American Zoom: Stock Car Racing--From the Dirt Tracks to Daytona

"There is no way you can imagine growing up in the thirties and thinking in the nineties this is where we are going to be." This assertion by racing pioneer Junior Johnson best describes the rapid evolution of stock car racing. The races, which began as battles for bragging rights among bootleggers in the Deep South to see who had the fastest car, have become a multimillion-dollar sport associated with dozens of major corporations and numerous television networks. Long gone is the overriding image of good ol' boys running moonshine; NASCAR has become a glamorous, upscale, and thriving business throughout the country, a passion shared by millions of Americans who closely follow the Winston Cup series. With thirty-one races on the 1993 schedule at tracks from Watkins Glen, New York, to Sears Point, California, NASCAR reaffirms that there is nothing more at the root of the American mindset than cars. With capacity crowds at each event, the races have been described as a middle-aged Woodstock - only instead of rock and roll it's a celebration of fast cars and American tradition. American Zoom is the first and only book to capture the true flavor of this homegrown pastime. Peter Golenbock, with six bestsellers to his name, has earned a reputation as one of the most successful and respected sports authors. In his tumultuous histories of the New York Yankees (Dynasty, The Bronx Zoo, and Balls) and Brooklyn Dodgers (Bums), his revelatory and controversial book with Billy Martin (Number 1), and his expose of the North Carolina State basketball program (Personal Fouls), Golenbock has changed our perceptions of sports. Now, having spent a year and a half talking with all the main players ofNASCAR, Golenbock offers an oral history as told by the great drivers, mechanics, promoters, and others who have made the sport what it is today, talking about the people and cars who have made racing history. American Zoom is also the consummate insider's book, profiling the character