Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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Finally pried this book from my uncle and it was only fair reading IMHO, to much bitching, quitting teams, firing crew cheifs, just the arrogance of Wolfgang, anyway;, after C.K. Spurlock, sprint car owner, sprint car builder, concert promoter, drag racer, etc,  hired Wolf to drive the very first sprint car "house car", the Gambler, at the beginning of the season Wolf thought they would be so dominant, so special, that "Jesus might make his second coming just to watch us".    

Go young guns!

You must have read a different book than I did..Wolf was critical of himself at times like leaving his house christmas day to work on race car in middle of winter.  The Jesus deal was I guess would say how stupid it would be for me to think I was super  special.  Guess you could call it dark humor, but I knew what he ment.  Wolf. was critical of himself alot of times in book, but you took it the wrong way.

The furthest thing from the truth would be to say or think that Doug Wolfgang is arrogant. No Way. He's proud of his accomplishments, but very humble. He's honest to the point that he might rub some people the wrong way, and that stems from the fact that he won't sugar coat anything. If I remember right, he did make mention that he was a bit cocky or something to that effect when he first got going. But he sure as hell matured out of that in a hurry. I know this from first hand experience that goes back a considerble amount of time. "Fair" reading?  I think great reading. To each his own opinion, of course. It probably helps if you know him at all.

Wow.  In all the times I interacted with Wolfgang, arrogant would never be a term I would use.  One of the nicest guys Ive ever met.  Just my opinion

Doug also said this regarding how confident he felt shortly after agreeing to the Spurlock deal:

"Confident? Hell, Jeri and the kids probably didn't recognize me, with my head swelled up so big. This deal was going to be like printing money."

The important thing is that - in true Doug Wolfgang fashion - he was showing how wrong he was about the deal. Other drivers probably wouldn't mention that in looking back, or changed their tune and say they had doubts about it. But Wolfie always told it the way it was, whether he was right or wrong.

Speed71 = Swindell fan.

Like others above have said you must have been reading a different book than me.  I've read my copy twice and was thinking about a third, trying to catch things I haven't. He said he was pretty darn full of himself in this younger years, so I guess that would be arrogance. At the same time, ya have to be arrogant if you're a racer. A current crew chief of a 305 young racer here in SD, and a successful chief of many years in 410's said to his young driver after his driver said he didn't think he had a big ego..."Son are you a race car driver, (yes was the reply), then let me tell ya son, you got a big ego."  But, like others have said, Wolfgang was fairly critical of himself in the read as well as he was of others. I can, however, see, in this day and age of snowflakeism , how his brash, tell it like it is without sugarcoating could be taken wrong. Especially if, as someone suggested above, it is read by a Swindell fan. No love lost there between th two. In my humble opinion, Swindell couldn't hold Wolfies helmet bag for the simple reason that Sammy typically had the best of the best equipment while, at different times in his career Wolfie was making Shitboxes fast, and could jump in anyone's car and be a threat to win. My favorite chapter I think, was of his times in Doug and Joanne Howells 4. Speaking of that, Doug Howells and his Grandson Lee Grosz won the Randy Droescher Memorial this week in a white and yellow 4 just like the old days. 

If you ever get the chance to talk to him I don't believe you would feel the same way. He'd talk to ya like he's known you for years.

2004 at the Knoxville Hall of Fame with him & McCarl was just to cool to listen to.

Another great time probably similar to that was at the NSCHoF in 2015 when they honored Doug with their "Salute To A Champion".  During the Nationals, NSCHoF members were invited to the secod floor for an open forum that included Doug, Bob Trostle, Gary "Duece" Terrill and Danny Peace (owner of the 8d). Huge crowd of course which also included Robert Hubbard. I was fortunate to get there early enough to have a good spot. I've always wished they had taped that deal. If they did I've not heard about it. It was entertaining as hell. A lot of facts, a lot of stories and plenty of humor.

I've never thought Doug was that arrogant from talking to him. But with 5 knoxville national wins, 2 kings royals, 40 and 50 plus win seasons, like 18 straight wins in a row, 3 williams grove nationals wins (in a row), and numerous other accolades, I guess you can say he was pretty good and if he wanted to toot his own horn once in a while so be it. And his racing career only lasted basically 20 years. 

It's his book with Dave Argabright. I wanted to hear the truth on what he was thinking, what made him tick and what motivated him to be great. One of the best racing biographies I've ever read and I've read biographies about Jack Hewitt, Dale Earnhardt sr/jr. Darrell waltrip, AJ Foyt, Rusty Wallace, Jeff gordon, Aryton Senna, John Force, etc.

Click here to check the price or order on amazon.com.  It's less than $13

Plus 4 wins in a row of the Tuscarora 50........

Top 5 favorite book I've ever read. It's been 7 yrs since I've read it. Probably about time to dust it off again.