Driving with the devil : southern moonshine, Detroit wheels, and the birth of NASCAR Cover Image

Driving with the devil : southern moonshine, Detroit wheels, and the birth of NASCAR / Neal Thompson.

Summary:

"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."-Amazon

Record details

ISBN: 1400082250
ISBN: 9781400082261
ISBN: 1400082269
Physical Description: xii, 411 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Crown Publishers, [2006]
Copyright: ©2006

Content descriptions

General Note:	Publisher and paging may vary.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 389-395) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	1 "NASCAR is no longer a southern sport" 3 -- 2 White lightning 11 -- 3 Henry Ford "created a monster" 25 -- 4 Bootlegger turn 50 -- 5 An "orgy of dust, liquor and noise" 72 -- 6 "All the women screamin' Roy Hall" 101 -- 7 "Yesterday his luck ran out" 123 -- 8 "Miraculous Death Escape" 132 -- 9 Body bags and B-24 bombers 147 -- 10 "It's too late now to bring this crowd under control" 168 -- 11 Henry Ford is dead 194 -- 12 "Next thing we know, NASCAR belongs to Bill France" 226 -- 13 "Racing Car Plunges into Throng" 236 -- 14 An "ambience" of death 264 -- 15 First race, a bootlegger, and a disqualification 279 -- 16 "It's not cheating if you don't get caught" 295 -- 17 "No way a Plymouth can beat a Cadillac. No way" 313 -- 18 NASCAR is here to stay: "Like sex, the atom bomb and ice cream" 331 -- 19 "I had to start making a living" 338 -- Epilogue: This is what NASCAR has become 355.