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Insight 880, a book by Ray Brown

Insight 880, a book by Ray Brown

Jeff Benjamin Book Review – Insight 800 By Ray Brown

When longtime Indoor Track fans think of the phrase “Grabbing it by the scruff of the neck,” one can’t help but visualize the power of 6- time Indoor National Champion Ray Brown!

Competing not only on those 1980s-90s 200-meter rubber tracks but also on the wooden boards of meccas like Madison Square Garden, Brown, in his racing strategies, held nothing back right from the start, forcing himself and his opponents to contend with the harsh, lactic acid buildups that only come at a rate over a minute and 40 to 50 seconds. Fans watching it were no doubt in awe and inspired.

Now Brown has encapsulated those qualities in his fast-moving and intense book “Insight 800,” and the reader, like those spectators of old, will not come away disappointed.

Insight 880, a book by Ray Brown

Brown is certainly intense, but he also feels gratitude toward those who helped him achieve his goals.

Names such as Brooks Johnson, Skip Grant, and his Father are deftly profiled.
He also includes names from our Sport, including Jeff Atkinson, Sha’ Carrie Richardson, Patti Sue Plummer, Butch Reynolds, and the Late Mike Fanelli, to name a few.

But this is NOT just a track/running book.

Brown also includes lots of great anecdotes and opinions on a variety of subjects, both sports- and non-sports-related.

What topics are covered? Well, that’s up to readers to find out.

But make no mistake, as Ray Brown will take you through his life journeys with that same intense pace right from the gun!

To purchase the book, please go to –Insight 800 by Ray Brown (Lulu website)

  • Senior Writer Jeff Benjamin has written for almost 40 years for RunBlogRun! The Former President of the Staten Island AC & was the 5th man scorer for his 1982 Susan Wagner High School NYC XC City Championship team. Also a member of the College of Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame for XC, Jeff is also a retired NYC DOE  history teacher. Some of Jeff’s subjects have included Sebastian Coe, Eamonn Coghlan, Matt Centrowitz, Billy Mills, Joe Newton, Tom Fleming, Bill Rodgers, Abel Kiviat, Frank Shorter, Rod Dixon and Carl Lewis as well as Book Reviews and articles covering track meets and races primarily in the Northeast U.S. and beyond.

    Jeff has also covered Track & Field events at the 1996, 2016 & 2024 Olympic Games as well as the 2022 World T&F Championships in Eugene, Oregon. A noted T&F historian and chronicler of the athletic achievements of Jim Thorpe, Jeff helped with the restoration of Thorpe to the official IOC 1912 Record Books.

    In 2023 Jeff was honored with the awarded the prestigious James Dunaway memorial award for excellence in Track and Field journalism by the Track and Field Writers Association.

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