RICHIE!

Like many people, I don’t often look forward to getting my mail. I get more junk thru the U.S. Postal Service than most ever accumulate in email. That and the bills that often find their way to that white box on the post at the end of my driveway make me wince as I peek through the door of it daily. Much to my pleasure I found my copy of Bones Bourcier’s new book ‘Richie!’ included in Tuesday evening’s batch. Little did I know that the real pleasure had yet begun.

The writings of Bones Bourcier have been favorites of mine for years. I think the first time that I actually met Bones was at Racearama a couple of years ago when he was doing a book signing with Bugsy Stevens. Since then we periodically have passed emails to and fro and on the rarer occasions when we attended common events, we have exchanged laughs, barbs and thoughts while I tried to pick his brain for all I am worth.

In 2003 at Loudon I ran into Bones right after the press conference where they announced the infamous All Time Top-10 NASCAR Modified Drivers list. We were in agreement about a number of things that day. One was that Charlie Jarzombek should have been on that list; another was that Richie Evans was where he belonged…on top of it. It was then that I first learned of this book. I think that the original release date had to be pushed back a couple of times due to some personal challenges that beset my favorite scribe but, it was well worth the wait.

Reading this book is the closest thing to time traveling that I have ever experienced. Bones has always known how to weave a story. Never before have I read a book that contained so many intertwined quotes. Turn a page and you're at Fulton with Maynard Troyer and Dutch Hoag, turn a page and you’re chasing points with Jerry Cook, turn a page and you’re at Talladega racing against Rusty Wallace and Harry Gant, turn a page and you’re on Long Island watching a guy drink STP with a beer chaser at Islip with Charlie J. and Fred Harbach.

Through the process of reading this book my senses seemed to be playing tricks on me. There were sounds, the sounds of jukeboxes, welders, now famous broadcast personalities, infectious laughing, big block engines and grinding gears. The smells were of racing gasoline, brake dust, tire rubber, Gennie Cream Ale, code 1021 paint, Budweiser, nitrous oxide and the Dutch Inn. It sounded and smelled…like racing.

Each chapter is an interesting portal through time. It feels as if one might be walking through the pits at nearly every track on the eastern seaboard, eavesdropping as some of the greatest Modified stars hold court and weave their tales. And then there is Richie.

Richie the Farm Boy, Richie the Racer, the broke Richie, the Champion Richie, Richie the prankster, Richie the Outlaw, the family man, the most popular driver and Richie the friend we all lost. The story is spun of quotes from old timers and modern-day racing heroes. Although this is a rather large book it is an easy read with a forward by Ray Evernham and replete with over200 photos dating back over sixty years until the tragic end of Richie’s life in 1985 at Martinsville and beyond.

Richie! Is available through the publisher, Lew Boyd’s coastal181.com. This as well as many other fine racing books may be purchased through the site or those interested can call Coastal 181 at (978) 462-2436 during normal business hours. What a great Holiday gift this would make for any real race fan.