Download or read book The Ghosts of NASCAR written by John Havick and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who won the first Daytona 500? Fans still debate whether it was midwestern champion Johnny Beauchamp, declared the victor at the finish line, or longtime NASCAR driver Lee Petty, declared the official winner a few days after the race. The Ghosts of NASCAR puts the controversial finish under a microscope. Author John Havick interviewed scores of people, analyzed film of the race, and pored over newspaper accounts of the event. He uses this information and his deep knowledge of the sport as it worked then to determine what probably happened. But he also tells a much bigger story: the story of how Johnny Beauchamp—and his Harlan, Iowa, compatriots, mechanic Dale Swanson and driver Tiny Lund—ended up in Florida driving in the 1959 Daytona race. The Ghosts of NASCAR details how the Harlan Boys turned to racing cars to have fun and to escape the limited opportunities for poor boys in rural southwestern Iowa. As auto racing became more popular and better organized in the 1950s, Swanson, Lund, and Beauchamp battled dozens of rivals and came to dominate the sport in the Midwest. By the later part of the decade, the three men were ready to take on the competition in the South’s growing NASCAR circuit. One of the top mechanics of the day, Swanson literally wrote the book on race cars at Chevrolet’s clandestine racing shop in Atlanta, Georgia, while Beauchamp and Lund proved themselves worthy competitors. It all came to a head on the brand-new Daytona track in 1959. The Harlan Boys’ long careers and midwestern racing in general have largely faded from memory. The Ghosts of NASCAR recaptures it all: how they negotiated the corners on dirt tracks and passed or spun out their opponents; how officials tore down cars after races to make sure they conformed to track rules; the mix of violence and camaraderie among fierce competitors; and the struggles to organize and regulate the sport. One of very few accounts of 1950s midwestern stock car racing, The Ghosts of NASCAR is told by a man who was there during the sport’s earliest days.
Download or read book The Ghosts of NASCAR written by John Havick and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who won the first Daytona 500? Fans still debate whether it was midwestern champion Johnny Beauchamp, declared the victor at the finish line, or longtime NASCAR driver Lee Petty, declared the official winner a few days after the race. The Ghosts of NASCAR puts the controversial finish under a microscope. Author John Havick interviewed scores of people, analyzed film of the race, and pored over newspaper accounts of the event. He uses this information and his deep knowledge of the sport as it worked then to determine what probably happened. But he also tells a much bigger story: the story of how Johnny Beauchamp—and his Harlan, Iowa, compatriots, mechanic Dale Swanson and driver Tiny Lund—ended up in Florida driving in the 1959 Daytona race. The Ghosts of NASCAR details how the Harlan Boys turned to racing cars to have fun and to escape the limited opportunities for poor boys in rural southwestern Iowa. As auto racing became more popular and better organized in the 1950s, Swanson, Lund, and Beauchamp battled dozens of rivals and came to dominate the sport in the Midwest. By the later part of the decade, the three men were ready to take on the competition in the South’s growing NASCAR circuit. One of the top mechanics of the day, Swanson literally wrote the book on race cars at Chevrolet’s clandestine racing shop in Atlanta, Georgia, while Beauchamp and Lund proved themselves worthy competitors. It all came to a head on the brand-new Daytona track in 1959. The Harlan Boys’ long careers and midwestern racing in general have largely faded from memory. The Ghosts of NASCAR recaptures it all: how they negotiated the corners on dirt tracks and passed or spun out their opponents; how officials tore down cars after races to make sure they conformed to track rules; the mix of violence and camaraderie among fierce competitors; and the struggles to organize and regulate the sport. One of very few accounts of 1950s midwestern stock car racing, The Ghosts of NASCAR is told by a man who was there during the sport’s earliest days.
Download or read book Real NASCAR written by Daniel S. Pierce and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this history of the stock car racing circuit known as NASCAR, Daniel S. Pierce offers a revealing new look at the sport from its postwar beginnings on Daytona Beach and Piedmont dirt tracks through the early 1970s, when the sport spread beyond its southern roots and gained national recognition. Real NASCAR not only confirms the popular notion of NASCAR's origins in bootlegging, but also establishes beyond a doubt the close ties between organized racing and the illegal liquor industry, a story that readers will find both fascinating and controversial.
Download or read book Gold Thunder written by Rex White and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-07-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chevrolet fans were wishing for a hero and Rex White made their dreams come true. He took on big muscle cars and eventually won both the 1960 Winston Cup Championship and the Driver of the Year title and was selected as one of NASCAR's Top Fifty Driving Champions. This autobiography is the story of his struggle. Set against the rough and tumble days of early racing history, it gives insight into the sometimes humorous and sometimes tragic experiences of motor sports pioneers. The autobiography also contains information gained through interviews with other racing professionals, including personal stories from NASCAR greats Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett. The book is well illustrated.
Download or read book Driving with the Devil written by Neal Thompson and published by Crown. This book was released on 2009-02-04 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Wildest Ride written by Joe Menzer and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2002-06-04 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Wildest Ride, Joe Menzer gives us a timely, comprehensive look at the dramatic, rollicking history of stock-car racing in America, exploring both its inauspicious bootlegging beginnings and the billion-dollar industry that it has become. Menzer straps the reader into the driver's seat for a run through NASCAR's history, revealing the sport's remarkable rise from rogue outfit to corporate darling. Menzer also profiles the many superstar drivers who have dominated the sport, men as unpredictable as they are fearless, including "The Intimidator," Dale Earnhardt, whose ferocious driving made him NASCAR's signature personality -- and whose tragic death at the 2001 Daytona 500 was mourned by millions. Menzer expertly maneuvers through the tight corners and wide-open straightaways of NASCAR's history, examining the circuit's attempt to distance itself from its "redneck racin'" past without compromising its country roots. Simultaneously rowdy and insightful, The Wildest Ride is a thorough and unfailingly honest account of NASCAR's amazing rise to prominence and a sweeping account of a uniquely American phenomenon.
Download or read book NASCAR Then Now written by Ben White and published by Quarto Publishing Group USA. This book was released on 2010-08-02 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unique gallery book, historical shots of people, cars, events, tracks, shops, and other NASCAR landmarks are paired with comparable modern shots to present a fascinating review of America’s top motorsport. See what Darlington looked like when it was built in 1950 compared to what it looks like now. Get a real sense of how pit stops have changed between 1949 and today. Compare a Ford stock car from 1962 with one from 2009. Nowhere else can NASCAR fans so graphically trace the evolution of their favorite motorsport.
Download or read book Bubba Wallace written by Lisa A. Crayton and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2022 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Bubba Wallace started racing cars at nine years old. He began competing in 2010 and hasn't slowed down since, setting records as the youngest winner at many races. He was the first Black driver to win Rookie of the Year for NASCAR. Find out how Wallace's talent has led him to success in the world of stock car racing"--
Download or read book Donnie Allison written by Donnie Allison and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donnie Allison was always the “other” brother of the famous NASCAR racing duo. Perhaps only true students of NASCAR history know that Donnie Allison won ten races in his career; that he posted top ten finishes in 47 percent of all the races he ever ran; that four of the five times the Allison brothers ran 1-2 in a race, it was Donnie in front at the checkers. Fewer still may know that he was Rookie of the Year in the 1970 Indianapolis 500. Little is known about Donnie Allison because he wasn’t much of a talker. Donnie lived by the philosophy that his driving did his talking for him. Over the years, his being so tight-lipped led to many misconceptions, twisted tales, and outright falsehoods about Donnie Allison, his racing career, and his life. In Donnie Allison: As I Recall . . ., he sets the record straight on a variety of subjects he’s wanted to clear up for years, including the 1979 Daytona 500 and the famous fight in the infield with Cale Yarborough; the win NASCAR tried to steal from him and give to Richard Petty; and his ultra-competitive, often-combative relationship with a racing brother who didn’t like to lose to anybody. “I’ve got lots of stories to tell, and I want to tell them the way I remember them,” Donnie says. In Donnie Allison: As I Recall . . ., he’s done just that.
Download or read book NASCAR Chronicle written by Greg Fielden and published by Publications International. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A warm, nostalgic look at a storied brand. Covers eight decades of the most-loved Cadillacs.
Download or read book Overheated written by Barbara Dunlop and published by Harlequin Special Releases. This book was released on 2008-07-29 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crystal Hayes could do without guys who think they're God's gift to the ladies. She'd rather be behind the wheel of a truck. When Crystal runs into Larry Grosso at a NASCAR event, she meets the one guy who could blow all of her preconceptions away. Original.
Download or read book Rush to Glory written by Tom Rubython and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The greatest duel in FORMULA 1 history: the 1976 season between Austrian Niki Lauda and Britain's James Hunt. As the '75 season ended, Hunt was out of FORMULA 1 racing while Lauda was world champion and the odds-on favorite for ’76 with a year’s contract ahead of him and Enzo Ferrari begging him to sign a multi-year deal. James Hunt, without a drive until Emerson Fittipaldi broke his McLaren contract, grabbed the McLaren drive with both hands and the help of friend John Hogan and Marlboro cigarettes. The result? Two drivers in an epic sixteen-race battle across the globe for the '76 title, ultimately decided by a single point. Fame, wealth, drugs, sex, and the rest of globetrotting 1970s FORMULA 1 racing are encompassed in the Lauda vs. Hunt duel. At the '76 German Grand Prix, Lauda nearly died in a fiery crash, only to emerge six weeks later, severe burns on his face and head, to pursue his rivalry with Hunt. It all came down to the last race, a rain-soaked affair in Japan, where Hunt won the championship by the slimmest possible margin. The book is a study in contrasts during an era of Brut aftershave and disco sex parties. James Hunt, legendary philanderer and FORMULA 1 rock star, versus supernatural racer Niki Lauda, who in '75 set the first sub-seven minute lap around the Ring.
Download or read book Black Noon The Year They Stopped the Indy 500 written by Art Garner and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2014 Dean Batchelor Award, Motor Press Guild "Book of the Year" Short-listed for 2015 PEN / ESPN Literary Award for Sports Writing Before noon on May 30th, 1964, the Indy 500 was stopped for the first time in history by an accident. Seven cars had crashed in a fiery wreck, killing two drivers, and threatening the very future of the 500. Black Noon chronicles one of the darkest and most important days in auto-racing history. As rookie Dave MacDonald came out of the fourth turn and onto the front stretch at the end of the second lap, he found his rear-engine car lifted by the turbulence kicked up from two cars he was attempting to pass. With limited steering input, MacDonald lost control of his car and careened off the inside wall of the track, exploding into a huge fireball and sliding back into oncoming traffic. Closing fast was affable fan favorite Eddie Sachs. "The Clown Prince of Racing" hit MacDonald's sliding car broadside, setting off a second explosion that killed Sachs instantly. MacDonald, pulled from the wreckage, died two hours later. After the track was cleared and the race restarted, it was legend A. J. Foyt who raced to a decisive, if hollow, victory. Torn between elation and horror, Foyt, along with others, championed stricter safety regulations, including mandatory pit stops, limiting the amount a fuel a car could carry, and minimum-weight standards. In this tight, fast-paced narrative, Art Garner brings to life the bygone era when drivers lived hard, raced hard, and at times died hard. Drawing from interviews, Garner expertly reconstructs the fateful events and decisions leading up to the sport's blackest day, and the incriminating aftermath that forever altered the sport. Black Noon remembers the race that changed everything and the men that paved the way for the Golden Age of Indy car racing.
Download or read book Declarations of Stock Car Independents written by Perry Allen Wood and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Independent stock car racers rarely won, often crashed, and flirted with death constantly, all for less money and fame than the money-backed star drivers of their day. This book includes interviews with 12 independent racers, including Curtis "Crawfish" Crider, "Jackhandle Joe" Frasson, and Gene "The Racing Marine" Hobby, among others. Laying the foundation for stock car racing as we know it, most of these racers plied their trade during the sport's early years, when racing required little more than a helmet and a great deal of courage. Readers will discover how each of these men managed to survive and stand out in their sport, despite running on second-hand or inferior equipment, receiving little to no outside support, and, in many cases, holding down another job off-track. The book is supplemented with 126 photographs, many from the personal collections of the author and the racers.
Download or read book Haunted Daytona Beach written by Dusty Smith and published by History Press (SC). This book was released on 2007 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first and only work written by a certified ghost hunter and certified paranormal investigator that documents the history and true haunts of the Daytona Beach area. Dusty Smith began researching the history of the haunts in the Daytona Beach area in 1997 after founding the Daytona Beach Paranormal Research Group, Inc. After three years of hard work and dedication, she began committing the stories to paper. As she researched, she found many local haunting tales to be true rather than mere folklore. Seeking to provide the public with the background history, the documented haunts and the photographic evidence, Smith is one of the first to create a collection that spans Daytona Beach and Volusia County.
Download or read book Born to Run written by Mercedes Lackey and published by Baen Books. This book was released on 1992 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fast cars and futurism mixed in a tale of good and evil.
Download or read book Erratic Fire Erratic Passion written by Jeff Parker and published by featherproof books. This book was released on 2015-09-10 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion is a collection of found poems composed of the words of professional athletes. The content of post-game interviews and sports chatter is so often meaningless, if not insufferable, and yet there are athletes like Metta World Peace who transcend lame clichés and rote patter, who use language in surprising ways, who can be funny and shocking and insightful and alarmingly sincere — pure poetry. Muhammad Ali offered dazzling displays of lexical wizardry, and Allen Iverson’s infamous “practice” rant shifted the post-game press conference from the banal to the absurd. This book is a celebration of these rare and exceptional moments. Various poetic forms and line-breaks highlight — or, in the words of Deion Sanders, “deem to set a candor on” — the sophisticated, sublime, and surprising performances of language made by professional athletes.
