Mark Bechtel has written a book with perhaps the longest title in NASCAR history: He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back: The True Story of the Year the King, Jaws, Earnhardt, and the Rest of NASCAR’s Feudin’, Fightin’ Good Ol’ Boys Put Stock Car Racing on the Map (New York: Little, Brown and Company). Yes, it centers on the 1979 Daytona 500, which ended with a Richard Petty victory and a brawl between Bobby and Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough. But Bechtel goes on to tell the story of the entire 1979 season, which began with a huge snowstorm keeping viewers up and down the East Cost inside their homes, available to watch what would be one of NASCAR’s more noteworthy races. In the author’s view, the 1979 season marked “the birth of modern stock car racing.” The book will be released in February 2010.(NASCAR This Week), more info at hachettebookgroup.com(12-27-2009)
