Today's Reading List

With the start of the 2011 NASCAR season just a couple of weeks away, this is a book that any NASCAR fan will want to read:  In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona, and the Day that Changed Everything.

The book recounts what happened on February 18, 2001 (from the book description):

There was one lap to go in the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR's most celebrated event. Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were running one-two. Junior's legendary dad, the driver race fans called "The Intimidator," was close behind in third, blocking anyone who might try to pass. Waltrip couldn't stop thinking about all the times he'd struggled to stay ahead--and the 462 NASCAR Cup races he'd lost without a single win. He'd been a race-car driver all his adult life, following in the footsteps of his brother Darrell, a three-time NASCAR champion. And his losing streak was getting more painful every race.

But this day, he knew, could be different. He was driving for Dale Earnhardt now, racing as a team with his close friend and mentor. Yet as his car roared toward the finish line, ending that losing streak once and for all, Waltrip had no clue that the greatest triumph of his life could get mired in terrible tragedy.

This is the story of that fateful afternoon in Daytona, a day whose echoes are still heard today. But the story begins years earlier in a small town in Kentucky, with a boy who dreamed of racing cars, a boy who was determined to go from go-karts to the highest levels of NASCAR. For the first time ever, Michael Waltrip tells the full, revealing story of how he got to Daytona, what happened there, and the huge impact it had on so many in the racing world. He reveals for the first time how his own life changed as he dealt with guilt, faced his grief, and searched for the fortitude to climb into a race car again. It's an inspiring and powerful story, told with Michael's trademark humor, honesty, and irreverence. It's a story of family, fulfillment, and redemption--and well-earned victory in the end.

I remember that day very well. I was driving the quartet bus home from a Sunday morning concert in Chula Vista, CA. The race was on the TV the guys were watching in the front lounge and they were giving me a play-by-play since I couldn't see the screen. I heard them call Michael Waltrip the winner, and moments later saying there had been a big wreck involving Dale Earnhardt in the final turn. It wasn't until I got some sometime later I learned that Dale had been killed in the accident.

I was a big fan of Waltrip's and was excited that he'd broken his losing streak in the biggest race of the year, but also knew that he'd be devastated at the loss of Earnhardt, his new car owner. This race was Michael's first points race with the new team.

It was also the first race under NASCAR's new TV package in which the season would be split between Fox and NBC. Michael's brother Darrell was calling the race for Fox. Darrell was also a close friend of Earnhardt's, and that day Fox had to make the announcement that one of the sport's greatest names was gone.

I'll never forget it.