A Review of the book, AWESOME BILL FROM DAWSONVILLE, MY LIFE IN NASCAR, by Bill Elliott and Chris Millard, as submitted to Amazon.com.

I have been a NASCAR fan since before it was NASCAR. I can remember going with my Daddy to races at Daytona, FL when they were held on a course that was part beach and part paved road. I loved racing then and I love it now. The primeval growl of the engines, the excitement of head to head finishes and the spectacle of it all still thrills me as much today as it did when I was seven years old.

During all that time I never pulled for one particular driver over the others, that is until Bill Elliott and his brothers Dan and Ernie came on the scene in the late 1970’s. Their outfit was so rag-tag at first that you just could not help but root for them. It became a habit for me and for a lot of other people. Then along about 1984 the Elliotts begin to win races! At first just one here and there and later lots of them. They won the first Winston Million in 1985 along with eleven super speedway races and eleven poles. Three years later the Elliotts won the 1988 Winston Cup Championship, beating a very determined Rusty Wallace by just a few points.

During a career that has spanned over twenty-five years the Elliotts have set closed course speed records at Talladega, won the "Most Popular Driver" NASCAR award a record number of times, won forty-four NASCAR races and over seventy-three million dollars in purses. The Elliotts became the best known family in any sport in America. Bill Elliott was the first NASCAR driver to ever appear on the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE. All this was accomplished while working their magic from a tiny operation just outside of Dawsonville, GA. Racing against the likes of Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Bobby Allison and most of the biggest names in NASCAR, the shy red-headed country boy, William Clyde Elliott, became the superstar athlete "Awesome Bill form Dawsonville."

The National Association of Stock Car Racing, NASCAR, owes much of its current popularity to the Elliott Family. As the Elliotts grew in the hearts of their fans so did NASCAR grow from a regional, little appreciated, sport into the worldwide multi-billion dollar industry it is today. In his book, Awesome Bill From Dawsonville, My Life in NASCAR, co-written by Bill Elliott and Chris Millard, Mr. Elliott details the hardships and glories that a professional racecar driver can experience. While this book is about racing, it is even more about the relationships between the three Elliott brothers, Ernie, the oldest, Dan, the middle brother, Bill the youngest brother and their father, George, and the bonds of family and determination that held their operation together.

As literature, Awesome Bill From Dawsonville, My life in NASCAR, ain’t Shakespeare, but, it works very well as the story of three brothers who make good and of their father who instilled in them the virtues of hard work, honesty and drive. This is not exactly a "rags to riches" story, but it serves as a reminder to all of us that you get out of life in exact proportion to that which you put into it. The Elliotts never dreamed that they would one day be at the pinnacle of their sport, but through hard work, some good beaks and family loyalty they made it. They will go down in sports history as one of the finest families in NASCAR. Their red and gold number nine Thunderbird is forever etched in automobile racing history.

The Truth as I know it.

Well, the truth is that I don't know very much, and the older I get the less I do know. However, that having been said here are twenty-five things of which I am sure.

1. O.J. did it.
2. Jon Benet's parents didn't.
3. There is such a thing as a free lunch, it's called a government entitlement.
4. Power corrupts.
5. Communisn doesn't work.
6. Socialism doesn't work.
7. Pure Democracy doesn't work either.
8. Until we reduce our dependence on foreign oil we will remain entangled in Middle Eastern affairs.
9. Al Gore lost the election fair and square.
10. There are no true atheists.
11. There is very little difference between the National Democrat Party and the National Republican Party.
12. Most politicians spend all their time in trying to insure reelection and not in representing their constituents.
13. The governments of Louisanna and New Orleans caused the Katrina disaster. (Not the hurricane, the disaster afterwards.)
14. The U.S. can ill afford to be the World's police force.
15. Koffi Annan was the most corrupt, least effective, and most anti-American leader that the UN has ever had. Good riddance to him.
16. Astronauts did land on the Moon in 1969 regardless of what you've heard to the contrary.
17. 9/11 was planned and caused by radical Islamists and not by some vast government conspiracy.
18. Our auto industry could build very high gas mileage cars if our government would stay out of the way.
19. When someone says they are from the government and they are here to help, one thing is usually true. Things will get very much worse.
20. Evolution is not a fact it is a theory. The fossil record does not support the theory. Check it out for yourself.
21. 99.99% of the people who are in jail in this country are guilty of the crime for which they have been sentenced.
22. Children, even yours, will lie if it suits their purposes. So will adults.
23. God made all creation including you. How and when He did it is His business.
24. When you read the Christian Bible you feel better.
25. Jesus Christ lived, died in agony on the cross for our sins, was burried, and rose from the grave three days later.

I've got a hundred more things I could add to this list but that's enough. Have a safe and Merry Christmas.

Below is an open letter to Senator Jay Rockefeller, D. WV. regarding his recent demand that the Exxon Mobile Corporation "cease and desist" from spending their money for advertisements that dispel the theory of global warming.

Dear Senator Rockefeller,

In reference to your recently reported demand that the Exxon Mobile Corporation cease and desist from using their money to attempt to dispel the global warming theory, and that they instead spend this money promoting the theory of global warming might I remind you of a few important things.

First, eventhough it sticks in the Democratic craw Exxon Mobile, like you and me, has the right to spend their money any legal way that their board of directors and the stock holders of the corporation see fit. This is called "Freedom of Speech" and it is guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution. That is not a theory. It is a fact.

Second, just because the Democratic Party is preparing to take the reins of power in the U.S. Congress and Senate, that does not give you the right to make demands of anyone. You can express your opinion, just as I am doing here, but that is all. Being an U.S. Senator you are a public servant and as such you represent those who elected you. You can just as easily be unelected by those same voters. We, the citizens of the U.S. do not need you or the Congress of the United States to protect us against big business. If we do not approve of Exxon Mobile's stand on the issue of global warming we can take action against them by voting with our wallets.

Third, global warming is an unproven theory and not a fact as it is reported that you stated in your letter to Exxon Mobile. I cannot find one shread of viable evidence, including Senator Gore's recent movie, to support the theory that anything man has done, or could do, could cause global warming. This is just another excuse to widen the preceived power of the government.

Might I suggest that you should spend your time working on the more important issues facing us, such as the Hispanic invasion from across our southern border and in finding ways to keep this country from becoming the next Islamic state.

Respectfully submitted,

Conservatoid Number One

Where do people like Senator Rockefeller get the idea that they can dictate to a person or a corporation how legally earned funds can be spent? Senator Rockefeller is a man who has lived his entire life on a trust fund provided by the Rockefeller family. His lifestyle is funded by money earned from "big oil." Like Senator Ted Kennedy, Mr. Rockefeller has no ideas of his own, but spouts the ultra-liberal Democrat Party line. These people fancy themselves to be great liberal thinkers who help the poor and down trodden. In fact they are elitists who wish to dictate to the rest of us how we should live, while they spend their time vacationing in France and riding around in chauffeur driven limos. God preserve us from the good intentions of such people!