driving with the devil

內容簡介

“Moonshiners put more time, energy, thought, and loveinto their cars than any racer ever will. Lose on the track and yougo home. Lose with a load of whiskey and you go to jail.” —JuniorJohnson, NASCAR legend and one-time whiskey runnerToday’s NASCAR is a family sport with 75 million loyal fans,which is growing bigger and more mainstream by the day. PartDisney, part Vegas, part Barnum & Bailey, NASCAR is also amultibillion-dollar business and a cultural phenomenon thattranscends geography, class, and gender. But dark secrets lurk inNASCAR’s past. Driving with the Devil uncovers for the first time the truestory behind NASCAR’s distant, moonshine-fueled origins and paintsa rich portrait of the colorful men who created it. Long before thesport of stock-car racing even existed, young men in the rural,Depression-wracked South had figured out that cars and speed weretickets to a better life. With few options beyond the farm orfactory, the best chance of escape was running moonshine.Bootlegging offered speed, adventure, and wads of cash—if thedrivers survived. Driving with the Devil is the story ofbootleggers whose empires grew during Prohibition and continued tothrive well after Repeal, and of drivers who thundered down dustyback roads with moonshine deliveries, deftly outrunning federalagents. The car of choice was the Ford V-8, the hottest car of the1930s, and ace mechanics tinkered with them until they could flyacross mountain roads at 100 miles an hour.After fighting in World War II, moonshiners transferred theirskills to the rough, red-dirt racetracks of Dixie, and a nationalsport was born. In this dynamic era (1930s and ’40s), three menwith a passion for Ford V-8s—convicted criminal Ray Parks,foul-mouthed mechanic Red Vogt, and crippled war veteran Red Byron,NASCAR’s first champion—emerged as the first stock car “team.”Theirs is the violent, poignant story of how moonshine and fastcars merged to create a new sport for the South to call itsown. Driving with the Devil is a fascinating look at the well-hiddenhistorical connection between whiskey running and stock-car racing.NASCAR histories will tell you who led every lap of every racesince the first official race in 1948. Driving with the Devil goesdeeper to bring you the excitement, passion, crime, anddeath-defying feats of the wild, early days that NASCAR hascarefully hidden from public view. In the tradition of LauraHillenbrand’s Seabiscuit , this tale not only reveals a bygone eraof a beloved sport, but also the character of the country at amoment in time.From the Hardcover edition.

driving with the devil

基本介紹

相關詞條

熱門詞條