Real Men Work in the Pits: A Life in NASCAR Racing

by Jeff Hammond

A fascinating perspective on the sport of racing-a rare firsthand view from the pit, where races are won and lost, by the most successful crew chief in NASCAR® history.

With an astonishing 43 checkered flags and three Winston Cup championships, Jeff Hammond is in the record books as one of NASCAR®'s all-time great crew chiefs. Today, with his expert race analysis for Fox and his weekly cable show, Totally NASCAR®, for the Speed Channel, he remains one of auto racing's most recognizable figures, mobbed by fans wherever he goes.

In Real Men Work in the Pits, Hammond recalls the thrilling moments of his life in starting out as a tire changer for Walter Ballard in 1974 and quickly becoming one of the best jackmen in the business, serving on all three of driver Cale Yarborough's championship seasons, and then taking over as crew chief during the glory days of legendary driver Darrell Waltrip. The stories Hammond tells about his life in NASCAR® and the greats he has known are funny and, sometimes, tragic. He has strong opinions about the current state of the sport and pulls no punches as he offers his insights about the past 30 years when the sport grew so phenomenally from a regional obsession to a national pastime.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Gregory Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real insight into the career of a member of the Junior Johnson organization. Hollywood has a unique perspective.

[رِناد · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in order to improve my English language, furthermore, racing cars is something I read about for the first time..so it was amusing.

[Susan Clingman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Borrowed from NLS

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I read this book soon after reading Darrell Waltrip's autobiography, because the Waltrip-Hammond pairing is legendary in NASCAR, to the point that when both retired from their respective racing roles (driver and crew chief), they were both hired to do TV broadcasts for FOX, where they remain to this day. I enjoyed being able to read about events Waltrip described in his book from the perspective of a competitor's team member who later became his crew chief.
Hammond's career in Cup racing pre-dates Waltrip's, as he began as an entry-level crew member for owner Junior Johnson, whose cars were the top of the class in the 1970s, and worked with driver Cale Yarbrough, who was the first driver to win 3 consecutive Cup titles, all while Hammond was part of the team. While a member of Cale's team, Hammond noted the arrival of Waltrip to the big league and how everyone hated him, much like they later did when Jeff Gordon was the fresh new face of NASCAR. Eventually, Cale left Johnson's team, and Junior wanted the best driver out there as a replacement, who at the time was Waltrip. Hammond chronicles their ups and downs, and how difficult it was to have to like the guy he bitterly despised while working in support of Cale. Hammond worked his way up to crew chief by this point, and together, they won another 3 championships as members of Johnson's team.
Most of Hammond's career highlights occurred with Waltrip and Junior Johnson, but he and Waltrip reunited after Waltrip decided to drive for newcomer Rick Hendrick, and recorded the lone Daytona 500 win for each in 1989. While Hammond never won another championship, he felt proud of his rise to an elite crew chief and fortunate to have had the opportunities he did in his career. He also noted the performance on and off track of many of their competitors, from the legendary drivers challenging Cale Yarbrough in those early days, to the up-and-comers like Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, and Rusty Wallace who challenged Waltrip in the 80s, to young drivers like Tim Richmond and Davey Allison whose lives ended before their true potential was reached. The book culminates with Hammond's decision to become a broadcaster and his debut race as such, in which Dale Earnhardt lost his life, the story coming full circle, as one of Hammond's earliest racing memories was attending a race with tragically similar crash that ended up claiming the life of driver Fireball Roberts.

[Koby]

racing for a long time and he has seen a lot. He’s had a lot of success down in the pits where races are won When you stand out there before a race and you hear the cheering of people and you know that millions of other people are watching on television you just cant imagine the pump. It is just something you can’t get enough of. I used to tell people when the day came that I could hear the words Gentlemen start your engines and not get goose bumps that was the day I was going to walk away.
It hasn’t happened yet. im broadcasting now instead of crew chiefing but I still feel that way. Still get those goose bumps. Junior was a race car driver and came up to jeff and would always say “hey boy” and jeff didnt know why he didnt say his name and junior wantede a drive to drive to races but he was very picky and if he didnt like your driving then he would yell at you so junior asked jeff you know how to drive and jeff said kinda so jeff hoped behinde the wheel and took off to the next race and when they got there junior said you will be my new driver and jeff was so happy bc his name would be big now and he worked for junior in the pits to.
I would recommend this book to people that want to get involved into racing bc it showes how hard jeff strutgle to get a car and to get his name out there it is a very good book about racing and if itwasnt for junior he wouldnt be were he is today bc he is a pit chief for junior. Junior was a blessing to him to let him make his dream come true in racing history and is in the hall of fall and everyone knows his name in the racing history Jeff Hammond has been around he want to retire soon

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

From a blog post I wrote in 2005:

When I first got into NASCAR a couple of years ago, I had a little crush on Jeff Hammond who is a former crew chief and one of the FOX announcers. He was cute, a cowboy and knew a whole lot about something I know very little about. I'm always attracted to people who know more than I do. I wish I could get a brain dump from them and get their knowledge.

I'm not so much into him now, though. He seems a little too much - like he's just trying too hard to be popular.

His book was kinda like that, too. I enjoyed hearing about his start in the business, working for Junior Johnson, being the crew chief for Darrell Waltrip and the emotional ups and downs of a life in racing. But, I don't know, it seems like he can't say a negative word about anyone without following it up with something to soften the comment. Maybe, he's just that positive of a person.

I did feel like I was given insight into the workings of NASCAR, the teams and the personalities from the book. And, there's no denying that Hammond and Waltrip were an outstanding combination with their 43 wins together so Hammond must know what he's talking about.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not impress me as well as Larry McReynolds book.

I was really disappointed, so sorry Jeff.
You are still really cute.