| Front Cover |
Book Details |
|
| Genre |
Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
Paris-Dakar Rally |
| Publication Date |
6/1/1990 |
| Format |
Hardcover (9.4
x
5.9
mm)
|
| Publisher |
Warner |
| Language |
English |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
|
| Description |
| For all armchair adventurers, Against Gravity is the compelling story of a highly successful advertising executive who left Madison Avenue to race his car in the deadly 8,000-mile Paris-Dakar rally. |
| Personal Details |
| Store |
Powell's City of Books |
| Purchase Price |
$2.95 |
| Acquire Date |
11/29/2020 |
| Condition |
Very Good/Very Good |
| Rating |
0 |
| Links |
Library of Congress
|
|
| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
PS3563.C3337 .A7 1990 |
| Dewey |
813.54 |
| ISBN |
9780446514545 |
| Edition |
[1st ed.] |
| Cover Price |
$28.00 |
| No. of Pages |
290 |
| First Edition |
Yes |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
I started watching the Dakar about 2004 or 2005. For me, it was the stuff of fantasy. Literally: if I had the means, I'd do it. It was easy for me to think this, as I clearly lacked the means and would never actually get to put myself to the test.
Ed McCabe had the means. So he did it. It wasn't even really his idea - it was his fiance's.
What is now simply called "the Dakar" used to be the Paris/Dakar Rallye. In the beginning, it started in Paris and ended about three weeks later in Dakar. For some years, it continued to end in Dakar, but it no longer began in Paris. It was canceled in 2008 due to fears of terrorism, then went for more than a decade in South America. Now it's run in Saudi Arabia. It hasn't had anything to do with Dakar since 2007, but it will always be "the Dakar".
McCabe was an advertising executive. That provided the means. And, as he'd written who knows how much copy, he had the ability to write. For this sort of book to be better than so-so, it takes somebody who's lived it and has the skills to relate the experience.
The race that McCabe ran bears little resemblance to the race today, and not just in its starting and ending locations. It's only two weeks long, technology has changed considerably, and (from what I can tell, from the distance of a television viewer) the logistics are much less improvised. That is not to say that doing it today would be significantly different than when McCabe did it.
The gist of the Dakar is extreme punishment: race through uncompromising terrain at lethal speeds, fatigued to the braking point, under extreme stress. Only a small percentage of competitors finish, and there are fatalities every year. McCabe does a great job of relating the experience. I'm too old now to entertain the fantasy myself, even if I had the means. Reading McCabe's story is probably as close as I'll ever get to it. |
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