Joe McGinniss (1)

This was a pretty basic biography of the great racer Cale Yarborough, the first man to win three consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup Championships. I wasn't particularly impressed with the writing, though there were no glaring errors that I detected, factual or editorial. The format, with many sidebar quotations, seemed a bit cheesy.

The last chapter laid on the hero worship a bit thick. Mind you, Yarborough's a favorite of mine from my youth, but I prefer my books to be a bit more objective.

When I looked at the source notes at the back, I got more of a sense what was wrong. The source materials were Yarborough's autobiography, and a bunch of web sites. (This after just reading another NASCAR-themed book with a 2-page bibliography, the author of which had interviewed many NASCAR insiders for the project.)

I probably would have done better to read Cale's autobiography.… (mehr)