At Speed : Up Close & Personal With The People, Places, & Fans of Nascar [Paperback]

Monte Dutton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

At Speed is an irreverent but informed look at the colorful personalities, exciting places, and devoted fans of stock car racing. It is divided into six sections: "People" (the sport's key personalities), "Places" (its unique venues), "Fans" (its avid followers), "Opinions" (what is right and wrong about the NASCAR phenomenon), "Color" (a collection of humorous pieces), and "Scenes" (word pictures of the sport from different perspectives). "People" profiles Bobby Allison, Geoff Bodine, the Burton brothers, Ricky Craven, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Ernie Irvan, Kenny Irwin, Dale Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Richard Petty, Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip, and many more NASCAR legends and legends-in-the-making. AT SPEED is this season's NASCAR book that will take the checkered flag.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A good old boy takes you inside the fences for a look at racing you won't see on Sunday afternoons." -- Jim McLaurin, NASCAR writer (The (Columbia, SC) State

"Great reading for the true race fan! An inside look at the sacrifices and dedication it takes..." -- Jimmy Spencer, NASCAR driver

"What I enjoy about Monte's writing is that it cuts right to the point, and it's not sugar-coated." -- Wally Dallenbach, Jr., NASCAR driver

“Dutton can sure tell a story . . .Dutton has that southern gift for objective human observation . . .” -- AutoWeek

About the Author

Monte Dutton writes "NASCAR This Week," which is syndicated by Universal Features Syndicate in more than 500 newspapers nationwide. He has won the National Newspaper Association Award, seven South Carolina Press Association Awards, and three National Motorsports Press Association Awards. He lives in Clinton, South Carolina.

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books; 1 edition (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574882619
• ISBN-13: 978-1574882612
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,117,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any NASCAR fan, May 25, 2000

By 

"moonglow22" - See all my reviews

This review is from: At Speed : Up Close & Personal With The People, Places, & Fans of Nascar (Paperback)

Monte Dutton's book is awesome! As a NASCAR fan, I couldn't ask for more insightful, entertaining, and dead-on analysis of my favorite sport. The author is honest in his assessments of NASCAR and its fans, tracks, and notable personalities--he doesn't fear he will offend anyone, and calls 'em like he sees 'em. Compared to some of the other drivel that is out there about NASCAR that does nothing but genuflect to owners and drivers, Dutton pays no mind to the politics and focuses on the racing. The result is an often laugh out loud funny and very informative book. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Adam Petty, the driver who was tragically killed recently. The author's words of praise for the talented young driver were all the more poignant. Hopefully Monte Dutton will write many more books and keep giving NASCAR fans what they want.

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth [money], April 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: At Speed : Up Close & Personal With The People, Places, & Fans of Nascar (Paperback)

This book is WAY overpriced for the content you get. Each of the many topics is only covered by a short little blurb - at best a couple of pages. Sometimes the blurbs are interesting, sometimes they aren't. But they all end, and sometimes abruptly. Sometimes you get drawn into the subject and then the author pulls the plug. It's like a tease. I almost think the author was hunting for a Nascar topic to write on, couldn't pick one, so decided to publish his notes instead.

You'd actually be better off spending more money on better developed books covering in more detail a topic you are interested in. You might think that this book will give you a broad overview, but the information it provides is often too choppy to do even that.

If you've just got to have this one, then at least go to Ebay and pick it up for a buck fifty. [Price] is really a steep price to pay for what you'll be getting here.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Big Waste!, June 26, 2001

By 

noone42 - See all my reviews

This review is from: At Speed : Up Close & Personal With The People, Places, & Fans of Nascar (Paperback)

I bought this book thinking it would have good info on tracks, drivers and what not. If that is what you are looking for, At Speed is not that book. Dutton has spent time on each driver at a certain race. He gives no information about them, just a comment here or there. Nothing new about the tracks. Magazines can tell you more about individual tracks. I didn't notice much about the fans in NASCAR, either. Dutton clearly couldn't have spent much time on that anyway, judging from the rest of the book.