Life: American Speed: From the Wild and Woolly Dirt Tracks to the Rise of NASCAR Nation

by Life Magazine and LIFE

Book Overview

Wonderful, fierce photography from the beginning of the automobile age proved that as soon as gas made cars go, the boys out back made them go fast. The carny circuit that was car racing in America... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1931933197
• ISBN13: 9781931933193
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Life
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 9.9" x 10.7"

Customer Reviews

Slicky Racing

We watched Jeff Gordon race on a quarter mile dirt track in Lawrenceburg, IN when he was fourteen years old. In many way Jeff exemplifies the subtitle of this slick publication from Life. Time-Warner has a publication on many subjects and each have the same style, heavily illustrated with glossy top notch photos and surprisingly some very good information. It does lack an index for finding a favorite without reading a section. A brief survey of all phases of racing and the men and women that induce the magic of speed. It is not one of the great annals on American racing, but it is a great way to spend time during the commercials. We wanted to include this volume on our Listamania for Dirt Track Racing, but could not access it other than through a search under dirt track racing. Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Sins of the Fathers."

Thrills On the Race Track!

The earliest racing in Europe and the U. S. was on the open road. In Rhode Island, in September 1896, eight four-wheelers lined up at a horse-racing over for what would be the world's first track race. In the first decade of the 20th century, in 1903 in Florida they started thirty-two years of land-speed trials on the hard-paked sand of Ormond Beach. Racing swept the country. It started on April 24, 1908, in New York as a Stock Car Race, the first on average town and country roads. On March 13, 1910, Los Angeles had its own race at Ascot Park, the last (100-mile) dirt-track race staged there. In the early days of racing, cars were almost exclusively playthings for the wealthy. The Indy races started on a smaller scale on June 20, 1902 at the State Fairgrounds. In 1909, the races there were still short, but they decided to build a Speedway of 500 miles which was finished in 1911. We now have a NASCAR racetrack at Bristol, Tennessee. In the 1955 movie, 'Rebel Without A Cause,' the photo shows a young Natalie Wood giving her "good luck" shake to James Dean as he starts a drag race. Mickey Rooney starred in a racester movie called 'The Big Wheel' in 1949. Of course, everyone knows 'Thunder Road' filmed on the hilly,curvy roads around East Tennessee in 1958, which starred Robert Mitchum. In 'American Graffiti' in 1973, we saw a race of the Fifties Chevies and one fancy roadster. Elvis drove one in 'Viva Las Vegas' with Ann-Margaret as his co-pilot. Today, NASCAR is one of the biggest businesses there is in America. Some years ago, I met Darrell Waltrip as he was induced into the Sports Hall of Fame in Nashville (the first race car driver to earn that honor) and asked for his autograph to give to Zachary. His son has gone on to keep the image alive.