Customer Reviews

Behind the Wall: New

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am an old, avid and very knowledgeable Terry Labonte fan, just look at my email address. This book talks about some of Terry Labonte's old past seasons, mainly two stints driving for non-bill paying car owner Billy Hagan. The photos in the book are ALL old photos of Terry in the Sunoco Oldsmobile, Billy Hagan, etc. The only photo of the Kellogg's car you will see is on the books cover. Matter of fact, one OLD photo includes a picture of the #5 car, driven by Ricky Rudd with the Tide sponsorship. See how old everything is! In several chapters and paragraphs, author Huff says the same things over and over, merely rewording or slightly adding or subtracting from earlier statements. I think he described restrictor plate engines no less than five times. The LAST chapter (Chapter 29) gives a poorly written 20-page account of the 1994-1996 seasons. The book is 308 pages long and only the last chapter talks about the book's title wording of "New Edition captures Terry Labonte's 1996 NASCAR season." Author Huff should be sued for false advertising, misleading content, you name it! This book is about 1970's and 1980's racing stories, with a look predominantly at the 1991 season with Billy Hagan. Take it from me, a die-hard Terry Labonte fan.....Do yourself a favor, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT waste your money on this book unless you can get it for free. Perhaps the paper it is printed on can be recycled for a few pennies!

This book goes into the detail of the seasons between the championship years... If you are buying this book because of the allure to the 1996 championship season, DON'T buy it, there is ONE chapter on that Championship year... Huff's view of Labonte seems to be that Terry is a spoiled brat, only performs if the car is perfect, which is to say that anyone could drive it to a championship... I think if you can get past the negativity that is oozing you can still get some valuable information of the "business" of NASCAR racing. There are some very interesting points of what goes on "behind the wall"...

IF you are a racing fan that really dislikes Terry Labonte (are there any REAL fans out there who could dislike him??) this is the book for you. Richard Huff spends the entire book relaying the non-positive aspects of this two time Winston Cup champion's character, and it is not clear why. If Terry Labonte was one of NASCARs "bad boys," or its golden boy that has drawn so much unfortunate negative fan reaction of late(Jeff Gordon), then maybe this book would be somehow justified. But Terry Labonte is one of the pros on the circuit who knows how to take care of himself and his equipment on the track, and stay out of wrecks that gather up the less professional and experienced. Maybe he doesn't really enjoy the off-track part of the job as much as some of the other drivers. That is no real reason to criticize him, as Mr. Huff is wont to do. If you want to buy a book that reveals how small minded an author can be, buy this book. If you like gossip, this might be just the work for you. If you want to buy one that opens up the exciting and growing world of NASCAR racing, keep going through the search engine results.

This book illustrates the difficulty of writing an interesting book about an entire NASCAR season. The same material gets covered many times during different races. Reading about changing springs or adapting to front steering multiple times gets boring. Every element of the story is treated with the same depth - working with sponsors, the life of a crew member, factory support, adjusting suspensions, planning pit stops, driver attitude etc. all get equal attention.

By default, the focus of this book is on the driver, not the pit crew, so a better title would be On the Track, rather than Behind the Wall.

I'm a new fan and of the dozens of NASCAR books I've read, this tops the list. It is by far the best inside look at stock car racing on the market. And considering that the sport is getting squeaky clean, this may be the last time anyone can expose what really goes on. That Terry Labonte dislikes it, should be enough proof that the contents are the real deal.

While most of the book does focus on Labonte's early career, the book does provide the deepest account of life on the inside of a stock car racing team I have ever seen. The cheating, the backstabbing, Labonte's personality away from the media and NASCAR in general. This book is better than most of the fluff out there.

Certainly a tell all book with stories that Terry denied were true. That doesn't explain why Huff wrote the things he did as he's got no apparent axe to grind. My take is that some is true and some not. Terry's a great guy, but they don't call him the "Iceman" for nothing.