Nascar: Off the Record

by Brock Yates

Like any giant enterprise, the NASCAR we see today is very different from the regional race series launched by a visionary Bill France in the late 1940s. Few writers are as intimately aware of that history as Car and Driver's Brock Yates. In the 1950s he recalls the intimate nature of the sport's early years, when he would see the entire Petty family working together, Richard wrenching on the car while his father cooked for the family on a bar-b-que grill. In 1979, Yates was reporting from the pits for ABC at the Daytona 500 when the infamous fight erupted between Cale Yarborough and the Allison boys. His perspective spans nearly 50 years, and his wry observations are always sure to incite both cheers and jeers. NASCAR Off the Record is a pithy, opiniated, hilarious, and compelling collection of some of the greatest NASCAR stories of all time, as told by a man who was present at the scene.About the AuthorWhile best known for his columns in Car and Driver and his television reporting, Brock Yates has written numerous books, including Cannonball: The World's Greatest Outlaw Road Race (ISBN 0-7603-1090-4), and The Hot Rod (ISBN 0-7603-1598-1). He also wrote the film scripts for Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit II. His NASCAR stories date almost to the very beginning of the series. Brock lives with his wife Pamela in the towns of Wyoming, New York, and Alexandria Bay, New York. He is the proud father of four children and two grandchildren. Vintage automobile racing consumes his spare time.- From the best-selling author of Cannonball!, Brock Yates takes an irreverent look at the grand spectacle of NASCAR- NASCAR is the largest and fastest growing American automotive racing series

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Brock Yates was an American journalist and a best-selling author, most frequently about automotive topics and motor sport.

Reviews

[Stan Ball · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yates writing style and immersive journalism is always entertaining, but the recycling of his past writing in Car and Driver can come across as lazy. At the very least, it makes the book feel disjointed as a collection of somewhat related stories. NASCAR is not my favorite form of racing, but it is interesting to hear the stories of the popular figures from the beginning of the sport.