Curtis Turner: NASCAR's First Bad Boy

by Hill

Curtis Turner won an incredible 360 races in various stock-car racing circuits from 1946 to 1965, and is widely recognized as one of the greatest dirt-tack drivers in history. A true pioneer of the sport, Turner went from running moonshine for his father as a kid to earning the distinction of NASCAR's first driver to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated. A 1992 inductee into International Motorsports Hall of Fame, Turner is without a doubt an all-time racing legend. It was more than Turner's winning ways that cemented his legendary status with racing fans and fellow drivers. With a swashbuckling style both on and off the track, Turner was a partier, a playboy, and an innovative entrepreneur, who had an eager but edgy spirit that "drove him through one of the most cantankerous lives ever lived." Told through the eyes of best friend and business associate Alan Hill, Curtis NASCAR'S First Bad Boy reveals never-before-told stories from Turner's life, a life Hill describes as "momentous havoc." From outrunning police during his moonshine days to out-racing NASCAR's best drivers (including one year where he won a record 25 NASCAR events), Turner's skill and moxie never waned behind the wheel. He earned the nickname "Pops" for his propensity to "pop" other drivers on the track. Turner attempted to organize a drivers' union in 1961, earning a lifetime ban from NASCAR. (The ban was lifted in 1965.) Yet, off the track was where the real mayhem occurred. In one tragically foreshadowing story, Hill recounts one of Turner's several brush-with-death experiences in the cockpit. An avid pilot an indispensable hobby after he lost his driver's license Turner and a few business associates flew from Philadelphia to Charlotte in a brutal snowstorm. Landing on a snowpacked runway, his plane was estimated to carry 150 pounds of ice. After the precarious landing, Turner merely said to his passengers, "Hell of a day, ain't it been, boys!" Curtis Turner also recounts Turne

120 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2007

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a friend of Curtis's, this book contains several interesting anecdotes from throughout Turner's life and career. Some factual errors and a fanboy tone give the book an amateurish feel, but since the writer witnessed several of the events first-hand, his personal slant makes it a worthwhile read.

I particularly enjoyed a couple of newspaper articles that are reprinted here - one is Curtis's first-hand account of the worst wreck of his career and the second is a moving obituary written by a sports journalist/fan. Great cover, too - Curtis looks like a real badass in that grainy black and white.

[Tom Nolan]

paperback 6x9