Nascar drivers: You see them every week in their logo-covered, fire-retardant jump suits, doing back flips after winning a race. You see them on ESPN, you see their cars speeding past in a blur, lap after lap, and you read about them in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet. You hear them interviewed and watch them on commercials for everything from pizza to cell phones. Now, for the first time, you can see the drivers as they actually live. Portraits of Nascar brings you into their dens, kitchens, and living rooms, providing a relaxed and intimate at-home look at the private lives of your favorite Nascar drivers. They're all here, from Dale Jr. to Bobby LaBonte, Kyle Busch, Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, and many more. In stunning black-and white photography and accompanying text, you'll see them relaxing with their wives and children, you'll learn about their hobbies and outside interests, and you'll learn what they enjoy outside the frenetic pace of their demanding racing careers. You'll get a first-hand look at the beauty and closeness of the entire motorsports family and how those ties bring strength and support to these incredible men and women. Portraits of Nascar offers a rare glimpse into the private lives of these drivers that you won't want to miss. You'll never look at Nascar in the same way again.

A one-stop record containing everything NASCAR fans want to know about stock car racing, this resource is packed with anecdotes, history, explanations of traditions, statistics, trivia, and photos.

All across North America, fans thrill to the roar of the engines and flock to the track to cheer on their favorite drivers. Read the stories of today's most-watched drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., the third generation champion, and Jeff Gordon, who started racing when he was just five years old.

A history of Hull Speedway 1930-81

Hands-On Race Car Engineer looks at every part of the process required to make a car better than its competitors.

Drivers will gain a better understanding of the dynamics of the vehicle. Race engineers will better understand the practical implications of set-up. Design engineers will gain insight into practical applications of their designs. Mechanics will better understand why engineers design things a certain way.

In short, this book will help racing professionals and enthusiasts learn to recognize why they won, or lost a race - key information to continually improving and reaching the winner's circle.

These are supercharged days for both NASCAR fans and drivers. At this time, the "young guns" are vying to wrest pole positions and championships from the vanguard of driving competition. NASCAR's legends are staying in the lead lap and won't be moved aside without a highly fueled run all the way to the checkered flag. Legends of NASCAR features full-color photo pictorial celebrations of six of the most enduring legendary drivers today. Most can usually be found in the Winston Cup Top 10 leader board. Each "living legend" is profiled in depth from his racing debut to the 2002 championship season.

The leading authority on NASCAR, the award-winning staff of the Charlotte Observer, profiles the current storied legends driving today:

-- Bill Elliott: 1988 Winston Cup Champion and voted most popular driver 15 times.

-- Dale Jarrett: One of only five drivers on the list of NASCAR's 50 Best Drivers who is there with his father; 1999 Winston Cup Champion.

-- Terry Labonte: Two-time Winston Cup Champion and a top five finalist in his very first race.

-- Mark Martin: Current 2002 Winston Cup leader and two-time Winston Select 500 winner.

-- Ricky Rudd: Ninth on the all-time career earning list and second only to Richard Petty as race winner for 17 consecutive seasons.

-- Rusty Wallace: 1989 Winston Cup Champion with 23 big track, 24 ovals, and six road-course wins to his credit.

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.

The Group B cars marked one of the most thrilling yet most tragic periods in the history of world rallying and beyond. The 037, the S4, the EVC and the ECV2, "ephemeral player" of a still-born Group S, were the unforgettable protagonists of the 1982-1986 seasons that for the Lancia marque were constellated by a series of World, European and Italian titles, but also by terrible accidents that cost the lives of firstly Attilio Bettega and then Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto. Sergio Remondino, a historic journalist and great expert in the multifaceted field of rallying, traces that unforgettable era, year by year, through a text rich in anecdotes and thanks to the contribution of the engineer Sergio Limone, one of the artificers of the Group B cars. This invaluable book is completed by the evocative images of Reinhard Klein, one of the most successful rallying photographers.

The Full Throttle Saga of NASCAR's First Family

The path of Grand Prix racing in America wound through raceways at Sebring, Riverside, Watkins Glen, Long Beach, and finally Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. At each stop, the influence of organized crime seemed no more than a handshake away. But at Ceasars the vast crime syndicate was deeply involved in the operations of the luxury-branded resort. The Caesars Palace Grand Prix culminated in an unholy alliance of the world capital of gambling, the mob and the international czar of Formula One. During its four-year run, the race hosted the biggest names in motorsport-Mario Andretti, Bernie Ecclestone, Roger Penske, Chris Pook, Alan Jones, Nelson Piquet, Niki Lauda, Danny Sullivan, Bobby Rahal and Al Unser among them. The podium celebration of the inaugural Grand Prix put the convergence of organized crime and auto racing on public display, while the years that followed provided their own curiosities. This book traces the intertwined threads through decades of accounts, extensive interviews, and the files of the FBI.

Ferrari's sporting history, from the origins to 1988, the year of Enzo Ferrari's death, narrated in 400 pages and more than 700 photos, most of which previously unpublished and drawn from the publisher's own archive. More than a book, this is a unique and prestigious document that reviews year by year, from 1947 to 1988, the true sporting epic of Ferrari's Ferrari. Page by page, we find champions of the calibre of Tazio Nuvolari, Alberto Ascari, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Gilles Villeneuve and many others, who in Formula 1 and elsewhere won world titles at the wheel of unforgettable cars such as the 500 F2, the 158 F1, the Testa Rossa, the 250 GTO, the 330 P4 and the successful 312 T family, from the 1950s through to the late 1980s. This new enlarged edition includes not only champion drivers, but also the men and the mechanics who lived in close contact with the "Drake". They are described in specific text boxes: from Romolo Tavoni to Mauro Forghieri, from Franco Gozzi to Marco Piccinini, from Ermanno Cuoghi to Giulio Borsari. All accompanied by contextual texts by Leonardo Acerbi, a Ferrari historian of great experience. The book contains a unique collection of images, many in black and white but also a series of very rare colour shots, the majority by Franco Villani, a great reporter long associated with the Prancing Horse. An album allowing us to relive one of the greatest sporting stories of all time.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s only authorized book revealing the inside track on his final
year of racing and retirement from the driver's seat.

"Time was running out on my charade. . . . My secrets were about to be
exposed to the world."

When NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired from professional stock car racing in
2017, he walked away 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 also 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 started keeping private notes about his escalating symptoms. They
showed a vicious cycle: suffering injuries on Sunday, struggling through the week,
then recovering in time to race again. For the first time he shares these notes and
fully reveals the physical and emotional struggles he faced as he fought to close out
his career on this own terms.

In this candid reflection Earnhardt opens up about his frustration with the slow
recovery, his admiration for the woman who stood by him through it all, and his
determination to share his own experience so 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.

From television, film, and music to sports, comics, and everyday life, this book provides a comprehensive view of working-class culture in America. The terms "blue collar" and "working class" remain incredibly vague in the United States, especially in pop culture, where they are used to express and connote different things at different times. Interestingly, most Americans are, in reality, members of the working class, even if they do not necessarily think of themselves that way. Perhaps the popularity of many cultural phenomena focused on the working class can be explained in this way: we are endlessly fascinated by ourselves. Blue-Collar Pop Culture: From NASCAR to Jersey Shore provides a sophisticated, accessible, and entertaining examination of the intersection between American popular culture and working-class life in America. Covering topics as diverse as the attacks of September 11th, union loyalties, religion, trailer parks, professional wrestling, and Elvis Presley, the essays in this two-volume work will appeal to general readers and be valuable to scholars and students studying American popular culture.

The drivers deliver the thrills, the car manufacturers provide the high-performance machines, and the sponsors supply the financial resources to make it all happen. But it is the work of the pit crew that can make the difference in the outcome of the race. And as readers of this eye-opening new book will learn, a great pit crew can easily be considered a racing team's most valuable asset. ""The Pit Crew"" goes behind the scenes to capture the dedication of these often-unsung heroes of auto racing, who not only maintain and repair the race cars, but also seem to have any part required to get the car back into the race in record time.

In 1898, one of the first automobiles set a land speed record of 39 mph. Back then, few would have guessed that one day a vehicle would go faster than the speed of sound. Yet ever since then, race car drivers have had a strong need for speed, and automakers have designed their cars to go faster and faster. Readers will eagerly learn all about the competitive world of land speed racing in ""The Need for Speed"". Featuring stunning full-color photographs and exciting, readable text, this book highlights the amazing speed machines and their intrepid drivers who compete on racecourses ranging from a desert in Nevada to a dry lakebed in Australia in an effort to claim the world land speed record.

By the mid-20th century, professional motorsports established itself as one of America’s modern pastimes. Auto racing also found its way to fabulous Las Vegas in the 1950’s. Motorsports played its first Vegas hand in 1954 at a bankrupt horse track, fully beset by gamblers and racketeers. Moving in 1958 to rustic nearby Henderson, auto racing became enmeshed with gamblers and government, and the apparent hooks of organized crime. In 1965, the racing game moved to Stardust International Raceway. Stardust was constructed with real grandstands, permanent sanitary facilities, and air-conditioned timing towers. Stardust would host the biggest racing names of the 1960’s; Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, John Surtees, Bobby Unser, Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue, Bruce McLaren, Denis Hulme, Tom McEwen, and Don Garlits among them. Stardust International Raceway also had another side, cloaked in shadow. Borne by a notorious racketeer, the alleged overlords of organized crime appeared to lurk behind the veil of the racing plant. Stardust Raceway also ran parallel with convergences of the 1960’s; secret wiretaps, casino skimming, Howard Hughes, the seeds of Watergate. Stardust was a race track like no other, documented in the auto racing monthlies, the national news dailies…and the files of the FBI.

Storming the beach at Normandy 70 years ago, little did a 19-year old farm boy Spartanburg, South Carolina, know the incredible times that were in store for him. Fighting for his country at war, Bud Moore earned five Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars, captured with his jeep driver in enemy headquarters of more than 30 German officers and soldiers, and survived to return home and launch a career of enormous fame and wealth. Beginning as one of NASCAR stock car racing's true pioneers, Bud Moore won countless races in the rough and tumble days of the sport and continued on to win three Grand National Championships, a Grand American Championship, and the Sports Car Club of America Trans Am Championship. He won all those while victorious in three Southern 500s, the Daytona 500, and dozens of other major NASCAR events. A Who's Who of America's best drivers have chauffeured Bud Moore machines such as Buck Baker, Buddy Baker, Joe Weatherly, Joe Eubanks, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, George Follmer, Lloyd Ruby, Tiny Lund, Darel Dieringer, Billy Wade, Peter Revson, Geoff Bodine, Jack Smith, Speedy Thompson, Fireball Roberts, and many many more. But racing also had a very high price as in less than a year his drivers Joe Weatherly and Billy Wade made the ultimate sacrifice of being killed in their primes piloting Bud Moore racecars. So ever since he entered the sport, Bud Moore continued to find ways to improve the cars making them not only faster, but safer. His innovations were immediately adopted by NASCAR and the automobile manufacturers and many are still in use today. Bud Moore did it all while providing for his wife of 63 years and helping raise three wonderful boys. Very few men or women have had the opportunity to serve their country and excel in their chosen field as did Bud Moore has. Now a gentleman farmer, he tells it all here; the danger and the daring, the heartbreak and the triumph, and the winning the ultimate honor that his sport can bestow.

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, analysed 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 organised 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 organise 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.

Peter Craven, universally known as "The Wizard of Balance," was England's most talented speedway rider. The country's only two-time world champion, he thrilled speedway crowds from 1951 to 1963. This brightest of stars in the speedway firmament was tragically extinguished four days after a horrific track accident at Edinburgh in 1963.