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Customer Review
Gain a new apprecation for stock car racing's early days
Two years ago I'd never been to a race. Now I've attended four and watch every weekend. Picked this book up in order to feed my now voracious appetite for all things racing. Guess what...it filled me in on the less well-known formative years of stock car racing. For those who think the France family created stock car racing and NASCAR as well and are unwilling to bend from that view, then this book will likely upset them. On the other hand, if you're open-minded and willing to question the so-called accepted theory of NASCAR's creation being soley by Big Bill and want to know more about the shine runners who helped make the sport popular, then you'll find this book immensely entertaining. Thoroughly enjoyed the book, and felt educated, enlightened, and entertained all at the same time.
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November 1, 2006
(NW Arkansas) | Helpful Votes: 28 | Rating: 5
Amazing Details
Being a novice to Nascar I have been reading everything I can get my hands. This book, "Driving with the Devil" is "straight up". It gives so much more insight to the beginnings of Nascar than any other book I have read. Some things I didn't even know & some things surprised me, it put together pieces of my own heritage. Amazing book, I recommend it highly.
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October 11, 2006
(Hudson, Florida United States) | Helpful Votes: 12 | Rating: 5
Absolutely intriguing and entertaining book!
What mystifies me is that I am not a racing fan in the least but this book seemed to call to me from the library shelf. As a new resident of Georgia, coming from NY, I felt that I needed to do the "when in Rome..." thing and soldier through the book. No need to labor, as it had me in its grip from the first page. It answered all my questions about all things southern, with a vivid description of life here in the last century as well as an unbelievably human story of the men who made moonshine and how their driving skills translated well into car racing at the outset of the stock car boom. It also introduced me to a unique man, a former master bootlegger named Raymond Parks, who, while not generally a race car driver, was as responsible as anyone for NASCAR being in existence today. His deep pockets kept many drivers racing and his mechanic, a genius named Red Vogt, actually came up with the name NASCAR. That Bill France used legal maneuvering to claim the NASCAR brand for himself and...
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March 31, 2007
(Stockbridge, GA) | Helpful Votes: 11 | Rating: 5
Product Description
“Moonshiners put more time, energy, thought, and love into their cars than any racer ever will. Lose on the track and you go home. Lose with a load of whiskey and you go to jail.” —Junior Johnson, NASCAR legend and one-time whiskey runner
Today’s NASCAR is a family sport with 75 million loyal fans, which is growing bigger and more mainstream by the day. Part Disney, part Vegas, part Barnum & Bailey, NASCAR is also a multibillion-dollar business and a cultural phenomenon that transcends geography, class, and gender. But dark secrets lurk in NASCAR’s past.
Driving with the Devil uncovers for the first time the true story behind NASCAR’s distant, moonshine-fueled origins and paints a rich portrait of the colorful men who created it. Long before the sport of stock-car racing even existed, young men in the rural, Depression-wracked South had figured out that cars and speed were tickets to a better life. With few options beyond the farm or factory, the best chance of escape was running moonshine. Bootlegging offered speed, adventure, and wads of cash—if the drivers survived. Driving with the Devil is the story of bootleggers whose empires grew during Prohibition and continued to thrive well after Repeal, and of drivers who thundered down dusty back roads with moonshine deliveries, deftly outrunning federal agents. The car of choice was the Ford V-8, the hottest car of the 1930s, and ace mechanics tinkered with them until they could fly across mountain roads at 100 miles an hour.
After fighting in World War II, moonshiners transferred their skills to the rough, red-dirt racetracks of Dixie, and a national sport was born. In this dynamic era (1930s and ’40s), three men with a passion for Ford V-8s—convicted criminal Ray Parks, foul-mouthed mechanic Red Vogt, and crippled war veteran Red Byron, NASCAR’s first champion—emerged as the first stock car “team.” Theirs is the violent, poignant story of how moonshine and fast cars merged to create a new sport for the South to call its own.
Driving with the Devil is a fascinating look at the well-hidden historical connection between whiskey running and stock-car racing. NASCAR histories will tell you who led every lap of every race since the first official race in 1948. Driving with the Devil goes deeper to bring you the excitement, passion, crime, and death-defying feats of the wild, early days that NASCAR has carefully hidden from public view. In the tradition of Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, this tale not only reveals a bygone era of a beloved sport, but also the character of the country at a moment in time.
From the Hardcover edition. Top to learn more