NASCAR Now

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Each of the Nextel Cup events sponsored by NASCAR (National Association
for Stock Car Auto Racing) “draws more fans than the Super Bowl, a
World Series baseball game, and a National Basketball Association finals
game combined,” write Timothy Miller and Steve Milton in this lavishly
illustrated book to automobile racing. Both authors are veteran
sportswriters. Miller has covered NASCAR events for more than 25 years,
while Milton is a columnist for the Hamilton Spectator whose books
include several on figure skating. NASCAR is about more than cars and
speed. In the southern United States, it has reached into politics,
religion, and ethics. And there is a lot of money involved in the sport.
In 1959, the year of the first Daytona 500, winner Lee Petty took home
$19,050 U.S. The 2004 victor, Dale Earnhardt Jr., pocketed $1.6 million.

The book begins with a chapter Miller and Milton call “NASCAR 101.”
After a recitation of the rules, the role of the officials, and a
summary of the tracks, there are sections on the top teams, the top
drivers, and the “drivers to watch,” along with tributes to the
“legends” of the sport: Bobby Allison, the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.
(who was killed in a crash at the Daytona 500 in 2001), Tim Flock, and
other racing greats. Finally, there is a useful glossary of terms. And
there are pictures, pictures, pictures. For the aficionado.