Racing to the Finish by Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Review

I received this book free from the publisher. All opinions are my own

Book details

Hardcover: 208 pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 16, 2018)

ISBN-13: 978-0785221609

Book description

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s only authorized book revealing the inside track on his final year of racing and retirement from the driver’s seat.

“Time was running out on my charade… My secrets were about to be exposed to the world.”

It was a seemingly minor crash at Michigan International Speedway in June 2016 that ended the day early for Dale Earnhardt Jr. What he didn’t know was that it would also end his driving for the year. He’d dealt with concussions before, but concussions are like snowflakes, no two are the same. And recovery can be brutal, and lengthy.

When NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from professional stock car racing in 2017, he walked away from his career as a healthy man. But for years, he had worried that the worsening effects of multiple racing-related concussions would end not only his time on the track but his ability to live a full and happy life.

Torn between a race-at-all-costs culture and the fear that something was terribly wrong, Earnhardt tried to pretend that everything was fine, but the private notes about his escalating symptoms that he kept on his phone reveal a vicious cycle: suffering injuries on Sunday, struggling through the week, then recovering in time to race again the following weekend. For the first time, he shares these notes and fully reveals the physical and emotional struggles he faced as he fought to close out his career on his own terms.

In this candid reflection, Earnhardt opens up about his frustration with the slow recovery, his admiration for the woman who stood by him through it all, and his determination to share his own experience so that others don’t have to suffer in silence. Steering his way to the final checkered flag of his storied career proved to be the most challenging race and most rewarding finish of his life.

Meet the author - Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is an American professional stock car racing driver, champion team owner, businessman, and television analyst for NBC Sports Group. He began his racing career at seventeen years of age with his dad, Dale Earnhardt Sr. He won consecutive NASCAR Busch Series Championships in 1998 and 1999 and the Daytona 500 in 2004 and 2014. Dale lives in Mooresville, North Carolina, with his wife, Amy, and their daughter, Isla Rose.

My thoughts

I have to admit that I am not a fan of Nascar but have heard a lot about it as my dad is a fan. I got this book as I have seen a few things about Dale and I believe he is a very nice person as well as I knew my dad may like to take a look at it when I was done. Dale did a very good job in writing this book and in telling his life story. He had a hard story to tell about his career and his health. Not many people realize the extent that racing can play on your health. We know football players get concussions and it affects their life after their career but you don't really think about race car drivers having the same issues. I have to applaud him for telling things about his life that most would have rather not talked about. I felt this was a well written and interesting book. Worth the time to read it.