Books : One Helluva Ride: How NASCAR Swept the Nation
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.72
EAN: 9780345499882
ISBN: 0345499883
Label: Villard
Manufacturer: Villard
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: February 12, 2008
Publisher: Villard
Release Date: February 12, 2008
Sales Rank: 33336
Studio: Villard
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Product Description:
From its raw beginnings on Southern dirt tracks, NASCAR smacked of a slightly depraved spectacle, as if nothing but trouble could come from the unbridled locomotion of a V8 engine. By the time NASCAR roared into the twenty-first century, it had grown into a billion-dollar sports and marketing colossus, its races attended by hundreds of thousands of fans on any given weekend from mid-February through mid-November, watched on television by the second-largest viewing audience in sports, and bankrolled by the marketing largesse of the Fortune 500’s elite.
One Helluva Ride, a full-throttle account of the rise and reign of NASCAR nation, is award-winning motorsports reporter Liz Clarke’s chronicle of how stock car racing exploded from regional obsession to national phenomenon. In covering the sport for more than fifteen years, Clarke has developed a strong rapport with NASCAR’s drivers, team owners, and hard-core fans. Through her reporting and analysis, we get to know the public and private sides of NASCAR’s most iconic figures, including seven-time champion Richard Petty, who set the standard for treating fans with respect, and the late Dale Earnhardt, whose brazen, bullying tactics wreaked havoc on the track, but whose heart was as big as Daytona’s infield.
The sports world stopped in its tracks the day Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Some feared that NASCAR’s soul would die with him. But it has raced on, steered by visionary promoters, the all-controlling France family (who founded the sport), and, above all, the next generation of drivers to stir fans’ passions: Dale Earnhardt, Jr., son of the NASCAR legend and now, like his father before him, the circuit’s most popular driver; Jeff Gordon, the beloved but oft-maligned outsider, bred from the cradle to be NASCAR’s winningest modern champion; and Kasey Kahne, a reluctant heartthrob whose confidence derives entirely from an accelerator pedal. Clarke also brings us inside NASCAR’s most triumphant and tragic dynasties: the Pettys, the Earnhardts, and the Allisons–and reveals how faith, family, and a deep-seated love of their sport helps them cope with grief and loss.
Clarke shows NASCAR to be at a crossroads. In pursuit of a broader audience, NASCAR has severed its sponsorship ties to Big Tobacco, abandoned racetracks in small markets in favor of speedways near glitzy major cities, and welcomed Japan’s Toyota into a sport traditionally restricted to American-made sedans. As NASCAR races toward mass appeal, some suggest it is leaving its roots behind. To others, it is boldly extending its reach from the Southern workingman to every man, woman, and child in the world.
Whether you’re one of the die-hard NASCAR faithful or just a casual follower, nobody brings you closer to the sport and business of big-time stock car racing than Liz Clarke. This book, like the phenomenon it profiles, really is One Helluva Ride.
Average Rating: 
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This book is a rare combination of entertainment and information woven into a fast-paced narrative. The author is an experienced newspaper sportswriter, and that background gives her writing a pace and focus that perfectly fits the subject matter.
NASCAR's history is complicated; it is unique in American sports because it is wholly owned by a single family, the Frances. The actual racers are, in effect, independent contractors who perform day labor at the various racetracks that the France family franchises. The author makes all of this clear in one of the best analyses of the business of car racing that has ever been written.
At the same time, she explores the background of NASCAR's original stars, the good 'ole boys from the South, many of whom souped up cars to haul moonshine liquor during the Prohibition era. As the sport matured into the business it is today-- mostly because the France family made it do so-- those drivers were replaced by Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and the like. Finally, today, the drivers are not only skilled professionals but corporate spokesmen as well. This could have been boring material, but the author's news writing skills turns it into an exciting narrative.
This is an excellent look into the history of NASCAR and into the current operations of the sport. It contains a wealth of material that the real fans will find valuable, and it clearly explains the sport for the casual viewer. ... Read More
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If you'd like to learn about the history of racing but want it on a more personal level, this is the book for you to read.
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Love the book, gives just enough history of the sport and enough current information mixed in with fun stories about the past and present drivers.
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A must for all fans of NASCAR, whether casual or hard-core. This book traces the sport through the lens of a witty, sophisticated, Springsteen-loving, private-school-educated woman. Liz Clarke is hardly your average NASCAR writer, and this is far from your average NASCAR book. The brilliant character studies here of champions like Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt show Clarke's resolve to part NASCAR's curtain and reveal the men who made the sport so much more than simply turning left. Read it and you will be glad that Clarke -- who has written about the sport for years, starting at The Charlotte Observer and now at The Washington Post -- has embraced this sport with her uncommon insight. What this book needs more than anything else is a sequel!
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I'm delighted with the book and had a great "ride" reading it. I recommend it to anyone who is a newbie to NASCAR (like I am) or has enjoyed it's growth.
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