Product Description

NASCAR racing reigns as America’s most popular sport not only because of its high-speed thrills and chills but also for the colorful characters and memorable moments this unique fraternity has produced over the past half century. Below are just a handful of excerpts from the sport’s greatest behind-the-scenes stories ever told, as compiled in the first-of-its-kind collection, "Then Junior Said to Jeff…": "I’d rather not elaborate on that," [Dale Earnhardt Sr.] said [when addressing the media after his seventh Winston Cup championship and being asked about the earlier death of driver Neil Bonnett], then paused again. When he looked up, there was genuine pain in his face. His voice was halting when he spoke: "I can’t go fishing in my own lake because of Neil," he said. "Because we fished in it all the time. I can’t. . . . I’ve tried. . . . It’s Neil’s pond." Track promoter Enoch Staley recalls a race on Junior Johnson’s home track of North Wilkesboro Speedway: "I saw something sail out of the stands and over the fence, right in front of [Johnson’s opponent’s] car. It hit the track and broke into a thousand pieces. It was a quart-sized fruit jar filled with white liquor.

Once he’d avoided the shattered glass, Johnson watched what came next with amusement.

"I saw that the law had come to the scene and was trying to arrest the guy," he said. "There was a pretty lively scuffle going on ’til the deputies got him handcuffed and took him off."

But that, according to Staley, wasn’t the funny part.

"Junior didn’t tell the rest of the story," he said. "The fan that got taken to jail was a feller named Ernest Money. He was Junior’s uncle."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #136754 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 182 pages

From the Inside Flap
For more than half a century NASCAR has been defined by the blurring of colors speeding into hairpin turns, and the fearless trading of paint down the straightaways. Precise decision-making at breakneck speeds, where one false move could spell the difference between victory and peril, is at the core of the sport that boasts America’s biggest and most impassioned fan base. But high speeds and even higher stakes are not the only things that separate stock-car racing from all other athletic endeavors. In its relatively short history, NASCAR has assembled a brotherhood of mostly like-minded characters that have helped grow a community like none other in the world of professional sports. The drivers are often as colorful as their cars, and their on-track rivalries are every bit as bitter as their off-track allegiances are sincere. And since the early days of NASCAR remain a relatively short time ago, even the oldest recollections of the greatest driving legends are easily accessible through the uniquely tight-knit racing grapevine. In "Then Junior Said to Jeff…", coauthors David Poole and Jim McLaurin have compiled the greatest stories of NASCAR racing, wading through nearly 60 years of heroics and hijinks and sharing the most memorable tales from the most memorable figures of the sport. From the "King" to the "Intimidator," Daytona to Darlington, and Junior to Jeff, this volume brings NASCAR fans the behind-the-scenes stories about the greatest drivers and their favorite races. Poole and McLaurin, two of the sport’s preeminent newspaper writers, take the reader behind the wheel of David Pearson’s No. 21 Mercury for the final moments of his famed 1976 Daytona 500 win, into the depths of Dale Earnhardt’s soul, and along for the ride on some of the sport’s funniest, strangest, and most powerful moments. The level of thrills that NASCAR has provided its fans over the years is unequalled, and this book poignantly captures that energy.

About the Author
Since 1997, David Poole has been the motorsports writer for the Charlotte Observer, which serves the area in which more than 75 percent of all NASCAR teams base their operations. A 1981 graduate of the University of North Carolina and the author of several other NASCAR books, Poole and his wife, Katy, have three children, Matthew, David and Emily.

Customer Reviews

Cover art & title are a little misleading
This is a pretty good book, but not if you're expecting stories from the current era of NASCAR stars, for example, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Most of the stories relate to the older stars, and that's fine, but considering the cover art and the lead in for the title, I expected a little more of the "new" and a lilttle less of the "old" stories.

Makes drivers more human
For Nascar fans like me Poole takes us behind the scenes and gives us some idea of what the drivers are like. Beware that the stories arent all comical or anything like that. But if you're into racing, it provides a depth that humanizes the drivers, warts included.

You know what?

There has to be more stories than just here. Mr Poole oughtta hurry up and write a sequel.

Too funny!
A fun read for all NASCAR fans! We definitely recommend it for non-serious reading!!