NASCAR Vault: An Official History Featuring Rare Collectibles from Motorsports Images and Archives By Herb Branham. (Image: SPEED) » More Photos

2. “NASCAR Vault” By Herb Branham and Buz McKim - Subtitled "An Official History Featuring Rare Collectibles From Motorsports Images and Archives," "The NASCAR Vault" indeed contains a treasure chest of replicas of important memorabilia from NASCAR’s past. The originals of these items would, in many cases, be nearly priceless. For less than fifty bucks you get 192 pages of NASCAR history, more than 150 images and 26 collectibles. The reproductions are beautifully printed and many are displayed in plastic pages … easily removed for closer examination.

Five NASCAR logos are featured, showing the evolution from 1948 to the present. "Big Bill" France had a hand in designing the original logo which features two stylized Stutz Blackhawks in which Frank Lockhart drove and died at Daytona. Many NASCAR fans thought the cars were replicas of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s "Bluebird" that ran over 276 mph on the beach at Daytona.

A program cover and Entry List from Daytona Beach’s first stock car race in 1936 is included as is Bill France’s garage pass from the 1938 Indianapolis 500. A replica of NASCAR’s 1948 Rule Book was printed on a single sheet of paper. Back then, stock cars were "stock" cars.

A replica of the entry form for the first "Strictly Stock Car Classic" at Charlotte on 6-19-1949 is a masterpiece of brevity. One Sheet. A list of 31 mechanical changes permitted is clearly indicated. All cars are to be inspected before the race. The first five finishers will be impounded and checked mechanically. This information is critical as the winning car failed post-race tech and was disqualified.

Other interesting memorabilia include copies of program covers of the Inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959, the First Annual World 600 at Charlotte in 1960, President Carter’s Invitation to the White House from 1978, a Permatex and Winston Racing patch, a program from the 1981 Awards Banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, a replica ticket to Dale Earnhardt’s 1998 Daytona 500 win and dozens of other prime pieces of racing ephemera.

These items are the "icing." The "cake" is 192 pages of top-notch scholarship supported by over 150 color and black and white images, some never before published. Herb Branham and Buz McKim are uniquely qualified to tell NASCAR’s story, and they hold the combination to NASCAR’s vault. It is a "must read" and rates five out of five lug nuts.

1. NASCAR Chronicle By Greg Fielden - Every once in a great while a book comes along that is so good that it becomes a “must have” for all racing fans. “NASCAR Chronicle,” by noted historian Greg Fielden, is one of them. It tops my list as absolutely the best bargain in motor sports. You’ll be tempted to send the author a check for double the cover price. It’s that good!

“NASCAR Chronicle” is essentially a one-volume condensation of much of the information in Fielden’s five-volume set “Forty Years of Stock Car Racing” and “The Stock Car Racing Encyclopedia.”(The true fan should also add these six volumes to his or her library.)

NASCAR’s story is beautifully told with more than 1,400 photographs that document Fielden’s thorough research. Captions usually identify every car and driver in the photograph and include interesting historical anecdotes.

Fielden’s genius and sense of humor are best exemplified by the caption beside a photograph of Tim Richmond from 1983, reading “Tim Richmond seems a bit perplexed after winning the pole for the October 9th race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In a public- relations nightmare, Richmond won the Busch Pole for the Miller High Life 500 in an Old Milwaukee-sponsored car. He received the keys to a Ford Thunderbird passenger car after driving his Pontiac Grand Prix to a quick 163.073-mph lap in time trials. Richmond led 99 laps in the race and finished fifth.” Brilliant! Writing doesn’t get any better than this.

Gems like this are sprinkled generously through the book. Some you won’t catch until your second or third reading. You WILL want to read this treasure more than once. If you are a die-cast collector or modeler, the photographs are an archive of car/driver combinations, paint schemes, sponsors … and an endless array of possible diorama scenes.

From Mike Joy’s insightful foreword to an Appendix that lists information about every NASCAR Cup race ever run, the 500-page work ends with a detailed index that makes finding facts and photos of your favorite driver a cinch.

“NASCAR Chronicle” begins at the beginning - before NASCAR - with the first race held in the United States on September 1896 in Narragansett Park in Rhode Island. It traces the history of the speed trials at Ormond and Daytona Beach from Alexander Winton’s 1903 blast at over 68 mph to Sir Malcolm Campbell’s 276.82 mph record in 1935. Campbell realized that speeds were too fast for the unpredictable sands of Daytona and headed to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Daytona needed something to keep its reputation as “the birthplace of speed.” Enter stock car racing in 1936. Eight jam-packed chapters tell the story.

• Before NASCAR
• 1947-49: The Birth of NASCAR
• 1950s: The Manufacturers Take Notice
• 1960s: Superspeedways & Speedy Muscle Cars
• 1970s: NASCAR Enters the Modern Era
• 1980s: Smaller Cars, Bigger Purses, Grand Exposure
• 1990s: NASCAR Goes Big Time
• 2000s: The New Millennium

“NASCAR Chronicle” is arranged chronologically with a season summary and points ranking of the top fifty in driver points, showing starts, wins, Top 5, Top 10 and winnings. “NASCAR Chronicle” should become your NASCAR bible.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Gregg Leary is a Researcher/Writer for "Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain","The SPEED Report", book reviewer and columnist for SPEEDtv.com. Leary was track announcer for Hooter's IHRA Drag Racing at National Events in the USA and Canada and entertained event crowds during "down time". He was Marketing, PR Director and track announcer at Lake Erie Speedway. Leary covered Auto Racing, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association. Leary has conducted motivational seminars and performed stand-up comedy around the country. Leary is available for motorsports consulting on a limited basis. Contact him via email at


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