department at 800-434-3422, fax 317-572-4002, or write to Hungry Minds, Inc., Attn: Customer Care Department, 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard, Indianapolis, IN 46256.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Golenbock, Peter, 1946-
The last lap: the the life and times of NASCAR s legendary heroes/Peter Golenbock.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7645-6585-0 (hardcover)
1. Stock car racing--United States. 2. Automobile racing drivers--Biography. I. Title
GV1032.A1 G64 2001 2001093377
796.72 092 273--dc21 CIP
[B]
1L/SZ/QR/QS/IN
10 9 8 7 6 5 4
Updated Edition
Book design by George M. McKeon
Cover design by Michael J. Freeland
D EDICATION
This book is dedicated to Elmo Langley, who I m sorry to say I spoke to briefly but didn t interview just two days before he left us too soon. Mr. Langley is remembered for driving NASCAR s pace car, but his life in racing began back in the mid-fifties. He was a fascinating man who knew everyone. Before his marriage to his wife, Nancy, he was engaged to country and western singing legend Patsy Cline.
Elmo was on his way to Japan the day we spoke. He said that as soon as he returned, I could come see him. He was behind the wheel of the pace car on a track half a world away when he drove off the track, put his head down on the steering wheel, and died. Mr. Langley was sixty-eight. Though I never knew him, I mourn his passing.
This book is also dedicated to the men who have given their lives in the service of their sport, and to their relatives, friends, and fans who have never allowed the flame of memory to be extinguished.
C ONTENTS

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

I NTRODUCTION
1 B OB L ATFORD
In the Beginning
2 S LICK O WENS
In the Land of Cotton
3 T IM F LOCK
The Last of the Wild Bunch
4 R ALPH M OODY
Curtis and Lil Joe
5 M AX M UHLMANN
More Curtis and Lil Joe
6 M AURICE P ETTY
The Perfectionist
7 T IM F LOCK
Carl Kiekhaefer
8 D ANNY C HOCOLATE M YERS
The Death of the Myers Brothers
9 T OM P ISTONE
The Converted Yankee
10 R ALPH M OODY
Fred Lorenzen
11 P AUL L ITTLEBUD M OORE
Rough-Tough Characters
12 B UDDY B AKER
Buck s Boy
13 M ARVIN P ANCH
Escape from a Fiery Death
14 B OB L ATFORD
Crash and Burn
15 R ALPH M OODY
Death Wholesale
16 M AX M UHLMANN
The Death of Fireball Roberts
17 B OB L ATFORD
Ned and Junior
18 D AVID P EARSON
The Reluctant Champion
19 P AUL L ITTLE B UD M OORE
The Demise of Dirt
20 B OB L ATFORD
A Small Band of Gypsies
21 M AURICE P ETTY
Life with Richard
22 D AVID P EARSON
Moments Great and Not So Good
23 S UITCASE J AKE E LDER
One Great Chassis Man
24 S LICK O WENS
Holman and Moody s Demise
25 B UDDY B AKER
He Broke the 200 MPH Barrier
26 T IM F LOCK
Curtis Turner s Losing Gambit
27 C URTIS T URNER
The Day the Music Died
28 B UNNY T URNER
Sweet Thang
29 L OU L A R OSA
Brooklyn Meets Robert Gee
30 B UDDY B AKER
Troubles on the Last Lap
31 W ANDA L UND
They Were All Crazy
32 T OMMY J OHNSON
The Travails of Harry Hyde
33 B UDDY B AKER
Records at Breakneck Speed
34 L OU L A R OSA
The Emergence of Dale Earnhardt
35 T OMMY J OHNSON
Harry Hyde and Tim Richmond
36 L OU L A R OSA
Cale and More About Dale
37 D ANNY C HOCOLATE M YERS
Memories of Richard Childress
38 T OMMY J OHNSON
The Death of Harry Hyde
39 P AUL A NDREWS
The Death of Alan Kulwicki
40 S UITCASE J AKE E LDER
Disturbing Memories
41 L IZ A LLISON
The Deaths of Clifford and Davey
42 L OU L A R OSA
A Racer s Sad Good-bye
43 B UDDY B AKER
He (and the Sport) Survives and Flourishes
44 A NDY P ETREE
Bigger than Life
45 D ALE E ARNHARDT
The Man in Black
46 D ALE E ARNHARDT
Black Sunday

Index
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Jeanine Buceck, my crew chief and editor at Macmillan, for all your support and confidence. To Neil Reshen and Dawn Reshen-Doty, who for over a decade now have protected and nurtured me.
To Tom, Pat and Brian Cotter, Ed and Anne Carroll, Jimmy Johnson, and Cliff and Adrienne Powers, whose friendship and assistance have always been invaluable and cherished.
To Jonathan Mauk, the photo archive guru at the Daytona International Speedway, who has helped me from the beginning.
To Greg Fielden, for always being available at the other end of the phone and to Al Pierce and Al Robinson for their expertise. And to Michelle Tupper, for her diligence and care, and Natalie Chapman for her support.
My eternal gratitude to the fabled men and women of stock car racing who gave their time and memories to make this labor of love as interesting and dynamic as possible: Liz Allison, Paul Andrews, Buddy Baker, H. Clay Earles and Dick Thompson of the Martinsville Speedway, Wanda Lund Early, Jake Elder, Lou and Teresa LaRosa, Bob Latford, Tim and Frances Flock, Bunny Turner Hall, Tommy Johnson, Ralph and Mitzy Moody, Max Muhlmann, Danny Myers and Caron Pappas, Paul Little Bud Moore, Charles Slick Owens, Marvin and Betty Panch, David Pearson, Tom and Sammy Pistone, and Maurice Petty.
And to Andy Petree, Doug Stafford, Humpy Wheeler, Steve Byrnes, Eli Gold, and Betty Carlan, for all their cooperation and friendship, and to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Alabama.
And thanks to Kevin Thornton, who had the foresight to keep this book alive, and to Ben Nussbaum, my editor, for all your kind assistance.
And to my wonderful family, Rhonda and Charlie, and the road course hound Doris; every day you make me feel like a winner.
I NTRODUCTION
The idea for this book and for its title occurred at the same moment, on the afternoon of July 13, 1993, when I heard over the radio that Davey Allison had died from his injuries suffered in a freak helicopter accident. I was shocked and very upset, as were a legion of NASCAR race fans. In mid-February, during the week before the Daytona 500, I had asked Donna Freismuth of the Daytona International Speedway if she would be so kind as to arrange a meeting between Davey and my son Charlie, who was then six. Davey was his favorite, and why not? He cut a dashing figure, seemed to enjoy the media and fan attention, and he sure could drive a race car. What I especially liked about him was he was serious about his work, but at the same time he knew how to laugh and have fun. Davey reminded me a lot of a co-author, former New York Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry, another great athlete with a lot of charisma.
Davey s shocking death brought tears to my eyes. I didn t know him well, but I mourned his passing. His had been the third tragic death to hit racing since August of 1992. Clifford Allison, Davey s younger brother, was killed during a practice run at Michigan that month. Then, in what seemed a cruel April Fool s hoax, but wasn t, a plane crash had killed racer Alan Kulwicki, a man I highly respected after interviewing him for my first book on racing, American Zoom. When Davey s helicopter crashed on July 13, 1993, the racing world grieved for Davey and for his parents, Bobby and Judy Allison.
Davey s death cast a pall over the sport the likes of which race fans hadn t seen since the deaths of Joe Weatherly and Fireball Roberts back in 1964. With Davey s death, Bobby and Judy had lost both their sons in a very short period of time. Such tragedy was, and remains, almost incomprehensible.
What sets these-and all-racers apart from less daredevilish mortals is their complete lack of fear and their joy of doing something on the edge. They love the speed because it s dangerous. Davey Allison was a guy who felt he could do anything. Given the opportunity, he would have grandly walked across a high-wire without a net in order to escape the mundane routine of life. Davey certainly could have chosen to drive his pickup to the racetrack that day, but that wouldn t have been any fun. Flying a jet-powered helicopter gave him that kick he needed, and flying it into an enclosed space, hey, no problem. Except that it killed him.
I said out loud to no one in particular, What the hell did you need a turbojet helicopter for anyway, Davey? And what were you thinking trying to park it in an enclosed area? Some witnesses said the craft Davey was flying flipped after the back rotor hit a wire fence. As the tears flowed, I thought, You have driven your last lap. Hence the book s title.
And so I decided to write a book that would explore racers addiction to danger and their love of doing something that seems so unsafe. But when I brought up the subject, not one of them thought racing to be either reckless or unsafe. None of them thought what they do is particularly heroic.
Whether this is a pattern of denial which makes it possible for them to perform or whether they actually deep down believe driving a race car at 190 miles an