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They Call Him Cale: The Life and Career of NASCAR Legend Cale Yarborough

They Call Him Cale: The Life and Career of NASCAR Legend Cale Yarborough

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Author: Joe Mcginnis
Creator: Humpy Wheeler
Publisher: Triumph Books
Category: Book

List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.04
You Save: $8.91 (36%)



New (25) from $16.04

Avg. Customer Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars 3 reviews
Sales Rank: 633247

Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.2

ISBN: 1600780512
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.72092
EAN: 9781600780516
ASIN: 1600780512

Publication Date: February 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
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Editorial Reviews:

Book Description
Long before Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon ruled the NASCAR standings, the man they call Cale dominated the racetracks like no driver has before or since. Born William Caleb Yarborough in Timmonsville, South Carolina, Cale emerged from the grief of losing his father at a young age to become arguably the greatest stock-car driver of all time, blazing a trail through the sports landscape that helped turn auto racing into a multibillion dollar industry.

The story of Cale's life, told for the first time ever in this authorized biography, is a tale of adventure, perseverance, and, above all, desire. After 43 years as a NASCAR driver and owner, Cale amassed a career record that remains staggering to this day: 560 races, 319 top-10 finishes, 83 victories, three NASCAR championships, and four Daytona 500 victories. Along the way, Cale would find himself rubbing fenders--and sometimes trading punches--with some of the biggest names in racing, including Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, and the Allison brothers. Written by lifelong NASCAR enthusiast Joe McGinnis, They Call Him Cale is the incredible true story behind one of the racing world's biggest stars and fiercest competitors, as well as the tale of a quintessential American who lives by one creed: "You can't work yourself to death, but you can work yourself to live."


Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars a NASCAR legend deserves better   May 10, 2008
 0 out of 1 found this review helpful

Cale Yarborough is a living symbol of NASCAR from its beginnings to the very creation of the dizzying heights that it has achieved nowadays. Sadly, most of the Johnny-Come-Lately fans have no idea, or at best, only a very dim idea who he is.

Sadly, this biography of Cale Yarbrough only covers half of his career. Indeed, most of the book covers his life before NASCAR. There are only 203 pages in this biography and he joins NASCAR full-time on page 169. Considering that the last 11 pages discusses his retirement years, that leaves 23 pages to discuss his amazing run of 3 championships in a row, the famous fistfight at the 1979 Daytona 500, his decision to run a partial schedule for more than 7 years and his 11 year stint as team owner (just 5 pages for that).

The book could have been tremendously improved if the author had bothered to interview a few people. After all, his stable of drivers include a bevy of current and recently-retired drivers, including Dale Jarrett, Jeremy Mayfield and John Andretti (his only win as a car owner came with Andretti). All of these drivers are media friendly. I've heard Andretti speak about Yarborough with nothing but praise.

The author should have included commentary about how Yarborough was able to field competitive cars running a partial schedule (nearly impossible to do today). How about Yarborough's willingness to have in-car cameras when most did not want them? How about Yarborough's involvement in a group that tried to set up an alternative to NASCAR after he sold his race team? Nope. None of that.

The lack of depth is not too surprising, really. The author's notes (p. 261) say that he got "many" of the stories in his book from Cale's autobiography and most of the rest came from 7 internet sites.

A nice feature of the book is the inclusion of more than 50 pages of tables that detail Yarborough's NASCAR and IROC career and his Indy 500 runs.

A disturbing feature is the naming of each of his children, grandchildren and the little towns in which they live in South Carolina. Jeez. There are weirdos out there, McGinnis. Why give out this sort of detailed info?

I give it two stars. The pre-NASCAR part of the book is interesting. It's just too bad the rest of the book couldn't follow up.



5 out of 5 stars Great book about the legend Cale Yarborough   April 12, 2008
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I enjoyed reading this book and learning more about Cale Yarborough.
There is great insight into the history of Nascar racing and the men who raced. Even bought a book for my oldest son who has heard me tell him about Cale Yarborough for 27 years. Learning more about Cale's character was worth the read.





1 out of 5 stars Throw a Caution Flag   March 9, 2008
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

The last 100 pages feel like they were written in the middle of the night to hit a deadline. (It's only 200-odd pages in total.) There are virtually no interviews, no insight, nothing new - a very lazy effort given that Cale has to be one of the most colorful sports figures in American history. Very disappointing.

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