I, personally, have no direct knowledge either of the racingcar circuit or of blue-collar towns in Ohio, but [The Trip Back Down] convinced me that Mr. Bishop knows both kinds of life very well. Bobby Horvath, a tense, touchy, violent character, is both believable and sympathetic. I respect Mr. Bishop for avoiding the suicidal-car-crash ending I thought I could see coming a mile off (though his actual ending leaves too much unresolved). And Mr. Bishop is quite good at things like bristling confrontations, drunken confessions, funny sidekicks.

But there are plenty of bristling confrontations, drunken confessions, and funny sidekicks in other plays. The stockcar-racing life, as seen in The Trip Back Down, is not unlike other kinds of competitive, high-tension, you-can-be-astar ways of life that have been on view elsewhere, and ordinary, drab, American Mansfield, Ohio, is similar to ordinary drab American other places. There is not really much new about A Trip Back Down: it is another solid, decent, realistic-with-flashbacks American drama….