"The Chrysler engineers went through every combination that was possible. Whether it was different springs, different shocks, different sway bars, different weights.They had a book, it must have been about a two-by-three foot book It was a heck of an engineering force."
-Richard Petty
Seven-time NASCAR champion
Winner of 200 Grand National/Winston Cup races

Across decades of thrilling competition, many of NASCAR's greatest drivers-from Marvin Panch to Jim Paschal, Richard Petty to Buddy Baker, Bill Elliott to Ward Burton, Ryan Newman to Kasey Kahne-have thundered around America's legendary racetracks at the wheel of Chrysler Corporation's Dodge and Plymouth stock cars. Power, innovation, and design have characterized these remarkable vehicles, and NASCAR's record books have been written in the wake of their no-holds-barred competition.

Now, the full story of Chrysler's conquest of stock car racing is told in "TOP SPEED: Dodge and Plymouth Stock Car Racing." Written by award-winning motorsports journalist Frank Moriarty, this book begins with the corporation's first sales and earliest laps, then marches through the years, arriving in the present-day world of the NASCAR "Car of Tomorrow."

Like Moriarty's best-selling "SUNDAY DRIVERS: NASCAR Winston Cup Stock Car Racing" and the acclaimed "SUPERCARS: The Story of the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth SuperBird," this new book introduces you to all the machines that have made Chrysler's racing efforts so successful. But equally important are the men behind the wheel, and you'll meet them all-including a special section containing exclusive conversations with Richard Petty, Buddy Baker, Pete Hamilton, and the legendary crew chief Harry Hyde.

"Like every other Mustang fan, as soon as I heard about this supercharged car I couldn't wait for it to be built."
-William Clay Ford, Jr.
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Ford Motor Company

A factory supercharged Ford Mustang had long been on the wish list of muscle car fans, but it took the passion of a single man to make it happen: O. John Coletti. Coletti? That was one name in the Ford Motor Company phone book guaranteed to stir up differing opinions among the huge auto manufacturer's upper management. Maverick or visionary? Tyrant or leader?

One thing was certain about the mercurial Coletti: he had an unswerving faith in the value of high performance. And after almost single-handedly rescuing the Ford Mustang from discontinuation via a covert, renegade program, Coletti had ridden his notoriety into his own throne within Ford-as head of the elite Special Vehicle Team. But in late 2000, Coletti stretched the boundaries of his own legend, abruptly canceling the division's highly-anticipated 2002 Mustang Cobra while disrupting marketing plans and enraging SVT's network of dealers.

This is the untold story of how Coletti's performance mandate led to the creation of a car known as the "Terminator," the 2003 Ford SVT Mustang Cobra. It's a tale of closely-guarded secrets and daunting challenges as a small, elite team struggled to create a car that will long stand as an icon of American muscle. With interviews ranging from company chairman Bill Ford to the assembly line workers of the historic-yet-antiquated Dearborn Assembly Plant, "Iron Fist, Lead Foot "takes readers behind the scenes of this breakneck program and brings them face-to-face with the towering presence of an auto industry legend, John Coletti.