Showing posts with label I Remember Dale Earnhardt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I Remember Dale Earnhardt. Show all posts

Saturday, February 19, 2022

A SAD ANNIVERSARY

EVERY YEAR ON THIS DAY, I think of Dale Earnhardt, who died Feb. 18, 2001.  He was probably the greatest driver of his generation, and he  may have had the biggest legion of followers (and haters) in stock-car racing. You either loved him or hated him; there was no middle ground.

I wrote three books with Earnhardt on the cover and co-wrote another with his car on the cover, so Dale has long been important to me.

I've also written several blog posts featuring Earnhardt; here is a list of some of them. 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com   BLUESKY: PROFILE

More entries from TARJ
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

EDITOR@WORK blog entries 

Entries from The Dog Blog

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie
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Tuesday, July 30, 2019

I remember writing my first Earnhardt book


I wrote my first Dale Earnhardt book (I Remember Dale Earnhardt) by sheer accident.

I was working part-time at the Winston-Salem Journal as a sports copy editor. My friend Ed Campbell took a phone call, and it was obvious immediately that someone was trying to get auto-racing writer Mike Mulhern to write a book.

When Ed hung up the phone, he looked at me and said, "Why didn't I just hand him to you?"

 He explained that Cumberland House Publishing out of Nashville was looking to write a book about Dale Earnhardt, who had died a month or so earlier.

Ed gave me the name and number of the man who had called (Mike Towle), and I quickly called him. I got voice mail and left a message. A few minutes later, he called back.

 Mike wanted to see if I could do what I said, so he had me email a bunch of stories I'd written. And he posted me two "I Remember..." books he'd written, including one about Walter Payton.

The next day, we agreed that I'd write the book.

I won't go into details about the book, but there was something that most people didn't know: I was almost deathly ill during the production of the book.

I kept getting weaker and weaker, and we didn't know what was wrong. I'd call people in the morning and write after lunch. When I couldn't think anymore, I'd watch TV.

 Long story short, my cardiologist had me do a sleep study, and I learned I had sleep apnea. Once I started using a CPAP machine to help my night breathing, I almost immediately got well.

 One other thing: Mulhern wasn't the first person Cumberland House approached. They asked the Nashville racing writer, Larry Woody, if he'd be interested. He didn't have time, so they called Mulhern ... and found me.

 Finally, I Remember Dale Earnhardt was re-done as Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

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EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from TARJ
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

EDITOR@WORK blog entries 

Entries from The Dog Blog

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie
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Monday, April 29, 2019

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DALE EARNHARDT


I have to make a confession. I didn't immediately realize that today was Dale Earnhardt's birthday. He was born April 29, 1951 and would have been 75 in 2026.

As you can see at left, I've written a bit about Dale. In 1999, I wrote a coffeetable book about RACING FAMILIES (for Beckett), and the two Dale Earnhardts were on the cover. After Dale died on Feb. 18, 2001, I hooked up with Cumberland House Publishing in Nashville and wrote I Remember Dale Earnhardt. (CHP was looking for another writer when they lucked into me.)

 In 2007, I got a call from Cumberland House executive Ron Pitkin asking if I'd like to update IRDE. I said I would, and I spent the next two months interviewing new people, rewriting and editing what I'd written in 2001. And I added about 20,000 words.

 Pitkin was looking for a new name for the book, and I gave it to him almost by accident. I sent the editor a story I'd written calling Earnhardt the Angel in Black. Ron loved it, and one of my suggestions was Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr. Obviously, that's the title we used.

 That book, by the way, is still for sale.

My fourth racing book, Then Junior Said to Jeff..., was originally written by Jim McLaurin and the late David Poole. I wrote nearly 20,000 words for it as the co-writer, and, as I had for Angel in Black, I edited what had already been written.

 Happy birthday, Dale.

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EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com   BLUESKY: PROFILE

More entries from TARJ
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

EDITOR@WORK blog entries 

Entries from The Dog Blog

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie
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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

RACE FANS PROBABLY wonder where the book name "Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr." came from.

CLICK HERE TO BUY.
I wrote "I Remember Dale Earnhardt" in early 2001 for Cumberland House Publishing and decided to promote the book with a story I could send to small newspapers (which are often looking for free copy). So I used a portion of the book and told a story about Earnhardt's love for (and kindnesses toward) children.

In one story from the book, a little boy was dying, and his wish was to meet Earnhardt. Dale had just undergone surgery and couldn't travel, so an ambulance and medical team were assembled to bring the boy to the Kannapolis area.

Earnhardt was wearing a collar, and he was shy about people seeing it. But he allowed someone to take a photo of him with the boy, and he told the boy that no one else would see him with that collar. He spent time with the boy, who didn't have much time left, and he made the next few days more bearable for the boy's parents.
• Then Junior Said to Jeff... (book of great NASCAR stories)

 There are other stories like that in the book. Why Angel in Black? In that promotion story, I said that kids didn't see Earnhardt as the baddest man on the planet. To them, he was the angel in black.

Then we were updating the book in 2007. While working on the update, I sent a copy of that article to my editor at Cumberland House, John Mitchell, and he showed it to the publisher, Ron Pitkin. Ron fell in love with the term Angel in Black, and he asked me what we could call the book with Angel in Black as the main head. One of my suggestions was "Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr." And that's what was used.
More blog entries from TARJ
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

EDITOR@WORK blog entries 

Other entries from The Dog Blog
More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie
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