The Sporting News Selects Stock Car Racing's 50 Greatest Drivers


Book Description

A listing of the top 50 NASCAR drivers through history with an extensive tribute to Dale earnhardt. Includes a section of NASCAR records.










NASCAR 50 Greatest Drivers


Book Description

Americans love heroes. And NASCAR 50 Greatest Drivers showcases NASCAR's exciting heroes through bold photography and interviews that deliver a unique insight into the lives of these legends of stock car racing. As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, NASCAR polled a group of motorsports experts to select the fifty drivers whose achievements both span and epitomize NASCAR's first half-century of accomplishment and growth. These are the top NASCAR drivers--selected as the best of all NASCAR divisions dating back to the first NASCAR-sanctioned races in 1948. From pioneer drivers racing on the Daytona Beach-Road Course and dirt ovals to today's era of flashy colors and screaming engines running on speedways across the nation--here is the lineage of NASCAR's very best. Some drivers had long and storied careers. Others had brief but spectacular ones. All are legends. "These are the drivers who made and make NASCAR fans stand on their feet and cheer. These are the drivers who made NASCAR history." -- NASCAR President, Bill France, Jr. Since its founding in 1947, the France family has built NASCAR (the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) from a small, family-run racing organization into a $2-billion-a-year industry--the leader in motorsports entertainment. Today, over 5.5 million people a year attend NASCAR Winston Cup Series races and nearly 150 million watch the action on television. "Looking back, I think the days of Petty and Pearson were very special for the sport. They became heroes to an awful lot of people, many of whom weren't car racing fans. They opened doors for the sport and welcomes the rest of us." -- Darrell Waltrip "These are the men who define the competition of our sporty." -- NASCAR President, Bill France, Jr. Their battles brought attention to NASCAR--their character and grit brought attention to themselves. Now, NASCAR 50 Greatest Drivers celebrated the men who set the standards and established the traditions: Pioneers, including Herb Thomas, Buck Baker, Tim Flock, Junior Johnson, Lee Petty, and NASCAR's first champion--Red Byron. Challengers like Cotton Owens, Ralph Earnhardt, and LeeRoy Yarbrough. Giants Richards Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, and Ray Henrick. The New Generation--A.J. Foyt, Neil Bonnnett, Benny Parsons, and Darrell Waltrip. Future Legends, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott, and Rusty Wallace. And many more! All captures here, as NASCAR honors its past and present--the greatest drivers to ever strap themselves into a stock car!




Racing Sports Cars


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American Sports Car Racing in the 1950s


Book Description

Traces the history of stock car racing and looks at major drivers, teams, and racetracks.




Stock Car Racing in the '50s


Book Description

Human beings have always been driven to compete. Foot racing became horse racing became automobile racing, and we continue to redefine the word “fast.” Whether you prefer the tales of American bootleggers customizing Prohibition-era automobiles to outrun the law or the natural progression of cars replacing horses on the streets and on the racetrack, automobile racing flourished as a sport for many years in the United States before stock car racing truly came into its own in the 1950s. The economy rebounded after the end of World War II. The GIs brought home skills and knowledge about advances in technology, and civilians had learned how to get the most out of old machines during the war. Scrap steel was no longer reserved exclusively for the War Effort, and the junkyards were filling up with worn out cars as people started to invest in new ones to replace them. A very competitive stock car could be purchased at the junk yard for $25 or so. By adding another $75, a clever builder could make it race ready. Teams of weekend warriors could compete head to head against well-funded, highly trained teams and have a real shot at winning. It was a perfect combination: knowledgeable mechanics and fearless drivers in cars that the public recognized from their daily life. The grandstands filled and new tracks turned up all across the countryside to satisfy the public's interest in watching these race cars compete. Associations formed to standardize the tracks, which were often farm fields that had been lovingly sculpted and paved by the farmers themselves to give the drivers and their crews a place to showcase their talent. These men and women entertained, awed, and inspired a generation of "motor heads" and race fans. This book is a tribute to the drivers and other figures from Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania who shaped stock car racing in the 1950s.




The Sporting News


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American Zoom


Book Description

With five bestsellers to his name, Peter Golenbock has earned a reputation as one of America's best and most successful sports authors. In American Zoom he presents an oral history of stock car racing, as told by great drivers, mechanics, promoters, and others. "A lively, literate, and loving look at the magic of stock car racing".--The Chicago Tribune




50 Cars to Drive


Book Description

A gathering of votes from famous and prestigious drivers such as Carroll Shelby, Bob Bondurant, Sir Stirling Moss, Dan Gurney, and Jay Leno, this book reveals—for the first time—what the professionals list as the best of the best. This is a full-color book that will please anyone who’s passionate about driving, even with more mundane transportation. “There are cars,” says the author, “and then there are those greater than the sum of their parts.” The expert panel picked the top fifty, largely avoiding traditional choices they call simply “fundamental to automotive history.” This panel agreed that the Top Five list includes the 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa, the 1913 Mercer Racabout, the 1932–37 Model SJ Dusenberg, the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, and the Maserati Birdcage. Stunning full-color photos complement the passionate text from expert drivers in a book that will rev up the RPMs of many a man (and woman).




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