The NASCAR Way : The Business That Drives the Sport [Hardcover]

Robert G. Hagstrom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 1997

From the bestselling author of The Warren Buffett Way, a revealing inside look at the booming business-and investment opportunities-of NASCAR

"Hagstrom's insights and observations bring a refreshing 'outside' business perspective to our industry."
--From the Foreword by William C. France, President, NASCAR

"From its origins in Daytona in the '50s to today's live network broadcasts for millions of devoted fans, Robert Hagstrom offers an in-depth look at the fastest-growing sport in the country. The NASCAR Way explains how and why dozens of Fortune 500 companies have been lining up to jump on board."
--Michael T. Hargrave, Senior Motorsports Manager, Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

"It is great to be associated with NASCAR, the France family, and for me to get paid for what I love-to race! In The NASCAR Way, you see a prime-time sport."
--Dale Earnhardt, 7-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion

"An accurate and entertaining perspective to the unbridled capitalism that has built NASCAR into the #2 sport in America after football."
--Bill Nielsen, Director, Promotion Development and Licensing, Kellogg USA, Inc.

"Hagstrom understands how our business works both on and off the track. His perception of our sport will have you racing through the pages on the edge of your seat. The book is definitely a winner!"
--Dale Jarrett, Winston Cup driver

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The author of The Warren Buffett Way gets behind the steering wheel of professional stock car racing--NASCAR, to be exact--making a few gushing laps around the track of America's largest and fastest-growing spectator sport. Although filled with plenty of local color, The NASCAR Way primarily focuses on the phenomenal financial success of a sport that began in the tiny, dirt-road hamlets of Dixie. Originally a way for moonshine runners to compete against each other by the light of day in informal--and legal--settings, stock car racing was organized by "Big Bill" France in the late 1940s under the aegis of NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) but soon moved to the larger, asphalt tracks of today. A half-century after NASCAR's inception, the sport boasts lucrative corporate sponsorship, growing cable TV exposure, and fan loyalty to rival--if not surpass--that of every other professional sports organization. While the bottom line ultimately turns Hagstrom's crank more than the personality of the sport itself, the author still has fun with his subject: "Stock car drivers do things in cars that would make the rest of us faint. Try to imagine driving 100 miles an hour, then 120, then 160. Imagine keeping up that pace for three and a half hours.... Now imagine forty-one other cars around you, all doing the same thing, just inches away from you, scraping against the side of your car and nudging your bumper as they try to pass you. And you can never slack off."

From Library Journal

Hagstrom (The Warren Buffett Way, LJ 11/1/94) looks at the business side of what is the second-largest spectator sport in the United States. Unlike stick-and-ball sports, which are guided by a governing body of team owners, NASCAR (National Association of Sports Car Racing) is wholly owned by one family, the Frances. NASCAR has three guiding principles: parity, safety, and cost, and its rules are structured so that money alone does not guarantee success on race day. Part of its success is in limiting venues; in each particular class, there is only one race on a given weekend, which avoids the dilution of hockey, basketball, and baseball. All this pays off in advertising revenue: racing fans know who sponsors teams and events, and they reciprocate by buying. What NASCAR has found almost intuitively is a lesson that Harley Davidson learned the hard way: it is better to have demand over product availability. Given the popularity of auto racing, this book will be of interest to most public libraries.?Steven Silkunas, DCO, SEPTA/FRONTIER, Conshohocken, Pa.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 19, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471183164
• ISBN-13: 978-0471183167
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,390,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Inside View of NASCAR, March 11, 2000

By 

Jim Riggs (Southwest Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The NASCAR Way : The Business That Drives the Sport (Hardcover)

I'm not a racing fan, but I am a person who enjoys a good book with a great story. In The NASCAR Way, Robert Hagstrom takes the reader into every facet of the sports organization that is NASCAR. If you have an appreciation for the sport, this will be a great book for you, if not, you like me may gain an appreciation of both the sport and the NASCAR way of doing things. How this empire rose from a few bootleggers engaging in afternoon challenges to a multi-billion dollar industry is fascinating. Perhaps the most fascinating of all is the way this business works together at every level, from upper management, to track personnel, to racing teams and corporate sponsors, to the huge retail business, to loyal fans that fuel the entire machine with their support.

I highly recommend The NASCAR Way, I found it to be both enjoyable and a real learning experience.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Enlightenment, November 26, 1999

By 

Jacob G. Doll (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The NASCAR Way : The Business That Drives the Sport (Hardcover)

The book was very informative on the financial and business demands of creating this great sport. It points out the France's dedication and perserverance to a business and how it became successful. After reading the book you can see why the sport has become a boardroom discussion with a lot of Fortune 500 firms as well as the Little Guys! I couldn't put it down.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for racing fans, October 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The NASCAR Way : The Business That Drives the Sport (Hardcover)

The NASCAR Way is the most informative book I've found on NASCAR racing as an industry. The insight that Hagstrom provides the reader on the moral values that started all, to the marketing saavy that continues to drive the business is invaluable not only to the NASCAR fan wanting to know more, but to anyone in any business looking for a model to grow their company by. The reader that is not a NASCAR fan will be hooked before finishing the book, and the casual fan will become an expert on what goes on in the behind-the-scenes world of racing. A must for every entrepreneur and NASCAR fan alike.