Sunday Money - by Jeff MacGregor (Paperback)

About the Book

A groundling's view of life in the fastest lane of NASCAR is offered by an award-winning writer from "Sports Illustrated" in the tradition of "The Right Stuff" and "Moneyball." 8-page color photo insert.

From the Back Cover

NASCAR racing, once considered no more than a regional circuit of moonshiners pounding around low-country dirt tracks in a cloud of red dust and cliché, has somehow become America's fastest-growing spectator sport. With 75 million ardent fans, it is a sports entertainment empire built at the very crossroads of pop culture, corporate commerce, and American mythology -- a platinum-plated, V-8 hero machine.

Smart, funny, and profane, Sunday Money is the kaleidoscopic account of a season on the NASCAR circuit. Driving 48,000 miles in a tiny motor home, Jeff MacGregor and his wife tracked the lives of superstar drivers like Junior Earnhardt and Tony Stewart, their crews, and their fans across the grinding reach of a 40-week season.

More than just a behind-the-scenes chronicle of America's loudest pastime, Sunday Money is the story of a hundred stories, of red states and blue, of splendid Rebels and Yankee hotshoes. It is a brilliant snapshot of American culture -- of race, religion, class, sex, money, and fame -- taken from the window of a moving car.

Review Quotes

"One part comic travelogue, one part cultural history, and three parts kick-ass sportswriting, Sunday Money is an exhilarating ride from pole to checkered flag." - Tom Perrotta
"The wittiest, most searching sports writing since A. J. Liebling." - Robert Stone
"Even if NASCAR isn't your speed, MacGregor's colorful, original language and knack for finding the perfect detail will keep you riveted. . . . Entertaining and lively, packed with examples and anecdotes and written by a sharp mind with a gentle hand." - MSNBC
"SUNDAY MONEY is MacGregor's attempt to grab the torch from [Tom] Wolfe.... In that regard, he triumphs. [It] is, for my money, the first (and maybe only) book that nonfans or casual fans or just the mildly curious should crack in order to understand the 'noise and speed and glory and death that is Nascar.'" - New York Times Book Review