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 SHOP >> Books >> Nascar
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The Wildest Ride: A History of NASCAR (or How a Bunch of Good Ol' Boys Built a Billion-Dollar Industry out of Wrecking Cars)
by: Joe Menzer
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| List Price: |
£13.40 |
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| Price: |
£13.40 |
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| Edition: |
Hardcover |
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| ASIN: |
0743205073 |
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| Publisher: |
Simon & Schuster; 10 July, 2001 |
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| ISBN: |
0743205073 |
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| Avg. rating: |
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| Description: |
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 |
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All the great stories of NASCAR (except one)
This is an excellent book.If you're relatively new to NASCAR, this is a good primer in how the sport got to where it is today. If you're a long-time fan, you've porbably heard most or all of these stories before. Menzer does a nice job of stringing the lore of NASCAR into a coherent whole.The only distraction is the polically correct digression into the lack of minorities in the sport and Willy T. Ribbs' attempt to run WInston Cup. Wendell Scott's place in NASCAR history is important and belongs in this book, but Willy T? If this track is to be explored, why weren't Janet Guthrie (look it up) and Shawna Robinson included?But that's really a small criticism. Reading this book is like sitting around with your buddies and talking racing. The stories aren't new, but they are always enjoyable.The only thing Menzer missed was Smokey's 7/8 scale Chevelle. Now that's a story.......
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Accessible & Entertaining
I'd have to agree with points made by both of the previous reviewers. Joe Menzer has done new interviews, and some of the sources he's chosen offer fresh insights, particularly Max Muhleman's thoughts. It's also a very concise, reader-friendly encapsulation of the sport's history and recent developments. So, if someone were looking for an accessible, entertaining introduction to NASCAR, especially its early history, I'd recommend the book.However, if you're very familiar with NASCAR, its legends, and their stories, you might find some of the things he discusses to be old news or slightly cliched. But if you've never heard the anecdotes before, then they're extremely funny.What would be interesting is a more thorough (yet not dry) history that would discuss aspects of NASCAR usually eclipsed by the moonshining myths and the Southern stereotypes. A treatment beyond just footnotes and asides of NASCAR's diverse roots and participants(Yankees and mid-Westerners like Lorenzen, Marcis, Kiekhaefer, for ex.) along with the Southern legends. It seems that historians to date reinforce a self-referential past.
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Maybe a rehash?
I'm a new NASCAR fan. I happened to buy this book at full bookstore price. I also bought a used version of Peter Golenbock's "American Zoom". I read Joe Menzer's book first. Loved it. Then I read Golenbock's 1993 book and read many of the same stories, almost word-for-word, about NASCAR.
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