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SpeedTV.com Book Review: NASCAR Chronicle
Written by: Gregg Leary Charlotte, NC – 12/6/2005
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
TITLE: “NASCAR Chronicle”
AUTHOR: By Greg Fielden and the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide
PUBLISHER: Ronnie Sellers Productions (November, 2004)
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.
Be sure to put “NASCAR Chronicle” at the top of your holiday shopping list for the NASCAR fans in your family!