Customer Reviews

WHEELS: A Season on Nascar's Winston Cup Circuit

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this book. WHEELS is a non-fiction story about a year on the NASCAR Winston Cup Circuit. It is full of rip roaring action and excitement. the author writes it lap by lap, wreck by wreck, race by race. I thought the wrecks were the mast interesting parts of this book, followed by the fixing of the cars. The author shows true spirit for all the tracks and drivers. Some of the drivers in this book are Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mike Skinner, Steve Park, Dale Jarret, and Darrell Waltrip. Some of the tracks are Martinsville Speedway, Darlington Speedway, Daytona Speedway, Talladega Speedway, and Atlanta Motor Speedway. I think every NASCAR fan should read this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and its style of switching back and forth from the 96 season to historical background and vignettes of the small time racer. A couple of nits to pick. The summary of the CART-Indy 500 dispute was just plain wrong and should have been caught in the editing process. (The problem was not that Indy Speedway wanted to open up qualifying, just the opposite. He guranteed spots to his IRL drivers even if their speeds were slower. )Second, the first part of the season was covered in meticulous detail, but the last half was summarized. It seemed like the author was looking to wind it up. These points aside, this was a very well written and entertaining book.

Once again Paul Hemphill caught my attention with his book Wheels. Paul is a great author and he made me want to stop what I was doing and get back to reading this book.

This is a fantastic book and I loved every minute of it. Wheels is a book that has a adrenaline rush that keeps on going and going in till you have to stop reading the book. I loved how Paul made me fell like I was in the drivers seat the hole time it was great. This book is about a season of racing on the Winston Cup circuit. Wheels covers many race car drivers and it tells there story from when they were on the old dirt tracks to when they started driving professional. Some of the drivers that it covers are Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace, and Terry Labonte. The main driver that the book covers is Dale Earnhardt and he is a fantastic driver.

Earnhardt has a great personality. He is always making friends where ever he goes, it could be on the track or some where like his neighbors house. Dale had a wish that consisted of him beating Jeff Gordon in the points so he could win the Championship and it was a great part in the book. That particular moment in the book was my favorite because Paul had me on toes the whole time. Paul was explaining it like you were watching it right in front of your eyes.

I also like how Paul Hemphill included all the tracks and how he emphasized the good ones. The best track was Bristol Motor Speedway and it had a great race there. Paul included that Bristol was the shortest track on the circuit that was only a half mile long. He took us through all the bumps and turns and of course the wrecks. He also included the championship race that was at Daytona Speedway and it was the most exciting part of the whole season.

This as a fantastic book and I would recommend it to only the people that like sitting down watching a 500 lap race with a nice cold drink in one hand and the other one for throwing stuff ant the television.

I found this book to be a very nice overview of NASCAR history and the modern circuit. For anyone who wants to know the history and some neat anecdotes about the sport, this book is perfect. And while I found Hemphill's description of the 1996 season entertaining, it wasn't as complete as his background. All in all, it makes the perfect first NASCAR book--everything the basic fan should know about the sport.

Paul Hemphill has captured all the flavors of the fans, racers and the sport of racing. He details information not readily available to non-racing fans. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the south, in racing or in just plain good writing.

Well, the title is misleading. But I appreciciated the history lesson on the origins and development of NASCAR. For someone who has paid cursory attention to the sport, this book was a "speed" reading session that got me up to pace on the history of the players out there. So toaday, when I watched the Daytona 500, I could understand the hidden meaning behind "Mr. Excitement," especially when he kissed the wall with a few laps to go. And why this win for Dale Earnhart was so significant. Buy this book, its one of the best about the sport, and is written more as a literary piece than a "gear head" manual about cars.

Hempill writes a very entertaining book about the 1996 season, and the sport's history, without sounding like a text book or the back of a baseball card. He gives fans a rare, truthful behind-the-scenes look at a sport that may be growing too fast for its own godd. A super read, especially for those interesting in what goes on in the race shops, sponsor tents and driver's trailers.

Either Paul Hemphill put the wrong title on this book or he got sidetracked during the process of writing it. The book purports to be the story of the 1996 NASCAR season, but it is instead a meandering tale covering everything from the origins of stock car racing to the fortunes of some minor-league dirt-track racer. If he wanted to write a book on the history of the sport, then he should have done so and not tried to shoehorn that information into a book supposedly about one season. The book is well-written and meticulously researched, but it does a poor job of capturing what was one of the most intriguing and exciting points races in recent years. Hemphill glosses over several of the season's races, perhaps in order to save space for his entertaining yet frivoulous tales of moonshiners and drunk, racist fans. He also spends far too much time playing up the battle between Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. There are 40 other drivers on the circuit, many of whom get just a passing mention. Hemphill would have been better served by spending a little more time with the drivers and less time with the old bootleggers