The Blount Report: NASCAR's Most Overrated and Underrated Drivers, Cars, Teams, and Tracks

While fans continue to debate the relative merits of their favorite drivers, ESPN.com's premier motor sports writer Terry Blount now brings some needed clarity and perspective to America's biggest spectator sport, rating drivers, teams, cars, and tracks, and "bluntly" lets readers know which are overrated and which are underrated in a new book that's bound to further the debate and stir up more controversy.

 

It's an all-fun but in-depth look at the opinionated discussions fans have in their living rooms every weekend: "That guy isn't as good as people think" Or, "That driver is way better than where he finished." Did the reputation match the results? Was the performance better than the perception? And how much of a factor was the car? Evaluating driver skills is a whopping task, even for the most knowledgeable folks in the sport. But Blount is one of the most qualified analysts, and well up to the task of trying to separate fact from fiction, reputation from reality, and equipment from talent. Along with rating drivers, The Blount Report also rates a vast array of the NASCAR world from speedways to races and rules to records. It's all up for debate. So fasten your seatbelt and enjoy...it may get a bit bumpy along the way but it's well worth the ride.

ESPN.com CHAT WITH TRIUMPH BOOKS AUTHOR TERRY BLOUNT
ESPN’S CHAT WITH NASCAR AUTHOR
On Feb. 3, Terry Blount, author of The Blount Report: NASCAR’s Most Overrated and Underrated Drivers, Cars, Teams, and Tracks, was taking on all fans who had anything to argue with him about concerning his brand new book and any other hot topics in the world of NASCAR during his online chat. If you missed Blount’s online chat, you can still read it in Blount’s archive. A free excerpt of The Blount Report will go online soon so keep checking to see when the excerpt goes live.




DAILY NEWS FLIPS FOR TWO TRIUMPH NASCAR TITLES
Louis Brewster of the Daily News, was so shocked last month by the inside dirt that longtime NASCAR journalist Terry Blount offers in that Brewster made it clear this is “no ordinary fan” offering these insights. Blount “pulls no punches,” Brewster wrote. “He's a veteran newspaper reporter and is on the panel for the prestigious Driver of the Year award. He's a regular on ESPN's various networks and has covered auto racing for 15 years.” More on The Blount Report.
Brewster is also quick to point out that Triumph Books is the publisher of NASCAR’s other big book of the season – “Then Tony Said to Junior …” by Mike Hembree, possibly the only other journalist to cover NASCAR as long as Blount, with 28 years to his credit. More on “Then Tony Said to Junior”.

The Blount Report PR
Whether you saw him winning the Nationwide Series race in Las Vegas in 2008 or just barely missing out on winning the Daytona 500 in 2007, ESPN.com motorsports columnist Terry Blount has only one true title for Mark Martin - the #1 most overrated driver in all of NASCAR.  Old-school NASCAR fans will love Blount's assertion that the California Speedway is the most overrated of the tracks, especially after NASCAR moved the legendary Southern 500 from Darlington and gave Fontana the Labor Day weekend event.

The Blount Report: NASCAR's Most Overrated and Underrated Drivers, Cars, Teams, and Tracks by Terry Blount pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. With more than 25 years of sports journalism under his belt - including 15 covering auto racing - Blount has seen, talked to and worked with the most high-profile personalities in the NASCAR business. He is finally setting the record straight once and for all about the most controversial NASCAR debates ever argued between fans.

NASCAR fans will be stunned when they see where he ranked prominent drivers such as Michael Waltrip and Sterling Martin, famous speedways such as Pocono and Martinsville, popular events such as The Sprint Cup Challenge and legendary records such as Petty's 200 victories.  Nobody is left out, including Dale Earnhardt, Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver. Blount goes through the best of best of NASCAR's history, including sections on the most overrated and underrated rules, records, events, cars, trophies, and more.

The Blount Report is not a fan's opinion of NASCAR history; it is a detailed, highly-researched thesis that will make even the most die-hard fan admit that their feelings have biases their opinions and weakened all previous arguments about who and what is the most overrated and underrated ever.  NASCAR fans will be debating Blount's assertions for years to come.

About the Author:
Terry Blount joined ESPN.com in October 2006 after 25 years as an award-winning sports reporter and columnist, including 15 years of covering auto racing. In his role at ESPN, he helps lead and shape coverage of NASCAR and other racing series. He is a regular guest on ESPN2's NASCAR Now. Blount is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association, the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association, and the voting panel for the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the distinguished panel that selects the Driver of the Year Award. Blount is an honors graduate of the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio/television communications.

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CONTACT: Bill Ames, Triumph Books, 312.252.1248, b.ames@triumphbooks.com

The Blount Report Review

Fans, read all about NASCAR

by Louis Brewster, 2/19/09, LA Daily News

Mike Hembree, an award-winning writer and editor for NASCAR Scene, and Terry Blount, who has also collected awards for ESPN.com, have a combined total of 43 years covering the NASCAR circuit.

They have each written a book about the sport that came out this month, and both should be taken seriously by any serious fan of stock car racing.

"Then Tony Said to Junior ... The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told" is Hembree's work for Triumph Books. It is a collection of unique anecdotes and never-before-told stories collected by a man who has covered the sport for 28 years.

A winner of the Henry McLemore Award for career achievement, Hembree's style reflects the nature of his work, gaining insight from sources throughout the garage area, including drivers and team owners.

Hembree has 15 chapters of 235 pages that takes readers through decades of NASCAR folklore. Whatever the topic, Hembree offers memories ranging from old-school to the modern era.

Through his book, we learn:

--Cale Yarborough was the first to call Darrell Waltrip "Jaws" following a 1977 race at Darlington, where Waltrip spun him out.

Why R.J. Reynolds suggested Winston rather than Camel as the series sponsor beginning in the 1970s. According to the late Bill France Jr., RJR said, "You don't want camels. They're nasty and they'll spit at you."

--After a crash at the 1996 Brickyard 400, Kyle Petty screamed in pain after a crash when being liftedonto the ambulance. Seems like a safety worker had stepped on Petty's ponytail.

--Totally out of character for the circuit, Mark Martin is a fan of rap music, with Eminem his favorite. Martin, who attracts a few storylines, is honored in rapper Budda Early's "Start Your Engines."

--In 1993, after poking his finger into the chest of Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage during the Lowe's Media Tour, Dale Earnhardt beat Gossage to his office Monday of the following week to apologize. He also offered Gossage condolences following the death of his mother and cried when he recalled his father, Ralph Earnhardt.

Those warm and fuzzy stories make up the heart of Hembree's work.

Not so in Blount's offering.

"The Blount Report: NASCAR's Most Overrated and Underrated Drivers, Cars, Teams and Tracks" can be viewed as a fan's assessment, but Blount is no ordinary fan. He's a veteran newspaper reporter and is on the panel for the prestigious Driver of the Year award. He's a regular on ESPN's various networks and has covered auto racing for 15 years.

While it is one man's opinion, it's well thought-out, not just a collection of thoughts on a napkin. It provides NASCAR fans a base for their thoughts and opinions so they can compare their own list.

Blount pulls no punches. Among the overrated:

--Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. "Trying to sell ACS as being in the show of Tinseltown requires an acting job worthy of an Academy Award. ... The celebs gracing the covers of gossip magazines have never been to Fontana, unless it's passing through on a drive to Las Vegas."

--Martin as a driver. "He's just too nice, a gentlemen among barbarians in fire suits. Martin is the anti-Earnhardt."

Among the underrated:

--Paranoia: Jack Roush's fear of Toyota. "They will try to outspend everyone and place the rest of us in a catch-up scenario," is among the Roush quotes.

--Yesteryear Driver: Junior Johnson. According to Blount, "Here's all you need to know about Junior: He completed 51,988 laps in his career and led 12,651 of them, an incredible 24 percent." That's doing the research.

Among the lists:

--Top 10 Drivers: Dale Earnhardt. "Nothing was more important to Earnhardt than winning races," writes Blount. "He was three months shy of his 50th birthday when he died, but Earnhardt was still competing for victories and racing up front."