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)

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Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Being a NASCAR comic-book writer


In 1990, I became the racing writer for the Charleston News and Courier, and the next year I got a call from a comic-book company in Toronto, Canada. They were doing two lines of NASCAR comics, and they needed help.

 I learned later that they were slow in paying their writers. They'd read my stuff in Winston Cup Scene, and they tracked me down to the News and Courier.

 I was flattered at first, but I got over that.

My first book for them, about Davey Allison, was sadly my best book. I learned that I was pretty good at writing visually, and they told me they only had to swap frames once in the whole comic (apparently, that's usually pretty common).

 I didn't have any problem getting Davey on the phone, but I did have an interesting exchange with Bobby Allison. I called and was told that Bobby wasn't there. I told him that I believed he WAS Bobby, and he finally admitted he was. Then I had a decent interview with him.

 (I later had a good relationship with both men, and, 26 years later, I'm still saddened by the loss of Davey.)

 My second comic was about Ernie Irvan. It was technically better than the first, but I just didn't feel as good about it. The biggest problem with this comic was the color of the No. 4 Kodak Chevrolet. The comic-book company had a hard time getting it to please Kodak (it seemed a reasonable request to me).

 My third comic was on David Pearson (see the comic above). I couldn't talk to David (we weren't that close yet), and he always would turn a question back on you. "Well, what do you think?" he'd ask reporters he didn't know that well.

 Jim Hunter, who was then the president of Darlington Raceway, had written a book about Pearson, so I contacted the track. They had a copy, so track publicist Russell Branham did something epic; he faxed me a copy of every page in the book.

 It was a special, above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty effort in 1992, and it's important to me now, 27 years later.

 The Pearson book turned out well; the only thing missing, of course, was quotes from David. A few years later, I'd have been able to get them.

 My last comic book was supposed to have been about Geoff Bodine, but Geoff never signed the release to have it done (the aggravating thing was that I'd already started it). I suggested we do Geoff's brother, Brett, instead, but they said they'd think it over.

 A month later, they called and said they'd had a brilliant idea; they wanted me to do a comic on Brett. I said it was a great idea.

 The nice thing is that I'd written a good bit about Brett when he drove for Hoss Ellington in the late 1980s. So I had no trouble getting him on the phone. That comic sold the fewest of the four, but in a way I liked it best. It had historical significance; it was accurate, and it had some humor. And it flowed easily.

 I tried to write two more comic scripts - Michael Waltrip and Neil Bonnett - but they didn't work out. That's a story for another day.

 Overall, I enjoyed writing for this company. Sadly, it didn't stay in business that long.

 Oh, one other thing: The News and Courier became the Post and Courier shortly after this.

 If you're wondering, I did get paid for all four comics. I had trouble with other companies later, but I never had a bit of trouble with this company.

 By the way, I always wanted to do a comic on Dale Earnhardt; never got the chance.


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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