The Wildest Ride: A History of NASCAR (or how a bunch of good old boys built a billion dollar industry out of wrecking cars) - Hardcover

Menzer, Joe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743205073 ISBN 13: 9780743205078

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2001

Synopsis

A history of stock car racing in America journeys from the backwoods of North Carolina to the high-speed, big-money races of the present, profiling some of the superstars of the sport, the rivalries, and the tragedies that have rocked NASCAR.

About this title

Review:

In The Wildest Ride: A History of NASCAR, Joe Menzer traces the vivid history of stock car racing from when bootleggers drove hopped-up cars to outrun the law for fun and profit to the present racing frenzy that has thrust NASCAR to the front of the pack as one of America's fastest-growing sports industries.

The result of Menzer's research is not dry prose filled with racing statistics but rather a loose chronology of anecdotes that reads like an oral history. Legendary finishes, rivalries, and rags-to-riches success stories are championed here, including the exploits of Joe Weatherly and Curtis Turner (both on and off the track) and the personalities of David Pearson, Bill Elliott, and the Petty family. Menzer does not back off from the low points either, from Wendell Scott's experience as the first African American driver to the unhealthy mix of stock cars and alcohol (often at the same time).

Despite the conversational tone, Menzer never loses sight of the politics, sponsorship, and fan-base issues that have arisen, especially as faster cars and tracks began to be built in the 1950s and '60s. As driver Jimmy Thompson assessed the new Daytona International Speedway in 1959: "There have been other tracks that separated the men from the boys. This is the track that will separate the brave from the weak after the boys are gone." --Michael Ferch

About the Author:

Joe Menzer is a sportswriter for The Winston-Salem Journal. His articles have appeared in The Sporting News, Inside Sports, Hoop Magazine, and Basketball Weekly. He is the author of Four Corners: How UNC, N.C. State, Duke and Wake Forest Made North Carolina the Center of the Basketball Universe. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0743205073
• ISBN 13: 9780743205078
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 331