~ Favorite Racing Resources ~
I've been following Winston Cup racing since 1974. My uncle told me I needed to pull for Richard Petty since he had pulled for him since 1961. I was an impressionable 9 year old kid who hung on every word he spoke - so Richard Petty became my favorite driver, period. And the rest is history. I've never been a big stick & ball fan - just racin'. Over the years, I've read plenty of books about racing. Most have been just a rehash of what I already knew or another author had written. However, a few books distinctly stand out among the crowd. If you haven't already, I highly recommend any or all of the following books.
Forty Years of Stock Car
Racing - Greg Fielden, Galfield
Press
The original series is a 4 volume set of books covering NASCAR's
Winston Cup (formerly Grand National) series from its inception
in 1949 through 1989. Greg followed up the initial series with
"Forty Plus Four" which covered 1990-1993. These books
include commentary and statistics on every race since the
first NASCAR sanctioned event in 1949. A "must have"
for trivia geeks (like me).
Richard Petty: The Cars of the
King - Tim Bongard and Bill Coulter, Sports
Publishing, Inc.
This book has photos of every car fielded by Petty Enterprises
for Richard Petty, several pictures of cars built for Lee and
Kyle Petty, and a few pics of the drivers who drove for Petty
Enterprises such as Jim Paschal, Pete Hamilton, Rick Wilson,
Wally Dallenbach, and Bobby Hamilton. It also has a brief
synopsis of each season.
The World's Number One,
Flat-Out, All-time Great Stock Car Racing Book
- Jerry Bledsoe
You may have to look hard for this one. I found my copy in
paperback at a used book store yeeeaaarrrrs ago. However, I read
where it was reissued within the last year or two. You may be
able to order it from Amazon.
The book centers around events leading up to the Southern 500 in
the late 1960s. Bledsoe relays some great anecdotes about some of
the old characters like Jabe Thomas, Curtis Turner, Wendell
Scott, etc. "Easily the best handling of the subject,"
said Stock Car Racing Magazine. "One of those few
books you're going to want to pull out about once a year and read
again. Or pass on to a friend. Or keep in the glove compartment
of your car like a road map of your memories."
American Zoom
- Peter Golenbock, MacMillan Publishing
Once again, this is a book based on various stories told to the
author. He covers a lot of territory in the book's 473 pages. He
goes back to the "good ole days" with stories from
Ralph Moody and Smokey Yunick and more current personalities such
as Alan Kulwicki and Tim Richmond. The book also includes
chapters on drivers who are seldom on the front page such as Dave
Marcis and Derrike Cope.