NASCAR Now [Paperback]

Timothy Miller (Author), Steve Milton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2004

An under-the-hood look at NASCAR racing.

NASCAR attracts six million spectators annually. The televised races reach 105 million homes -- second only to NFL football in TV ratings. It has about eighty million radio listeners and their web site draws 1.5 billion hits a year.

More Fortune 500 companies sponsor NASCAR than any other sport.

NASCAR Now is the ultimate guide to the sport. The book covers the earliest stock car races to the 2003 Winston Cup. The pages are vividly illustrated with dramatic photographs of races, the cars, drivers and crews. Race fans are taken behind the scenes for exclusive driver interviews and a candid look at how the racing business works.

This encyclopedic guide covers every aspect of NASCAR including:

• The top twenty-five drivers including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Robby Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty
• Legendary drivers including Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, who made NASCAR the phenomenon it is today
• The top ten racing teams
• History of stock car racing
• Famous track venues
• "Young Guns," the future NASCAR stars.

NASCAR Now is an informative and entertaining guide for stock car racing fans of all ages.

(20041218)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

NASCAR racing is currently so popular that, according to the authors, one Nextel Cup race draws more fans than the Super Bowl, a World Series baseball game and an NBA Finals game combined. All this is a far cry from the early days of stock car racing, when drivers rushed around oval dirt tracks in rural areas on Saturday nights before local fans. The authors offer a complete, up-to-the-minute introduction to NASCAR for new fans as well as a keepsake for dedicated fans. Like the well-oiled machines they describe, Miller and Milton race through various aspects of NASCAR racing. After taking the starting flag with a brief introduction and history of the sport, they barrel through topics ranging from safety and pit stops to officials, points, scoring and the business of NASCAR. They include diagrams of all the major tracks on the circuit, and in brief vignettes, they offer overviews of the top teams, top drivers and legends of the sport, and provide pointers on drivers to watch. Full-color photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School - From the gritty dirt tracks on Friday nights to a $200-million-plus industry, NASCAR has grown into a huge phenomenon, and NASCAR Now is the must-have "players' guide." The book combines action photographs with descriptive dialogue geared toward the newest fans, but it is not too simple for aficionados. A basics section covers the history of the vehicles, pit stops, and the maintenance necessary to keep the cars running, and there is a discussion of the beginnings of safety rules/regulations and equipment. An informative look at the officials, points and scoring, and racing standards and a thorough review of each track in the circuit today are also included. The heart of the book focuses on the people involved: the owners, the crew chiefs, the drivers, and the teams. The "top drivers" section covers 24 competitors currently participating in the sport and includes photos from races and pit stops as well as quotes from the individuals. There is also coverage of up-and-coming racers and a look back at those drivers who made the sport what it is today. - Holly Nickle, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (October 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155297829X
• ISBN-13: 978-1552978290
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,339,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Thunder Through A Canyon, June 16, 2005

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NASCAR Now (Paperback)

I have a standing order to have sent to me every book Tim Miller writes. But after reading this book I don't think this dude is the same man who wrote SHIRTS AND SKINS and other gay performance scripts. This book is a good one too, and I read it through from cover to cover, pausing to admire the many mint photographs. The book is lavishly illustrated with a lot of wire photos and close ups of important moments in stock car history. They have access to computer databases and can thus list the exact dollar amount won by their profiled drivers through all of recorded history (extra money is earned, of course, through private endorsements and these do not appear in the "career earnings")

Tim Miller and Steve Milton do a great job outlining the history of NASCAR and how it grew from a tiny, low class racing circuit to the largest business in the world today. The cover says it all, three top drivers covered from head to waist with advertising logos of all kinds of companies. Bud, Champion, Home Depot, it's a sport in which men dress up as billboards then climb into cars with even more ads on them. On every page is an ad, but that's just part of the colorful history of NASCAR. Milton and Miller go into the way NASCAR used to have competitors, but they have since squashed all competition by the power of branding. Thus such famous drivers of the past as Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt didn't really align themselves with NASCAR at all, though you can bet your bottom dollar they'd do so today. In the past, Richard Petty held up the NASCAR tradition and singlehandedly made Americans aware of NASCAR as a reputable outfit. One section of NASCAR NOW profiles the up and coming drivers of tomorrow--the Dale Earnhardts of the future. LOL, it will be greart sport to keep this book around a few years and see how accurate Milton and Miller are at predicting who will be on top in, say, the year 2005 or 2010. For all we know, the great driver of the next generation is someone whose name we have not yet heard.

Another cool section profiles the NASCAR masters of the past thirty years. Those were the days befor NEXTEL took over and instead the tobacco industry controlled the advertising, so the big prize was called the WINSTON CUP. Miller and Milton are sympathetic sportswriters and each has a flair for the winning phrase. Of Kyle Petty, they write, "Petty. the name resonates around stock car tracks like thunder through a canyon." Everyone loves a winner and this book has 'em on every page, and the photography is outstanding. Check out the fish eye lens that makes Sterling Marlin's 2003 Michigan entry look like a spaceship from way out in the Milky Way.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive inside scoop on NASCAR drivers, cars and crew, April 7, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NASCAR Now (Paperback)

For NASCAR race fans, Timothy Miller and Steve Milton collaborate to provide the definitive inside scoop on NASCAR drivers, cars and crew including past and present legendary drivers, to their teams, their sponsors, and more. Packed with color photos throughout, NASCAR NOW provides interviews, case histories, team statistics and much, much more for the avid NASCAR fan.