Back in the era when an ambitious promoter might try to upstage the world champion by having one of his wrestlers turn a scripted match into a free for all, the champion had to be someone who could defend himself and send a message to anyone who dared to challenge him.  The champion would have to be able to endure months on the road as he traveled around the globe to make money by defending the world championship.  In a word, the champion had to be tough.  When it came to being tough, there was no one tougher than Harley Race.     Born in Missouri, Harley Race was never one to let someone tell him what to do.   At the age of 15, he was kicked out of school for punching out his principal.  Rather than apologize to the principal and get back in, Race turned his efforts to his dream of becoming a professional wrestler.  When his parents relocated to take a new job, Race ran the family farm.   Little did he know that his part-time work as a farm hand would start him on his journey to becoming an eight-time NWA World Champion for the farm he was working on was owned by wrestling legend Stanislaus Zbyszko (a popular wrestler during the 1920’s).  Race learned the basics from Zbyszko before introducing himself to a promoter named Gus Karras who ran local wrestling shows at carnivals.     It was at these carnivals that Race learned the essentials of wrestling- protect kayfabe and protect yourself.  During the shows, a wrestler would challenge someone from the audience to beat him and earn a cash prize.  Race started off by posing as an ordinary Joe who would take up the wrestler’s challenge.  Later on, he would graduate to being the wrestler who took on the plant in the audience.  Unfortunately things didn’t always work out as planned and the plant might not make it to the ring fast enough, which meant that Race sometimes found himself fighting off an ornery farmer or some other would be tough guy out to win his prize money.  Race learned how to get out of hairy situations and how to do so quickly (this would come in handy when Race perfected his heel persona to the point where fans would literally try to kill him).    His training paid off as Race began to master the nuances of professional wrestling.  The world was his to take but then out of nowhere, Race nearly lost it all.  Like fellow legend Ric Flair, Race’s career was nearly ended early on in his life.  Shortly after learning that they were going to have their first child, Race and his wife were involved in a terrible automobile accident.  The crash took his wife’s life and nearly cost Race his career. Doctors told Race that he would have to have his leg amputated.  However Race’s friend, wrestling promoter Gus Karras had Race sent to a bone specialist where his leg was saved.  Race was told that he would be lucky to walk again, let alone wrestle but Race had other plans.  After nearly two years of rehabilitation, Harley Race was back in the squared circle.   Back in the game, Race continued to hone his skills, wrestling in several territories before settling in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) where he formed a lengthy tag team partnership with Larry Hennig.  Race and Hennig went on to win the AWA Tag Team Titles several times, feuding with popular stars such as the Crusher, Dick the Bruiser, and Verne Gagne.   “Handsome” Harley wrestled in tag team and singles matches and soon attracted the attention of Japanese promoters who invited him to wrestle for them, an honor afforded to few American wrestlers.   During the early 1970’s Race began to focus on winning the top prize in all of wrestling.  In addition to honing his skills in the ring, Race continued to expand his knowledge of the sport, becoming a booker and eventually going on to invest some of his money in a promotion known as Heart of America Wrestling.   Race’s efforts paid off in 1973 when he was chosen by the NWA Board of Directors as the next NWA World Champion.   Although Race was only a transitional champion (the NWA had chosen Jack Brisco to win the belt but champion Dory Funk Jr. refused to drop the title to Brisco so the belt was handed from Funk to Race to Brisco), he had captured the top prize in all of wrestling.               His first title reign was short but it would be followed by seven more reigns as he broke Lou Thesz’ record six NWA World Championships.  Race defended the title every night of the week, traveling the globe as he did so.  The strain on his family was intense but made efforts to be in his children’s lives as much as possible.  When summer vacation rolled around, Race would take his family with him on the road.  Although it was difficult, Race tried to play a part in their lives despite his hectic road schedule.  On one occasion, he flew 4,000 miles to make sure he saw his son wrestle in the state wrestling finals.    By the time of his final title reign, the world of professional wrestling was changing quickly.  Promotions like the NWA and the AWA were now facing competition from an upstart promoter named Vince McMahon Jr.  For many years, Vince McMahon Sr. controlled wrestling in the northeastern U.S. just as his competitors in the NWA and AWA controlled their own regions, never straying into anyone else’s territory. However, after purchasing the World Wrestling Federation from his father, Vince Jr. began to aggressively compete with all of his wrestling rivals by booking shows in their territories and buying up their stars.  The various promoters who made up the NWA and the AWA tried to band together but mutual distrust kept them from forming an effective partnership and they found themselves being ran out of business one by one.    It was during the start of this heated competition that Jim Crockett Promotions (the strongest promotion in the NWA) ran Starcade its first pay-per-view (although it should be pointed out those fans watched the show on closed circuit television rather than on cable television).  McMahon saw this as an opportunity to sandbag one of his biggest competitors.  Two days before Starcade, Vince McMahon flew Harley Race in to meet him for dinner and to discuss business.  At the time, Race was beginning to grow tired of wrestling.  Despite his best efforts, his hectic travel schedule was straining his family.  To make matters worse, he was close to losing his $500,000.00 investment in Heart of America Wrestling     After defeating Ric Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title for a record seventh time (a record at that time), Harley Race sat down with the staff of Pro Wrestling Illustrated to discuss his career and his ambitions.    Over dinner, McMahon made his offer clear to Race.  $250,000 was his if he jumped to the WWF.  Race knew what a coup this would be for McMahon if he acquired the services of the NWA World Champion.   He also knew that McMahon would need his answer that same night.   Despite the financial temptation, Race could not turn his back on the organization that had given him so much nor could he ignore his personal code of honor that demanded that he drop the title to Ric Flair as promised.  Race told McMahon no, unaware that by now, McMahon was used to getting what he wanted.  After the dinner, an irate McMahon launched himself at Race only to find himself caught in a crossface.  Race was ready to snap McMahon’s neck but his wife provided the voice of reason that saved McMahon’s life.   Harley Race’s honor was intact and he went on to drop the NWA title to Ric Flair at the first Starcade.At Starcade '83, Race battled Flair in a grueling steel cage match.  The events leading up to Starcade had been as wild and wooly as Race was in the ring.  After holding the belt for two years, Flair lost the belt on June 10, 1983 to Harley Race in St. Louis.  The match ended after both Race and Flair had their shoulders down for the pin but Race lifted his shoulder before the three count, regaining the belt.  For the next few months, Flair chased Race across the country for the belt.   After several close calls with Flair, Race placed a bounty on Flair's head and "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr. and Dick Slater collected by breaking Flair’s neck during a match with Race.  There was serious doubt as to whether or not Flair would return from the injury and Flair confirmed the fans' worst fears when he announced his retirement.  Unbeknownest to Slater and Orton, this was all a ruse by Flair who returned to the Mid-Atlantic area with a baseball bat and caused Slater and Orton to run for their lives.  Flair announced that he was back and he was gunning for Race's title.   Special referee Gene Kiniski found himself challenged trying to maintain some sort of order to the match, given both wrestlers' tremendous hatred for each other.  Commentator Gordon Solie described things best when he said that the match would come down to two things-intensity and execution.  In the end, Ric Flair edge out Harley when he executed a high cross body block off the top rope and scored the pin.  Race was less than happy with the officiating of Kiniski, a man who Race had had many battles with in the past.   After dropping the belt to Flair, Race took a much needed vacation before returning to wrestling.  However as time passed, he saw the NWA promoters unable to cooperate in fighting McMahon and eventually, Race came to work for the WWF on his own terms, winding down his career as “The King” Harley Race (As was the practice for the WWF, there was no acknowledgement of Race’s eight NWA title reigns.  Instead, Race was promoted as “The King” Harley Race after winning a King of the Ring tournament).    Wrestling as "The King", Harley became a member of the Bobby Heenan Family and appeared in full royal regalia including a crown and robe.  Race and Heenan would instruct fans to "bow, kneel, and pay respect before the king", usually to much booing by the fans.  At Wrestlemania III, Race wrestled the Junkyard Dog in a match where the loser had to bow, kneel, and pay respect to the winner.   Although his status as king was considered an official title belt, Race did occassionally defend his status as "king".   Race enjoyed his last few years of active competition in the WWF before injuries forced him to retire from wrestling.              Drawing upon his vast knowledge of wrestling, Race turned his attention from active wrestling to management.  Race became a manager in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) where he managed WCW Heavyweight Champions Lex Lugar and Vader.  Race was a crafty manager and one who could inflict considerable punishment on his own when the referee was distracted.  Race also managed the team of the Colossal Kongs and other wrestlers including Paul Orndorff.           Race's career as a manager came to an end after a devastating auto accident which Race survived.  He continues to lend his vast knowledge of wrestling to aspiring wrestlers at "The Harley Race Wrestling Academy" and runs the World League Wrestling (WLW) promotion.  In 2004, Harley's legendary accomplishments were recognized by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.