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| | | Sports | Home » » » Miracle: Bobby Allison and the Saga of the Alabama Gang | | | | | | | Description: | | While you were sitting in the stands or watching at home on TV, did you ever ask yourself what's really going on behind the scenes? Take a ride on the seat next to auto-racing legend Bobby Allison and relive the dramatic saga of the Alabama Gang in this unique look at NASCAR from the inside.
Bobby Allison, who ranks third place in wins in NASCAR history, began his Grand National/Winston Cup career in 1966. After winning eighty-five races, he retired in 1988 when an accident at Pocono Raceway nearly killed him. He was severely brain injured, and it took him a full fifteen years to recover. After the accident, more tragedy struck. In 1992 his younger son, Clifford, died in a crash at the age of twenty-seven. A year later, his other son, Davey, died in a helicopter accident, and in 1994 he lost his close friend and protégé Neil Bonnet in a fatal crash. Then Bobby and his wife, Judy, separated and divorced. Through it all Bobby Allison persevered.
Today Bobby's mind is as sharp, detailed, and analytical as anyone's in sports. Bobby remembers so much, in such great detail, the stories he tells leap off the page. It's all there---the feuds, the infighting, the victories, the accusations of cheating, and worse.
Incredibly, Bobby, the poster boy for hard work, honesty, and integrity, holds nothing back, even when it reflects poorly on him. "It happened, and there's nothing I can do about that," is what he says. The result is raw racing history.
Along with the Earnhardts, the Jarretts, and the Pettys, the Allisons are racing family royalty, and Miracle, a family saga of determination, loyalty, and love, is filled with some of the greatest racing stories of all time. If you ever wanted to read a book that puts you in the garage, in the pits, and in the boardrooms, and at the same time tugs at your heartstrings---this is the book for you.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Peter Golenbock | | Paperback:
| 432 pages | | Publisher:
| St. Martin's Griffin | | Publication Date:
| February 06, 2007 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0312340028 | | Product Length:
| 9.14 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.34 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.17 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.03 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.1 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.2 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.95 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 10 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 10 customer reviews )
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9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Great Story Riddled by ErrorsMar 03, 2008
By W. DeWald
I have been a Bobby Allison fan for more than 50 years as I saw him race in his very early years in South Florida, so I was very much looking forward to this book. Sadly the errors that are rampant throughout the book ruined the story. Other reviews here have noted some errors, but the number is truly staggering--and utterly inexplicable in this age of Google and instant info. Here are the errors I found:
Page 30:
Gil Hearn
Correct spelling is Hearne
Page 34:
He started thirty-ninth, and he finished thirty-ninth, still running at the end of the race.
He started thirty-first and finished thirty-sixth.
Page 40:
Deal Ford
Correct spelling is Deel Ford.
Page 66:
(James Hylton) led the 300-lap Islip race from lap 147 to lap 282.
Hylon led from 147 through 292.
Page 68:
a lap after Bobby passed Buddy Baker to take the lead in the race it blew up.
Allison never led a lap in the race--and neither did Buddy Baker.
Page 100:
Donnie entered two superspeedway races, finishing twenty-seventh at Rockingham and ninth, twenty-two laps behind winner Fred Lorenzen, at Charlotte.
Exactly the opposite, Donnie was ninth at Rockingham, twenty-seventh at Charlotte.
Page 102:
What made winning the World 600 even more remarkable was that he also entered the Indianapolis 500 the same weekend. (Donnie was the only driver ever to do that until 1993, when Jeff Gordon did it.)
Jeff Gordon has never raced in the Indianapolis 500.
Page 105:
What made the June 20 1971 Riverside race notable was that Bobby had arranged with Motorola to put a two-way radio in the car so that during the race he could talk directly with Eddie. It was the first time a driver didn't have to rely on a chalkboard, and it wasn't long before all the drivers were doing it.
Though Allison popularized the two-way radio, it was first used in 1952 by Al Stevens in a Modified/Sportsman race on the famed beach/road course.
Page 129:
Describing a test session in an Indy car at Ontario Speedway, one sentence begins "When he arrived at the Ontario track," followed by Allison saying "I arrived at Indy."
Page 130:
Later in the test at the Ontario track, "Bobby went out on the famed Indianapolis track."
Page 133:
Driver Art Pollard had gotten killed on the first day of practice at the Brickyard
Pollard was killed during the first day of qualifying on May 12, after more than a week of practice.
Page 140:
His Champ car team has won a hundred races with driver Gils deFerran
Penske Racing has won more than a hundred Indy-car races, but Gil deFerran won just seven of them for the team.
Page 148:
After Donnie finished fifth in the Firecracker 500
There has never been a Firecracker 500, it is the Firecracker 400
Page 160:
When Smokey Yunick had a fallout with the France family in 1976, Smokey decided to quit NASCAR and run at Indianapolis.
The fallout was in 1970. Yunick's cars raced at Indianapolis from 1958 to 1975, and one driven by Jim Rathmann won in 1960.
Page 164: Eddie Allison was watching the race on television.
Page 166: I was watching TV and Dave Despain was interviewing Ryan Newman
It's doubtful Dave Despain was interviewing Ryan Newman on race day. Newman was not yet two years old at the time.
Page 191:
Bobby and Gary Nelson put the Monte Carlo on the wind tunnel skid, and after they cranked the fan up, the wind started to blow the car off the skid pad. It was clear to everyone that the Buick was not going to be able to perform.
Of course Monte Carlo is a Chevrolet model.
Page 193:
On May 17 at Dover
The race was May 15
Page 194:
At Richmond, Waltrip was second, Bobby third.
It was at Long Pond. Tim Richmond won the race.
At Richmond, Bobby won his second race in a row. Ricky Rudd was second,
Waltrip fourth.
Waltrip was third.
Page 202:
Terry Labonte didn't win a single race but became the new racing champion.
That season Labonte won on June 3, 1984 at Riverside and August 25, 1984 at Bristol.
Page 204:
After two top ten finishers at Pocono and Michigan, the team went to Daytona for the Firecracker 500.
There has never been a Firecracker 500, it is the Firecracker 400
Page 205:
A couple of other things happened in the Firecracker 500
There has never been a Firecracker 500, it is the Firecracker 400
Page 206:
Bobby finished twenty-first.
He finished twenty-seventh.
Page 223:
Neil Bonnett had raced in 1972 but it took another three years for him to take a crack at Grand National racing.
Bonnett's first season was 1974, when he appeared in two races.
Page 230:
Hillin himself had begun his driving career in 1982 at age sixteen
Bobby Hillin holds the NASCAR record as young competitor at 17, just 48 days shy of his eighteenth birthday.
Page 257:
"Because of Butch Lynley."
Correct spelling is Lindley
Page 280:
Ken Squire
Correct spelling is Ken Squier
Page 282:
"I passed him clean on the outfield"
Since they weren't racing in a baseball stadium, I'm pretty sure he was on the outside
Page 304:
Robert Yates's and McReynolds s scenario, which had the blessing of NASCAR...
(next paragraph) Yates and McReynolds objected.
It was Yates' and McReynolds' scenario--but they objected?
Page 313:
He kicked a record 89 PATs in a row, a Memphis State record.
Joe Allison kicked a then-record 81 PATs in a row
Page 328:
Red, whose whole life revolved around arcing, had traveled to Hueytown to race against Bobby and Donnie thirty years earlier and had become family.
As has been well-documented in the preceding 328 pages, the Allisons knew Farmer from their days in South Florida where he had mentored both Donnie and Bobby.
Page 333:
Just after seven o'clock on the morning of July 12, 1993, Davy was pronounced dead.
Allison died on July 13, the day after the accident.
Page 355:
Bonnett first announced his return to racing at a press conference at Talladega the morning of July 13, 1993. Later that afternoon, Davey Allison crashed his jet helicopter at the track and died.
Allison crashed on July 12.
Page 360:
On Monday, February 13, 1994
Monday was February 14, 1994
Page 369:
When the team arrived for the inaugural NASCAR Indianapolis 500
The NASCAR race at Indianapolis is the Brickyard 400
In addition, there is a great deal of careless editing--if indeed there is ANY editing.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Lots of errorsJun 05, 2006
By Kevin M. Triplett
While at it's core, this book does tell a compelling (and sometimes heartbreaking) story of the Allison clan, it is seriously handicapped by the author's failure to thoroughly research the subjects discussed in order to be accurate. Another shortcoming is the numerous mis-spellings, which should have been corrected during the editing process. An example is the author stating that Bobby Allison test drove the Buick Riata before it's release, when a simple Google search reveals the correct spelling is Reatta. In the end I found this book very frustrating and confusing to read. My advice is to pass it by.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Confusing and inaccurateMay 21, 2006
By Racin' Reader
"RR"
Not unlike past Golenbock books MIRACLE is confusing to read and full of inaccuracies and errors. Some portions had to be read a couple of times to try and figure out what exactly the author was trying to get across to the reader. One of the more glaring errors was when it was stated that when Donnie Allison ran the Indy 500 and World 600 in the same weekend he was the only driver to do that until Jeff Gordon did it in 1993. WHAT? Jeff Gordon has NEVER run the Indy 500 and certainly didn't do so his rookie year in Winston Cup racing. In another chapter there is a discussion of Bobby Allison testing at Ontario Speedway in California then the author goes on to describe Bobby's feelings as he pulled on the "historic Indianapolis track". Which was it? Indy or Ontario. The Author claims that Bobby gave his Indy crew chief the nickname "Lugs" (and he called Bobby "Stroker" )because of the movie "Stroker Ace". Cute story, but that movie didn't come out for another 10 years after Bobby's 1973 run at Indy. The book is filled with typos and grammatical errors. I'd save my money on this one.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Massively inaccurateAug 13, 2007
By C. Romano
The interviews are compelling, but you really have to wonder about how accurate even they are considering the glaring errors in this book:
Greg Sacks won the Firecracker 500. There has never been a Firecracker 500; it's the Firecracker 400.
Gary Bettenhausen injured in a "spring car" race. Should be Sprint Car.
Gil de Ferran winning 100 Indy Car wins for Penske and Rusty Wallace winning 55 stock car races for him. Poor sentence structure; A number of drivers got Penske to 100 Indy Car wins, and Rusty won 55 races in all, but not all of them with Penske.
The list goes on. Amateur mistakes.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Still Waiting for the Last Word from Bobby HimselfSep 07, 2007
By William I. Brown
"VMI Cadet 76"
Golenbock can be credited for researching and releasing a book no one else has done; for that we should be thankful. Is the book anywhere close to the "last word" on Bobby Allison?..not by a long shot. I admire Bobby to no end; just a super, decent guy and one of the best American drivers ever, regardless of type of car. But..here's wishing that somehow Bobby and the Allison clan / Alabama gang will pen the perfect memoir. There are obviously holes in the information that might be shared due to Bobby's horrendous accident that abruptly ended his career, but that must be expected. One thing's for certain, Bobby Allison was as fine a racer as you could find. I'd love to see him do a similar book to his brother Donnie's, one of the best memoirs from a driver I've ever read. Other reviews of Golenbock's book take issue with statements of fact. I hope authors learn from the critique; factual errors easily checked just can't happen, nor should they get by a good publisher / editor. A heartfelt attaboy to Bobby Allison for being selected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame!
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