Product Description

In the past twenty years, big-time stock-car racing has become America's fastest growing spectator sport. Winston Cup races draw larger audiences - at the tracks and on television - than any other sport, and drivers like Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin have become cultural icons whose endorsements command millions. What accounts for NASCAR's surging popularity? For years a 'closeted' NASCAR fan, Professor Jim Wright took advantage of a sabbatical in 1999 to attend stock-car races at seven of the Winston Cup's legendary venues: Daytona, Indianapolis, Darlington, Charlotte, Richmond, Atlanta, and Talladega.The 'Fixin' to Git Road Tour' resulted in this book - not just a travelogue of Wright's year at the races, but a fan's valentine to the spectacle, the pageantry, and the subculture of Winston Cup racing. Wright busts the myth that NASCAR is a Southern sport and takes on critics who claim that there's nothing to racing but 'drive fast, turn left', revealing the skill, mental acuity, and physical stamina required by drivers and their crews. Mostly, though, he captures the experience of loyal NASCAR fans like himself, describing the drama in the grandstands - and in the bars, restaurants, parking lots, juke joints, motels, and campgrounds where race fans congregate.He conveys the rich, erotic sensory overload - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feel - of weekends at the Winston Cup race tracks. Jim Wright grew up in Indiana watching his father race on quarter-mile dirt tracks in the 1950s. After spending a couple of decades establishing himself as an academic, he began regularly attending NASCAR races in the 1990s. A sociologist who has taught at Tulane University and currently teaches at the University of Central Florida, Wright has written seventeen books. He lives in Orlando.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #298041 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .76" h x 6.00" w x 8.97" l, .96 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Auto racing amounts to yahoos watching other yahoos chase their tailgates, right? Sociologist Wright doesn't agree completely. A racer's son himself, he juxtaposes the magniloquent ("existential inauthenticity") with the colloquial ("real kick-ass street rod") to draft the history of the sport and its place in Americana. From the pit stops he made in 1999 on tracks from Daytona to Darlington, he describes racing in terms not unlike those he chides sports magazines for, as he hopscotches from issue to issue. Wright counters charges against racing including sexism, racism and overcommercialism, and then confirms most reader expectations. Wright asserts, for instance, that the rampant advertising on driver autos and uniforms reflects larger cultural trends, but concedes it is a "marketing bacchanalia." He also deconstructs gearhead stereotypes only to reassemble them: for every God-lovin' family-oriented enthusiast, there's another good ole boy passed out in the stands before the checkered flag drops. But the crux of his unabashed study is that racing can be good fun. The finest chapters focus on the thrill of going 200 mph while negotiating turns on an increasingly slick, sloping ellipse.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In contrast to almost every book about NASCAR Winston Cup auto racing, this is not an insider's account; nor does it focus on drivers, races, or NASCAR's history. Instead, Wright offers his perspectives, both as a racing fan and as a sociologist, on the sport and its significance in modern American culture. The framework of the book is his attendance at many Winston Cup races during the 1999 season, which he uses as jumping-off points to discuss a variety of issues, such as fan allegiance, the growth and popularity of NASCAR racing, and the difficulty of setting up a car for the unique conditions of each race track. Wright discusses some of the myths and images surrounding NASCAR racing (e.g., that it sprang from the moonshine trade and that its support base is largely Southern redneck) and finds them colorful but not at all accurate. He makes a positive case that as the sport developed and grew, it always had a national character. Some of Wright's best passages describe the fan subculture, seen as largely working class, staunchly loyal, patriotic, and addicted to the sound, look, and feel of speed. This is an interesting book, but with its academic flavor, it may not hold the interest of the fan just described. Because of its unique perspectives, however, it would be useful both for public and academic libraries. David Van de Streek, Pennsylvania State Univ. Libs., York
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
To those who haven't succumbed to the lure of auto racing, Wright, a sociology professor and author of 17 books, offers a compelling analysis of the sport's appeal. To the unequivocally faithful who already reside in the NASCAR choir, he offers vivid confirmation of the faith. And to both groups he offers a clear-eyed fan's view of what's right with the sport and what's wrong. For several years in the late 1990s, he traveled to various tracks--Darlington, Talladega, Charlotte, Richmond, and Atlanta, among others--to enjoy the races and observe racing culture. His observations on the latter reflect both a fan's affection and a sociologist's love of the meaningful detail. Take T-shirts. Writing with wit as well as insight, he argues that NASCAR fans' T-shirts serve as manifestations of tribal affiliations (Jeff Gordon fans versus Al Unser loyalists), as evidence of attendance at past battles ("Talladega 1995"), or reflections of personal worldviews ("If You're Gonna Be Stupid, You Better Be Tough"). But he also wonders how a sport that publicly strives to be broad based and multiethnic can overcome many existing fans' insistence on displaying the Confederate flag. His very best observations are saved for nonfans. NASCAR critics dismiss racing as "step on it and turn left." When Wright catalogs the variables that a driver must consider--in a split second--during a single lap, readers will certainly have a better understanding of the skill needed to compete among the best. He also debunks the romantic theory that racing is an outgrowth of the southern backwoods moonshine industry of the1940s. This is the very best book to surface on auto racing in many years. Informative, entertaining, and eye-opening. Wes Lukowsky
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