cover image Behind the Wall

Behind the Wall

Richard Huff. Bonus Books, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-929387-66-6

Huff, New York correspondent for Daily Variety , spent the 1991 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing season with the team owned by Billy Haran, with Terry Labonte as the driver and financial backing from the Sun Oil Company. He labels it a roller-coaster year for the team, although the reader will conclude that it was uniformly mediocre, with Labonte ending it as the circuit's 18th-ranked driver. But in chronicling the 29-race season, Huff, who is vastly knowledgeable on the subject, shows what can go wrong--with the driver's feel for his car, the auto itself, the crew that services it, the pit stops--and the accidents that can be caused by the driver or by rivals. He presents racing as an exceedingly demanding business made up of competitive yet patient and long-suffering men, one that forces participants to think in terms of tenths of a second. Photos not seen by PW. (June)