Book Review: 'Lost Manuscript' is a Great Find for NHRA Fans

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Hats off to Bob Wilber for doing something that just about any journalist—or public relations representative—who has ever covered a sports beat or worked with a team has thought about doing at one time or another.

Wilber kept a season-long diary, including all the triumphs, heartbreaks, a tragedy, and shenanigans of a year of NHRA drag racing. Now, two decades after a year of day-to-day entries into a notebook, Wilber’s diary is now a book that any NHRA fan—new or old—will appreciate.

What makes Wilber's "season in the life of" book so special is that it genuinely fits the title, The Lost Manuscript—The True Story of One Year in the World of Professional Drag Racing. The book is a play-by-play of the 2001 NHRA Drag Racing Series season of Del Worsham and the members of Team CSK Auto-sponsored team. It's a diary written from the sport's inside by Wilber—the team's public relations voice who served as the connection between the team, the media and the sponsors.

"Writing it all down," as Wilber says, was something that he had often kicked the tires on. Finally, in 2001, with the inspiration of Jim Bouton' classic baseball book Ball Four in the back of his mind, Wilber set out to write what he thought might one day be the drag racing equal.

So, where does the "lost" part of The Lost Manuscript come in? Glad you asked. Well, Wilber polished up the diary at the end of 2001, printed it out and shared it with a few folks. Then the diary was shelved and either stuffed into a box or drawer somewhere and kind of forgotten about. It was just one of those “look what I did’ projects that Wilber never really intended to go nationwide.

Then, 22 years and a few relocations later, Wilber’s wife, Barbara, discovered the manuscript—the only copy—in the drawer of a “cheap plastic chest” while gathering items for a garage sale. Wilber thumbed through it and thought, 'Hey, this is pretty good,' and he pitched it to a publisher, who agreed.

Now, it’s a book, and an entertaining read, at that.

The day-by-day story of the 2001 season, including the events of September 11 of that year, is anything but dated. Drivers and crew members today still fret over sponsorship deals, what hotel can we afford this weekend, where are we going to find another tenth of a second in that next run, and where are we at in the points.

A few pages in, and you'll find yourself rooting for the folks at Team CSK. We'd tell you how the season came out, but that would ruin the ending a really good story.

History was never this much fun.