by Grady Bryant
Another book review by Phil R. Elliott
When I trip over a book with Match Race Madness in the title, I’m gonna be all over it. True story. In this case, Grady Bryant sent me a copy way back in 1995 and I read and reviewed it then for IHRA’s Drag Review, of which I was the editor at the time. I loved it then, and just re-read it, and loved it again. I recommend this book highly, IF you can find a copy. That might be a problem. But trust that the effort will be well worth it.
When Grady Bryant was discharged from the US Army in 1962, it seemed he ran smack into Dickie Harrell, they became bowtie buddies and Bryant helped on whatever Chevrolet Harrell was racing. This association eventually got Bryant his own Chevy rides, even after the factory axed all their support. He moved from New Mexico to Texas in ’66 and teamed with Roger Caster to build the first of two “Sump-In-Else” Chevy II match racers. The first crashed, so they built another – better/quicker/faster – and held their own against whatever was thrown their way by especially Ted Detar and Gene Snow. They built a reputation and a fan following throughout the region and beyond. I remember very well seeing their crashed first Chevy II in Car craft, then poring over their second Chevy II in a color feature article in Drag Racing magazine back then.
So, Grady retired from racing, then returned in an alcohol funny car, only to retire for good and turn to writing. Match Race Madness was the first of a fairly long list of writing credits, which include real stuff like this one, fiction, and even movies. After MRM, Bryant wrote three novels, Cause of Action, Roswell One, The Final Chapter, and The Devils Bible, The Lost Tablets, and a second drag racing book, Drag Race Fever (which I haven’t read yet but will). Bryant wrote, produced and starred in a cult western movie, The Legend of Booger Red, which also starred Ron Capps and Tommy Johnson Jr.
If you are a fan of drag racing, you like to read personal accounts of the names that made the sport what it is today. Such a book is Grady Bryant’s Match Race Madness. The nearly 190 pages are overfilled with previously untold stores of the legends of the sport of Drag Racing; Don Gay, Don Cook, Mike Burkhart, Bobby Rex, Bill Hielsher, Gene Snow, Don Garlits, Vance Hunt, Bobby Langley, Dick Harrell, Clester Andrews, of course Grady Bryant and his partner Roger Caster, and many more. Also included are a number of unpublished photos from these racers’ personal scrapbooks during their years of touring during their match races.
According to my recent search, this is now a rare book. Grady told me awhile back that Amazon (used) and eBay might be the only current sources for this one, but as I said in the opening paragraph, it is well worth the search. I flat love all the back-stories about these racers that made such an impression on me years ago. So will you.
Bryant, Grady (1995). Match Race Madness: The Book. Pro-Mo-Sport Publications ASIN B0006QKBCK
