"Car and Driver's" Brock Yates's perspective on NASCAR spans nearly 50 years, and his wry observations are always sure to incite both cheers and jeers. "NASCAR Off the Record" is a pithy, opinionated, hilarious, and compelling collection of some of the greatest NASCAR stories of all time, as told by a man who was present at the scene. 0-7603-1726-7$24.95 / MBI Publishing
The true story behind NASCAR’s hardscrabble, moonshine-fueled origins, “fascinating and fast-moving . . . even if you don’t know a master cylinder from a head gasket” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “[Neal] Thompson exhumes the sport’s Prohibition-era roots in this colorful, meticulously detailed history.”—Time Today’s NASCAR—equal parts Disney, Vegas, and Barnum & Bailey—is a multibillion-dollar conglomeration with 80 million fans, half of them women, that grows bigger and more mainstream by the day. Long before the sport’s rampant commercialism lurks a distant history of dark secrets that have been carefully hidden from view—until now. In the Depression-wracked South, with few options beyond the factory or farm, a Ford V-8 became the ticket to a better life. Bootlegging offered speed, adventure, and wads of cash. Driving with the Devil reveals how the skills needed to outrun federal agents with a load of corn liquor transferred perfectly to the red-dirt racetracks of Dixie. In this dynamic era (the 1930s and ’40s), three men with a passion for Ford V-8s—convicted felon Raymond Parks, foul-mouthed mechanic Red Vogt, and war veteran Red Byron, NASCAR’s first champ—emerged as the first stock car “team.” Theirs is the violent, poignant story of how moonshine and fast cars merged to create a sport for the South to call its own. In the tradition of Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, this tale captures a bygone era of a beloved sport and the character of the country at a moment in time.
The first organized, sanctioned American stock car race took place in 1908 on a road course around Briarcliff, New York--staged by one of America's early speed mavens, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. A veteran of the early Ormond-Daytona Beach speed trials, Vanderbilt brought the Grand Prize races to Savannah, Georgia, the same year. What began as a rich man's sport eventually became the working man's sport, finding a home in the South with the infusion of moonshiners and their souped-up cars. Based in large part on statements of drivers, car owners and others garnered from archived newspaper articles, this history details the development of stock car racing into a megasport, chronicling each season through 1974. It examines the National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing's 1948 incorporation documents and how they differ from the agreements adopted at NASCAR's organization meeting two months earlier. The meeting's participants soon realized that their sport was actually owned by William H.G. "Bill" France, and its consequential growth turned his family into billionaires. The book traces the transition from dirt to asphalt to superspeedways, the painfully slow advance of safety measures and the shadowy economics of the sport.
Known for his trademark celebratory backflips off of his car following victories, Carl Edwards is one of NASCARs biggest and most irrepressible personalities, and also one of its winningest drivers. Racing in all three of NASCARS race series, Edwards has racked up more than 30 wins and more than 160 Top 10 finishes in only six years of racing. He won two Rookie of the Year honors: in 2003 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series and in 2005 in the NASCAR Busch series. In 2007, Edwards was named the NASCAR Busch series champion. Not yet 30 years old, Edwards should have a long and successful future ahead of him in racing. His life story is far from written, but what an adventure it has already been!
From the earliest days of the sport, when Humpy often used his fists to keep order, to NASCAR's transition to a multi-billion-dollar business, Humpy's life has paralleled American stock car racing.
Like any giant enterprise, the NASCAR we see today is very different from the regional race series launched by a visionary Bill France in the late 1940s. Few writers are as intimately aware of that history as Car and Driver's Brock Yates. In the 1950s he recalls the intimate nature of the sport's early years, when he would see the entire Petty family working together, Richard wrenching on the car while his father cooked for the family on a bar-b-que grill. In 1979, Yates was reporting from the pits for ABC at the Daytona 500 when the infamous fight erupted between Cale Yarborough and the Allison boys. His perspective spans nearly 50 years, and his wry observations are always sure to incite both cheers and jeers. NASCAR Off the Record is a pithy, opiniated, hilarious, and compelling collection of some of the greatest NASCAR stories of all time, as told by a man who was present at the scene.About the AuthorWhile best known for his columns in Car and Driver and his television reporting, Brock Yates has written numerous books, including Cannonball: The World's Greatest Outlaw Road Race (ISBN 0-7603-1090-4), and The Hot Rod (ISBN 0-7603-1598-1). He also wrote the film scripts for Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit II. His NASCAR stories date almost to the very beginning of the series. Brock lives with his wife Pamela in the towns of Wyoming, New York, and Alexandria Bay, New York. He is the proud father of four children and two grandchildren. Vintage automobile racing consumes his spare time.- From the best-selling author of Cannonball!, Brock Yates takes an irreverent look at the grand spectacle of NASCAR- NASCAR is the largest and fastest growing American automotive racing series
In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.
Racecar driver Earnhardt was at the top of his game—until a minor crash resulted in a concussion that would eventually end his 18-year career. In his only authorized book, Dale shares the inside track on his life and work, reflects on NASCAR, the loss of his dad, and his future as a broadcaster, businessperson, and family man. It was a seemingly minor crash at Michigan International Speedway in June 2016 that ended the day early for NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. What he didn’t know was that it would also end his driving for the year. He’d dealt with concussions before, but no two are the same. Recovery can be brutal, and lengthy. When Dale retired from professional stock car racing in 2017, he walked away from his career as a healthy man. But for years, he had worried that the worsening effects of multiple racing-related concussions would end not only his time on the track but his ability to live a full and happy life. Torn between a race-at-all-costs culture and the fear that something was terribly wrong, Earnhardt tried to pretend that everything was fine, but the private notes about his escalating symptoms that he kept on his phone reveal a vicious cycle: suffering injuries on Sunday, struggling through the week, then recovering in time to race again the following weekend. In this candid reflection, Earnhardt opens up for the first time about: The physical and emotional struggles he faced as he fought to close out his career on his own terms His frustration with the slow recovery from multiple racing-related concussions His admiration for the woman who stood by him through it all His determination to share his own experience so that others don’t have to suffer in silence Steering his way to the final checkered flag of his storied career proved to be the most challenging race and most rewarding finish of his life.
America loves sports. This book examines and details the proof of this fascination seen throughout American society—in our literature, film, and music; our clothing and food; and the iconography of the nation. This momentous four-volume work examines and details the cultural aspects of sport and how sport pervasively reflects—and affects—myriad aspects of American society from the early 1900s to the present day. Written in a straightforward, readable manner, the entries cover both historical and contemporary aspects of sport and American culture. Unlike purely historical encyclopedias on sports, the contributions within these volumes cover related subject matter such as poetry, novels, music, films, plays, television shows, art and artists, mythologies, artifacts, and people. While this encyclopedia set is ideal for general readers who need information on the diverse aspects of sport in American culture for research purposes or are merely reading for enjoyment, the detailed nature of the entries will also prove useful as an initial source for scholars of sport and American culture. Each entry provides a number of both print and online resources for further investigation of the topic.
