Publication Date: August 1999 | Series: Rolling Thunder Stock Car Racing (Book 3)
In the race to glory, only one man can finish first...
For Jodell Lee, it's been an exciting, dizzying climb to the top of the stock car racing circuit. Gone are the days of racing round flat dirt ovals on Sunday afternoons. Stock car racing is big business now. Superspeedways have replaced the dirt tracks. Tens of thousands of fans pack the speedways for every race to watch the likes of Lee Petty, Junior Johnson, Fireball Roberts-and Jodell Lee-thunder around the steep-banked tracks of Darlington and Daytona and Charlotte.
But it isn't just the business that's changed. So has Jodell. He now has a wife and a child, and also a sponsor. And they're all depending on him to win-expecting him to win.
Is the pressure of always having to finish first beginning to take a toll on Jodell? A fiery crash could end his career...in Race to Glory-the exciting sequel to White Lightning and Road to Daytona.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Don Keith is an Alabama native and attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he received his degree in broadcast and film. He has won numerous awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for news writing and reporting, as well as Billboard Magazine's "Radio Personality of the Year" during his more than twenty years in broadcasting. His first novel, "The Forever Season," won the Alabama Library Association's "Fiction of the Year" award.
Keith lives in Indian Springs Village, Alabama, with his wife, Charlene, and a black cat named Hershey.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Award-winning and best-selling author Don Keith was born in 1947 and has lived in the South all his life. He attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he received his degree in broadcast and film communication with a minor in English and literature. While working as a broadcast journalist, he won awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for news writing and reporting. He was also the first winner of Troy State University's Hector Award for innovation in broadcast journalism. As an on-the-air broadcaster, Don won the Billboard Magazine "Radio Personality of the Year" in two formats, country and contemporary. Keith was a broadcast personality for over twenty years in Birmingham and Nashville, and also owned his own consultancy, co-owned a Mobile, Alabama, radio station (WZEW-FM), and hosted and produced several nationally syndicated radio shows.
His first novel, THE FOREVER SEASON, was published by St. Martin's Press in the fall of 1995 to commercial and critical success. It called heavily on Keith's own athletic and academic experiences. Reviewers praised its unique approach and powerful story. The novel won the Alabama Library Association's "Fiction of the Year" award in 1997, joining works likewise honored from Harper Lee and others, and was re-issued in the fall of 2002 by the University of Alabama Press as part of its prestigious Deep South Books series. His second novel, WIZARD OF THE WIND, was based on Keith's years in broadcasting. As was the first book, the second work was published under the imprint of widely praised New York editor Robert Wyatt as A Wyatt Book for St. Martin's Press. Keith next released a series of young adult/mens' adventure novels co-written with Kent Wright. They are set in stock car racing and titled THE ROLLING THUNDER STOCKCAR RACING SERIES. The works were released in paperback by Tor Books, as audiobooks by Durkin-Hayes Publishing, and in hardback by Econo-Clad Books.
Don's next novel, a thriller co-written with former nuclear submarine commander George Wallace, FINAL BEARING, was released by Forge Books of New York City in April 2003 and quickly became a national bestseller and great reviews. A mass-market paperback edition is also available and a Kindle edition is now available from Amazon.com. A sequel to that novel, which is set for publication as an audio book in November 2011 and in hardback in 2012, has been optioned by a major film studio and a motion picture is in the works.
Keith's first non-fiction work, GALLANT LADY, the true story of a remarkable World War II submarine, the USS Archerfish, was written with the significant help of former Archerfish crewmember Ken Henry. It was published by Forge Books in June 2004. A trade paperback edition was published in 2005 and an audio version was released by Blackstone Audiobooks.
Don's next work of military history, IN THE COURSE OF DUTY, was published by the Caliber imprint of Penguin USA. The book deals with another amazing WWII submarine, the USS Batfish, her heroic efforts in the Pacific and the wonderful story of how she came to rest today high and dry in a former bean field in Muskogee, Oklahoma--the middle of the Dust Bowl and the Cherokee Nation.
In 2006, he published FINAL PATROL, another Caliber/Penguin release, which tells the personal, behind-the-scenes stories of each of the 17 WWII submarines that are open to the public around the country as museum ships. Each of the non-fiction submarine books were offered as featured selections of The Military Book Club.
Also in 2006, Cumberland House Press released Don's unique series of vignettes about legendary college football coach "Bear" Bryant titled THE BEAR: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF COACH PAUL "BEAR" BRYANT.
Don's next work was THE ICE DIARIES, the untold story of America's first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, and her historic Cold War trip to the North Pole in 1958. The book was co-written with Captain William R. Anderson, the skipper of Nautilus on that world-changing, top-secret voyage. The book was submitted for consideration for the Pulitzer Prize.
The next work was another true story of a series of events aboard the World War II submarine USS Billfish. WAR BENEATH THE WAVES reveals the previously untold story of how a young officer took charge of a submarine during a vicious depth-charge attack and, with the help of a couple of chiefs and brave crewmembers, saved the boat. It, too, is pubished by Caliber/Penguin and is also available in an audio-book version.
Don's next non-fiction historical work will be UNDERSEA WARRIOR, the remarkable story of Commander Dudley "Mush" Morton, a young submarine skipper who literally--and almost single-handedly--changed the course of submarine warfare. And he did it in only ten months as the captain of a submarine.
Don also writes under the pseudonym of Jeffery Addison and has published three novellas, co-written with Edie Hand, THE LAST CHRISTMAS RIDE, THE SOLDIER'S RIDE, and THE CHRISTMAS RIDE: MIRACLE OF THE LIGHTS. Each is an inspirational story of life's ride, the rough patches we run into along the way, and how we overcome them with faith, family and friends.
Don lives in Indian Springs Village, Alabama, with his wife, Charlene. He is also an active "ham" radio operator (call sign N4KC), is a member of the Alabama Writers' Forum and actively supports local and statewide literacy efforts. Don's web site is www.donkeith.com.
What the authors promise is true: this is a darker, more introspective tale. By flashing forward to Jodell's life today, they manage to foreshadow the tragedies without burdening their characters with an overwhelming sense of dread or foreboding.
Despite the tragic circumstances in this installment, though, readers should still find everything they enjoyed about the first two books. Jodell is still the optimistic young driver who can't dream of ever giving up racing. Catherine, now his wife, still offers her unflagging love and support without complaint. Joe still rates chasing women a close second after working on Jodell's car, but he's still there when he's needed (although there are hints this time around that Jodell may insist that Joe decide more clearly where his priorities are). And Bubba is still eating everything he can get his hands on.
While this book shifts some of the focus onto some of the more serious concerns of the team--finding a sponsor, balancing family responsibilities with the racing life, and the ver real dangers of the sport--the authors don't give us any shortage of action. The racing scenes are every bit as exciting as in the previous two books.
While the Rolling Thunder books may not present a searing insight into the human condition, they're fun, exciting, and action-packed. That's what I'm looking for when I pick one up. When I read one, the authors make me keep turning the pages, wanting to see what happens next. When I finish one, I want to go immediately on to the next one. What more could anyone ask from a stock car racing series?
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The third book in the Rolling Thunder series, "Race to Glory", continues the fine characters and storytelling of the first two books.
This book is written with a slight difference, with flashbacks from the past intertwined with the current happenings in the life of Jodell Bob Lee, now a stock car team owner reliving his life spent in the "race to glory".
I highly recommend this book for any stock car racing fan. It provides a behind-the-scenes look at the roots of American stock car racing.
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Easy on the wallet, and easy on the ears, dh Audio continuously offers high excitement stories at economical prices.
Stock car racing is the theme of this dynamite tale. Ace driver Jodell Lee is feeling pressure as his family and sponsor not only expect him to win but are depending upon him to be victorious.
The fun of whipping around a ragtag oval is gone - it's big business now.
An inferno-like crash could be the end or a beginning.
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