Born Without Brakes

A Memoir of Full Speed, Close Calls, and Going All In

By all logic, Craig Daniels shouldn't be here.

At two, he was run over by a Buick.
At seven, he nearly lost an eye to a shotgun.
At seventeen, he almost lost his legs hopping a moving train.
By fifty-one, he had faced cancer three times.
Each time, he walked away—scraped, scarred, and still standing—never quite sure why he got another turn.

Born Without Brakes moves fast through a life defined by close calls, bad timing, and decisions made without guarantees. From small-town Iowa streets to back roads, borders, and years spent testing limits, Daniels recounts the moments that should have ended the story—and didn't. What emerges isn't a tale of fearlessness, but of momentum: a refusal to slow down, to wait for permission, or to live cautiously.

Running beneath the chaos is a quieter truth, passed down early and repeated often: Don't miss your life.

He didn't.

Raw, unsentimental, and darkly funny, Born Without Brakes isn't a victory lap or a cautionary tale. It's a record of what happens when luck holds—until it doesn't—and how much life can fit between the near misses.

If you've ever looked back and thought, I shouldn't have made it through that, this book is for you.

Coming December 2026