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Daytona: From the Birth of Speed to the Death of the Man in Black
A narrative history of the Daytona 500 and NASCAR ranges from the first race in 1959 to the death of Dale Earnhardt in a collision during the 2001 race and offers an intriguing glimpse of the world of stock car racing and memorable profiles of the legendary racers who have transformed the sport. 60,000 first printing.
- GenresRacingSportsNonfiction
400 pages, Hardcover
First published November 21, 2001
2 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Ed Hinton
3 books1 followerEdward Talmage Hinton was an American motorsports columnist for ESPN.com.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 14, 2025
"The venerable racing commentator Chris Economaki, in his youth, once confirmed face-to-face with the emotionally-dying Ernest Hemingway in a Manhattan restaurant that Hemingway had, in his prime, claimed that there are but three sports: bullfighting, mountain climbing, and automobile racing. And that all the rest are just 'games' . . . It has befallen motor sports - accommodating to the spectators, with the clear-cut objective of going as fast as possible without crashing - to be the flash point of all arguments about whether risk-taking endeavors are really sports at all, or whether they are in fact the only sports. This much is certain: Motor racing is not a game." -- on page 4
If you judge a book by its cover - which we, as responsible GR members, shouldn't do at all - it would be easy to unfairly dismiss Hinton's Daytona: From the Birth of Speed to the Death of the Man in Black as probably a non-fic work about a bunch of former moonshine-running good ol' boys who "drive in circles for three hours" (to quote my mom's distaste for NASCAR races, as my father is a longtime fan) at high speed. Dear readers, let me be the first to dissuade you of that misguided notion - this was a surprisingly informative, dramatic, insightful and yet often very touching book about the history of stock car racing in America via the Daytona 500 event. But, even more importantly, it is filtered through the personalities - drivers, crew chiefs, team owners, etc. - of those involved in this sport of "winning Sunday money." Author Hinton is a veteran sports journalist - his regular beat was covering motorsports for the periodical Sports Illustrated from the 1970's up into the 21st century - so he truly had an inside track AND front-row seats (to mangle some puns) to the world of racing. The strong theme of his narrative - other than the evolution of the sport, and how the specter of death hovers like the midday sun over a professional driver - is 'fathers & sons,' or family matters. A good number of racers are legacy men, meaning their dads or brothers preceded them into this line of work, with the legendary Richard 'the King' Petty (#43, baby!) and his family likely being the most famous example of a sort of dynasty. This is dually mined for happiness (retired racer-turned-TV color commentator Ned Jarrett getting to excitedly announce his dark horse son Dale winning the 1991 Daytona 500 to a nationwide audience) but also for sadness (veteran racer Bobby Allison - who I was shocked to learn was a devout Catholic, as his aggressiveness on the tracks belied a humbly charitable heart - suffering career-ending injuries, only later to also lose BOTH of his sons in separate racing-related crashes). This is an unjustly forgotten book that unusually produced an equal number of smiles AND tears from me, and it made me think of my own father (who is planning to watch the Daytona 500 in two days with my own young son - see, there's that legacy thing again) and, most importantly, I found it to be entertaining, thought-provoking, and simply outstanding.
If you judge a book by its cover - which we, as responsible GR members, shouldn't do at all - it would be easy to unfairly dismiss Hinton's Daytona: From the Birth of Speed to the Death of the Man in Black as probably a non-fic work about a bunch of former moonshine-running good ol' boys who "drive in circles for three hours" (to quote my mom's distaste for NASCAR races, as my father is a longtime fan) at high speed. Dear readers, let me be the first to dissuade you of that misguided notion - this was a surprisingly informative, dramatic, insightful and yet often very touching book about the history of stock car racing in America via the Daytona 500 event. But, even more importantly, it is filtered through the personalities - drivers, crew chiefs, team owners, etc. - of those involved in this sport of "winning Sunday money." Author Hinton is a veteran sports journalist - his regular beat was covering motorsports for the periodical Sports Illustrated from the 1970's up into the 21st century - so he truly had an inside track AND front-row seats (to mangle some puns) to the world of racing. The strong theme of his narrative - other than the evolution of the sport, and how the specter of death hovers like the midday sun over a professional driver - is 'fathers & sons,' or family matters. A good number of racers are legacy men, meaning their dads or brothers preceded them into this line of work, with the legendary Richard 'the King' Petty (#43, baby!) and his family likely being the most famous example of a sort of dynasty. This is dually mined for happiness (retired racer-turned-TV color commentator Ned Jarrett getting to excitedly announce his dark horse son Dale winning the 1991 Daytona 500 to a nationwide audience) but also for sadness (veteran racer Bobby Allison - who I was shocked to learn was a devout Catholic, as his aggressiveness on the tracks belied a humbly charitable heart - suffering career-ending injuries, only later to also lose BOTH of his sons in separate racing-related crashes). This is an unjustly forgotten book that unusually produced an equal number of smiles AND tears from me, and it made me think of my own father (who is planning to watch the Daytona 500 in two days with my own young son - see, there's that legacy thing again) and, most importantly, I found it to be entertaining, thought-provoking, and simply outstanding.
February 25, 2024
Ed Hinton is a terrific storyteller. From the sandy beach of Daytona to the high banks of the super speedway. The history of how stock car racing was born out of prohibition and moon shiners is interesting. I think the best part of this book is the characters; and that's exactly what they were. Sometimes tragic, but always characters.
July 30, 2014
Great book but there are a few errors...
The title basically says it all. This fascinating book uses Daytona International Speedway and the old racing surface of Daytona Beach itself as its lens to focus on the world of NASCAR. Hinton has been a beat reporter covering NASCAR since the mid-1970s and knows all of the old stories and Hinton is able to package them so that the reader is reading one little vignette after another until the history of Daytona is told.
I was reading another book when I picked up this one (a Christmas gift that I hadn't really paid a lot of attention to) and began thumbing through it. I couldn't put it down! It is well-written and at times it is laugh out loud funny, especially if you are a NASCAR fan and are familiar with the older, retired drivers.
However, a couple of disturbing, trivial factual errors throw a negative light on the book as a whole. Two that I noted were ...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...
The title basically says it all. This fascinating book uses Daytona International Speedway and the old racing surface of Daytona Beach itself as its lens to focus on the world of NASCAR. Hinton has been a beat reporter covering NASCAR since the mid-1970s and knows all of the old stories and Hinton is able to package them so that the reader is reading one little vignette after another until the history of Daytona is told.
I was reading another book when I picked up this one (a Christmas gift that I hadn't really paid a lot of attention to) and began thumbing through it. I couldn't put it down! It is well-written and at times it is laugh out loud funny, especially if you are a NASCAR fan and are familiar with the older, retired drivers.
However, a couple of disturbing, trivial factual errors throw a negative light on the book as a whole. Two that I noted were ...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...
July 7, 2013
Ed Hinton crafted a great book on the history of the race business in Daytona Beach. The book is very thorough to include much about the drivers themselves. At many points the book reads almost as fiction as the stories of these drivers and their owners blaze trails of auto racing history.
I remember talking to friend who is a Florida auto racing expert who praised the book for it's accuracy about the racing industry.
I was unhappy to see little about the actual history of Daytona Beach itself. The book never purports to tell the Daytona Beach history, but with the main title being 'Daytona', I hope for more.
I remember talking to friend who is a Florida auto racing expert who praised the book for it's accuracy about the racing industry.
I was unhappy to see little about the actual history of Daytona Beach itself. The book never purports to tell the Daytona Beach history, but with the main title being 'Daytona', I hope for more.
June 10, 2014
the book daytona was very good. all of the historical facts were 100% accurate. the reason that i gave this book 3 stars out of 5 is that the book feels like it drags on. but dont get me wrong this is a very good book to read if you do like the history of nascar. i personally liked this book it was very interesting.
i liked this book because this book was interesting to me. i liked to learn about all of the old nascar history and facts about the cars and motors that they used in the cars back in the day of dale earnhart. and they go over how dale earnhart had died in one of his races by spinning out and hitting a wall at over 190 miles per hour.
i liked this book because this book was interesting to me. i liked to learn about all of the old nascar history and facts about the cars and motors that they used in the cars back in the day of dale earnhart. and they go over how dale earnhart had died in one of his races by spinning out and hitting a wall at over 190 miles per hour.
September 20, 2018
This is a book for all diehard NASCAR fans because Ed Hinton digs into the simple beginnings of stock car racing in the south to what the sport has become today bringing in thousands of fans to the stands all season. For stock car race fans every race weekend is a super bowl.
The Daytona 500 is the super bowl race to kick off the season every February. With Hinton's background of the sport the reader is taken back to the 1950s when the race started on the beach to the multi-million dollar track it is today. The reader gets a glimpse into the lives of some of the brave or crazy souls who raced their hearts out every weekend with some giving their lives for the sport they loved.
The Daytona 500 is the super bowl race to kick off the season every February. With Hinton's background of the sport the reader is taken back to the 1950s when the race started on the beach to the multi-million dollar track it is today. The reader gets a glimpse into the lives of some of the brave or crazy souls who raced their hearts out every weekend with some giving their lives for the sport they loved.
January 21, 2011
Brilliant history of Daytona International Speedway, with a wealth of background information before the current track and NASCAR even existed. Recounts all the legendary and infamous moments of the speedway up to and including Dale Earnhardt fatal accident in 2001. Also includes great stories of many NASCAR's great personalities of the past.
August 5, 2007
By focusing on one track in particular, Ed Hinton is able to amazingly tell the story of American motorsports. It's my favorite book on the subject!
February 20, 2012
Ed Hinton is a crisp writer, filled with stories from the good ol' days. I love his style and his stories.
May 26, 2013
Starts slow but has many good insights after the first couple chapters.
March 1, 2014
Every race fan should read this book. It's like Racing History In America 101, brought to life by a man who has been there to see it unfold.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews