Customer Reviews

No Fear: Ernie Irvan, The NASCAR Driver's Story of Tragedy & Triumph

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book No Fear was a book of one mans struggle up through the ranks of racing, and how it all could have ended in a heart beat. This book first takes place at Michigan speedway. Ernie Irvan is a racer on top of his game, a professional at what he does. They are out doing practice laps the day before the race at Michigan, trying to get the setup right. Larry, Ernie's crew chief, told Ernie to take only 10 laps and then come in, and Ernie, being Ernie, is going to take 11, whether Larry likes it or not. On the eleventh lap in turn three, Ernie blows a tire and hits the wall nose first at 190 mph. Even with all of the restraints and safety they have, hitting a wall at 190 mph and coming to a dead stop, will screw you up because momentum continues with your intestines. The doctors predicted that Ernie would not make it through the night on life support. After months of rehabilitation and having the "never give up attitude" that he had, he was able to continue racing, even though no one thought he would be the same after the accident. It took a long time to get to where he was, coming from a low class family with barley enough money to race, let alone utilities, but Ernie was determined to do his best and become a racer. Even after his father walking out, and watching his best friend die in a race, he never gave up. His favorite saying was "When times get tough, the tough get going," and he did believe in that saying because no matter what he just kept going!
This booked was a very well put together story of Ernie's life. It showed all of the hardships he had to go through, the ups and the downs. It really made clear how much he had to struggle to make it to where he was, and how he almost lost it all in the blink of an eye. The book had some choppiness to how the races were put together, like how it would only explain some and not even mention others and then bring them up later, was a little difficult to comprehend. However, how he talked about his incident first to get the readers attention and to bring them into his childhood was an excellent way to start the book. It was a very good representation of how NASCAR was coming up through the years, just like Ernie and how he was struggling with his career.
I thought this book was a very interesting and excellent way to show how his life went and the struggles he had to go through. It will keep you interested through the whole book, and it has very encouraging words in it. It will show you all of the things he went through, and you should be able to see what it is like to have to go through it to try to get to your goals. Even when it seems like you can't and the people around you think you won't be able to, to keep on trying, never give up, and have No Fear!

Ernie explained everything that I had ever wanted to know in this book. I always knew that there was so much more to the Texaco story. It's an inside look at his life. I watched him in his career and always wanted to know more. This is more.

Very good book,hard to put down once you start reading it,even though there are a few mistakes through it. A must read for any racing fan.

As an avid race fan, I was immediately hooked from the first page and in fact, read the entire book in one evening. I was particularly pleased that it was written in easy to understand, everyday language, thereby making it a book, many people of all education levels would enjoy. The recovery of the driver was a miracle and his recovery remarkable. I enjoyed reading of the business conflicts because too many of us envision the drivers as living a life of Utopia. I was glad to hear that even Nascar drivers worry about house payments. I was too busy reading to care about misspelled words.

A well written book that I could not put down. From Ernies days at Stockton up to the present. Reading the parts about the accident at Michigan and what he and his wife Kim went through to return to racing, brought tears to my eyes. Not just reading for Ernie fans but for NASCAR fans everywhere. 5 Stars +

The book is about racing. It's about family. It's about adversity. It shows the Nascar family to be what it is, a family. For a racing fan or a fan of life, it must be read.

This book shows a great perspective of the ups and downs of a NASCAR driver and his life.

This book is mostly what you would expect from a jock telling their story in the first person. That said, Ernie does reveal some interesting things about his first marriage, his dealings with Texaco, and Kyle Petty.

Ernie was married about three years to his first wife and had two sons by her - or so he thought. DNA tests several years later proved that he was the father of neither child. The book implies that the person of the two children were the same man. Anyway Ernie was understandibly hurt by this and no one can blame him. Second, when Ernie gave a thank you speech at his first NASCAR awards dinner at the Waldorf in NYC he inadvertingly forgot to mention his major sponsor Texaco. Immediately he went over to the table where the Texaco executives were sitting and apologized, but nonetheless the executives went into a huff. Maybe those executives never spoke to a large ballroom of people on national TV. So much for filling my car up with Texaco. Third, Ernie believes that Kyle Petty would have been a much better driver had he learned how to drive on short tracks. Of course with his pedigree Kyle never had to work his way up the racing circuit. Interesting.

I found it interesting that when Ernie won his first Daytona 500 he went home that night to sleep in his studio apartment. The book is good at telling you how it is to work you way up through the racing car circuit and and the problems drivers have when not blessed with the support of good racing organizations and rich sponsors.

If you a NASCAR fan you'll want to read the book, and unless you're an insider to the sport you will learn from the book.

I had bought the book for about $1 at a dollar tree store, and figured that it would be a boring and uninteresting biography or something like that, but boy was i wrong! When i first started reading it i couldnt put the book down, and before i knew it i was six chapters in. So after reading the rest of the book, i came to a conclusion this was the best thing that i have ever gotten for under $1. Awesome book although it did lack some things but thats alright because he is not a writer.

Irvan's heartwarming story is shared in "No Fear". The balance between family and racing is appropriate; and a nice collection of photos is presented in the book.

However....
Thumbs down, and 2 stars off to whomever "edited" this book. The book is full of typographical errors; "Morgan Shepard" instead of "Morgan Shepherd", "Texaco/Haviland" instead of "Texaco/Havoline", as well as factual errors. "it was a long race...600 miles..."; in fact; the fall race at Charlotte is only 500 miles.

A good story; however; the content needed a better review before going to print.