Fixin to Git: One Fan's Love Affair with NASCAR's Winston Cup - Softcover

Wright, Jim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822332205 ISBN 13: 9780822332206

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2003

Synopsis

In the past twenty years, big-time stock-car racing has become America’s fastest growing spectator sport. Winston Cup races draw larger audiences—at the tracks and on television—than any other sport, and drivers like Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin have become cultural icons whose endorsements command millions. What accounts for NASCAR’s surging popularity?
For years a “closeted” NASCAR fan, Professor Jim Wright took advantage of a sabbatical in 1999 to attend stock-car races at seven of the Winston Cup’s legendary venues: Daytona, Indianapolis, Darlington, Charlotte, Richmond, Atlanta, and Talladega. The “Fixin’ to Git Road Tour” resulted in this book—not just a travelogue of Wright’s year at the races, but a fan’s valentine to the spectacle, the pageantry, and the subculture of Winston Cup racing.
Wright busts the myth that NASCAR is a Southern sport and takes on critics who claim that there’s nothing to racing but “drive fast, turn left,” revealing the skill, mental acuity, and physical stamina required by drivers and their crews. Mostly, though, he captures the experience of loyal NASCAR fans like himself, describing the drama in the grandstands—and in the bars, restaurants, parking lots, juke joints, motels, and campgrounds where race fans congregate. He conveys the rich, erotic sensory overload—the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feel—of weekends at the Winston Cup race tracks.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"You don’t have to be a racing fan to appreciate great sports writing, and even folks who don’t know Dale Earnhardt from Dale Evans will savor this professor’s account of his unlikely enthusiasm for NASCAR. But, if you are a fan, you’ll probably like this book even more. Wright dispels a number of myths and helps us to understand why stock-car racing has become America's most popular sport."—John Shelton Reed, coauthor of 1001 Things Everyone Should Know about the South

From the Back Cover:

"This book's personal impressions don't take you behind the pit wall--they take you into the stands, where the average folks watch the race. Wright combines the interests of the academic and the common race fan for an uncommon vision of NASCAR."--Scott Huler, author of "A Little Bit Sideways: One Week Inside a ""NASCAR"" Winston Cup Race Team"

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0822332205
• ISBN 13: 9780822332206
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320