The book of NASCAR stories

In 2025, it's been more than 12 years since I added my 19,000 words to "Then Junior Said to Jeff...", a book of NASCAR stories originally co-written by the late David Poole and Jim McLaurin.

There are stories about old-timers like Junior Johnson, Tim Flock and Curtis Turner, plus current Cup stars like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer.

I also went through edited the chapters that David and Jim wrote. The book was pretty good before, but I can modestly say that it's better now. They'd have been proud of it.

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FIND MY BOOKS ONLINE

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com   TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

 

More entries from TARJ

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

EDITOR@WORK blog entries 

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

Then Junior Said to Jeff...

THEN JUNIOR SAID TO JEFF...

I didn't write the NASCAR book "Then Junior Said to Jeff...", one of a series of books by Triumph Publishing. Jim McLaurin and the late David Poole wrote it in 2006.

But I updated it in early 2012.

This is how it came about: Triumph Publishing wanted to update the book, but David Poole had died a few years ago and Jim McLaurin felt he was too long out of racing. So Jim suggested I do it.

The book isn't just about Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. Poole and McLaurin wrote about everyone from Junior Johnson to Dale Earnhardt to Darrell Waltrip and more. I've added stories about Tim Flock and Jocko Flocko, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin, Tony Stewart and more.

Most of the stories are funny. Buddy Baker, a born storyteller, is a good source of funny stories. Some of the stories — like the one about Mark Martin and former car owner Bill Davis — are interesting.

Poole and McLaurin did a wonderful job, and I hope I made the book better.

A couple of months ago, I went through the galley sheets, looking for mistakes. The new cover is cool — they added the cars of Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. at the top — and the book came out in October.

More blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal:

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr. (a book of great stories)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff... (the book of great NASCAR stories)

•  Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt•

•  Wayne Auton: A life in racing

•  My best day as a sports writer