About this item
Highlights
- The first organized, sanctioned American stock car race took place in 1908 on a road course around Briarcliff, New York--staged by one of America's early speed mavens, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.
- About the Author: Betty Boles Ellison, a former journalist and noted historian, is a nationally recognized historical researcher as well as an established author.
- 296 Pages
- Sports + Recreation, Motor Sports
Description
About the Book
The book begins with the nation's first organized, sanctioned stock car road race over the Briarcliff, New York, course--staged in 1908 by one of America's early speed mavens, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. A veteran of the early Ormond-Daytona Beach speed trials, Vanderbilt brought the Grand Prize races to Savannah, Georgia, in 1908. What began as a rich man's sport eventually became the working man's sport, finding a home in the South with the infusion of moonshiners and their souped-up cars. The book is based, for the most part, on statements of drivers, car owners and others garnered from archived newspaper articles.Book Synopsis
The first organized, sanctioned American stock car race took place in 1908 on a road course around Briarcliff, New York--staged by one of America's early speed mavens, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. A veteran of the early Ormond-Daytona Beach speed trials, Vanderbilt brought the Grand Prize races to Savannah, Georgia, the same year. What began as a rich man's sport eventually became the working man's sport, finding a home in the South with the infusion of moonshiners and their souped-up cars.
Based in large part on statements of drivers, car owners and others garnered from archived newspaper articles, this history details the development of stock car racing into a megasport, chronicling each season through 1974. It examines the National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing's 1948 incorporation documents and how they differ from the agreements adopted at NASCAR's organization meeting two months earlier. The meeting's participants soon realized that their sport was actually owned by William H.G. "Bill" France, and its consequential growth turned his family into billionaires. The book traces the transition from dirt to asphalt to superspeedways, the painfully slow advance of safety measures and the shadowy economics of the sport.
Review Quotes
"The racing aficionado or sports history buff will find this text interesting"-ProtoView.
About the Author
Betty Boles Ellison, a former journalist and noted historian, is a nationally recognized historical researcher as well as an established author. She prepared the script for the prize-winning documentary, Dreamers and Doers: Voices of Kentucky Woman. An avid and longtime historic preservationist, she is a board member of Friends of Kentucky Libraries, which provides support for the commonwealth's public libraries.
