The Wildest Ride: A History of NASCAR
(or, How a Bunch of Good Ol' Boys Built a Billion-Dollar Industry out of Wrecking Cars)

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Item # SS-26257  ISBN: 9780743226257




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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.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Wrigley Field
• Modest Beginnings
• "Bootleggers and a Bunch o' Fools"
• Fireball and Daytona
• Survival of the Fittest
• "My God! Help Me! I'm on Fire!"
• A White Man's World
• France vs. Petty
• Junior to the Rescue
• "The Bitch Hit Me!"
• Jaws, the Intimidator and Million-Dollar Bill
• Family Secrets
• Wonder Boy and the Good Ol' Boys
• Triumphs and Tragedies
• Bibliography
• Index

About the Author

Joe Menzer is a sportswriter for The Winston-Salem Journal. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and children.

The Wildest Ride: A History of NASCAR (or, How a Bunch of Good Ol' Boys Built a Billion-Dollar Industry out of Wrecking Cars)