High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing, 1950-1990 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology) - Hardcover

Post, Professor Robert C.

  • 4.33 out of 5 stars
    21 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780801846540: High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing, 1950-1990 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0801846544 ISBN 13: 9780801846540
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994

Synopsis

For those who love high drama and high-powered machinery, there is nothing to top big-time drag racing. High Performance is a dramatic, firsthand history of this daring sport, from the earliest "legal" drags run on rural airfields to the spectacular--and sometimes tragic--careers of drag racing's boldest innovators. Post, a former drag racer himself, has interviewed most of drag racing's legends and superstarssuch as "Pappy" Hart, who opened the first commercial strip in Santa Ana, California; Florida's "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, the first person to define himself as a professional drag racer; and Shirley Muldowney, who was nearly killed in a 250-MPH crash and returned to the cockpit two years later with the simple explanation, "It's what I do."

Post looks at all aspects of drag racing: the sport, the business, the means of personal affirmation. But most of all he explores it as an example of technological enthusiasm, tracking the innovations that permitted racers to disprove on pavement the "laws of physics" that experts had laid out on paper.

"By writing about the combination of talent and technology that make drag racing the most exciting sport in the world, Bob Post has finally given us the credit and credibility we deserve. This book has been a long time coming."--Shirley Muldowney

"All the roar and smell of rubber that one finds at drag races is present in this comprehensive study of the sport."--Ray Browne, Journal of Popular Culture

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Robert C. Post is curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books on the relationship between technology and culture, including Street Railways and the Growth of Los Angeles and The Tancook Whalers: Origins, Rediscovery, Revival.

Reviews

Drag racing has become a technologically advanced sport that appeals to millions of fans, most of whom live in the United States. This is a dramatic, firsthand history of the sport from the earliest races on rural airfields to the 300 miles-per-hour runs of today. The author, a former racer himself, is now editor-in-chief of Technology and Culture . His is the first substantial history of drag racing, excluding biographies and picture books, since Wally Parks's Drag Racing: Yesterday and Today (1966. o.p.). Post offers a compelling look at the men and women who have devoted their lives to this extraordinary pursuit. He also examines the phenomenal growth of the sport and the role of television, specialty magazines, and corporate sponsorship in the ever-increasing stakes of professional drag racing. Highly recommended for all libraries. --Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date
1994
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0801846544
ISBN 13 
9780801846540
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
152
Rating
  • 4.33 out of 5 stars
    21 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780801854644: High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing, 1950-1990 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0801854644 ISBN 13:  9780801854644
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996
Softcover