Under Review

"Boogity, boogity, boogity! Let's go racing, boys!" Delivered as if he'd just swallowed a whooping crane, analyst Darrell Waltrip's signature call is the opening bell of NASCAR races on Fox. And it's the start of Darrell Waltrip: His Passion Beyond the Wheel, a new DVD about the shrewd competitor who came onto the scene as a cocky upstart in the 1970s (he was nicknamed Jaws because his never stopped moving) and became one of the most popular drivers by the time he retired in 2000, along the way winning 84 races and three Winston Cup titles. Produced by NASCAR Images, Passion is more tribute than documentary. His private life is standard fare: His family made sacrifices so he could race; he and his wife, Stevie, had more dreams than dollars when first married; he mellowed after becoming a dad. Interviews with Richard Petty and Rusty Wallace are too brief. (Petty's comment that some of Waltrip's driving tactics were questionable only whets the appetite for details.) But the on-track footage is gripping. And his relationship with Dale Earnhardt--on the track the two of them were dog-eat-dog, but in the late 1990s it was Earnhardt who offered Waltrip a comeback ride in one of the cars he owned--is presented movingly and without unnecessary sentiment. --Nancy Ramsey