I just finished reading the book Darrell Waltrip One-on-One by Darrell Waltrip and Jay Carty. The book is a series of sixty short stories by Darrell that relate his faith to stories about his days as a NASCAR driver and now as a NASCAR announcer on Fox Sports.

Darrell Waltrip is one of the NASCAR greats, who has 84 NASCAR victories and in the 1980s was named the NASCAR Driver of the Decade. He also is a man of faith who leads a weekly Bible study for 75 men in his garage in Franklin, TN.

Jay Carty, a former NBA basketball player, turner minister, has a commentary for each of Darrell’s stories that goes a little deeper into how Darrell’s story relates to faith in God, the Bible and Jesus.

It’s a great read and can be used for a 60 day devotional.

The book is personal to me because my wife is related to the Waltrips from Owensboro, KY. She is a distant cousin of Darrell. If fact, we visited Owensboro last week and were able to talk about Darrell and his brother Michael with people who know them well. We missed going to Wendell’s Wonder Whip, that Darrell mentioned in the book, but we did get to enjoy Burgoo and mutton at another local restaurant. In fact, I enjoyed the mutton all night long.

My favorite stories in the book are about Darrell’s relationship to Dale Earnhardt. They were friends off the track and enemies when racing against each other. Darrell called them “frienemies”.

In the story titled “Duct Tape and the Word” Darrell and Stevie, Darrell’s wife, tell of the day that Dale was killed in the Daytona 500. It was the first race that the two were not racing against each other. That day Darrell was new in the Fox Sports booth, announcing the race.

Near the end of the race just before Dale hit the wall, he was blocking for his teammates, Dale, Jr. and Darrell’s brother Michael who eventually won the race - his first NASCAR Winston Cup victory.

When Dale and Darrell raced, Stevie would write out a Bible verse for both Dale and Darrell on duct tape. That day she wrote one for Dale.

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and our safe.” - Proverbs 10:10 NKJV.

Darrell and Stevie knew that what once was a lucky charm for Dale, had become a symbol of Dale’s true faith and love for Jesus - and that Dale is now in Heaven.

It is ironic twist that on that day I was watching the Daytona 500. I didn’t usually watch NASCAR races. I heard Darrell’s announcing, I saw Michael win the race and I watched in horror as a racing legend hit the wall and eventually died. Now I know the rest of the story.

Go get the book. It’s for me and it’s for you too.

Dan England’s posts can also be found at Getting Elected Blogline and Townhall. Dan’s website is GettingElected.com and he is the author of So You Want to Run for Political Office and Welcome to the Real Corporate World.