The Last Lap: The Life and Times of NASCAR's Legendary Heroes

by Peter Golenbock

Book Overview

Stock car racing is not only the most popular sport in the country, but it's also among the most dangerous, as well. Traveling at speeds of over 200 miles per hour, drivers risk their lives every time they take the wheel. To be competitive, drivers must feel invincible. The best of them did, and lived life -- on the racetrack -- to the fullest. Their zest for life and for racing is celebrated in this powerful book. In "The Last Lap, updated edition,"...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0028621476
• ISBN13: 9780028621470
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
• Length: 411 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

One of the best racing books ever written

At first, I was hesitant to pick up this book, as Golenbock is not exactly one of the most popular names in NASCAR writing. His last work on NASCAR - American Zoom - was filled with glaring errors and misinformation about the history of the sport. However, after sitting and reading merely a few pages from The Last Lap (...), I could tell this book was much different. Golenbock tells the history of NASCAR from a driver's standpoint instead of merely describing races and race results. Each era of racing is related to a different driver. He also tells the stories of several lesser known drivers who happened to have lost their lives prematurely. If you are a racing fan, I recommend this book. If you don't like racing, you may get curious after reading about the escapades of Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly. It is my personal opinion that you do not have to be a fan of NASCAR to enjoy this book.

I have read a lot of books on NASCAR and this is the best!!!

Peter Golenbock has captured the true face of NASCAR. He interviewed old time racers and their families to give you a look at what there lives where like. Stories about Curtis Turner, Fireball Roberts, Tim Flock, Maurice Petty and many others capture your attnetion for hours. This book is an absolute must have for any true NASCAR fan.

The best account available of the life and times of drivers.

This book is pure poetry in motion. From the story of Fireball Roberts and his untimely demise to the story of Joe Weatherly. A moving tribute to some of the greatest drivers ever.

The Most truthful book on racing ever published.

Finally a tome that is down to the nitty-gritty of a sport that nowadays is white-washed and sugar coated.I have been involved in auto racing my entire life and can identify with poeple like Ralph Moody and Lou Larosa and can understand there point of view on the state of the sport today.True racers could give two shits about money!

A Much-Needed Antidote To PR on NASCAR's 50th

Peter Golenbock first became involved in NASCAR with American Zoom, an oral history of the sport up to the 1992-3 seasons. Zoom was a superb look at the sport as seen from a variety of personalities. Golenbock, though, has outdone himself greatly with this superior oral history.Golenbock interviews a variety of people involved in the sport since its 1949 inception. Featured are Tim Flock, in one of his last interviews before his passing; the widows of Curtis Turner and Dewayne "Tiny" Lund; Buddy Baker; Harry Hyde's nephew Tommy Johnson; Ralph Moody; Maurice Petty; and on.The insights provided are often immortal. There is Maurice Petty's take on his brother Richard's career; he gives interesting insight into the factory wars of the 1960s, particularly Ford's involvement. "Ford (was) able to win the.... championship in 1968 because they threw a lot of Fords out there, a lot of drivers. They just kept throwing them out there...." Thirty ye! ars later, Ford's "buy-the-starting-field" tactic is still paying off.The most heartbreaking section is Wanda Lund Early's story of her relationship with "Tiny" Lund, the 1963 Daytona 500 winner, who was killed in a horrendous pileup in the 1975 Talladega 500. In a cruel irony, Lund had not even qualified for that race, but when Grant Adcox's chief mechanic Gene Lovell died of a heart attack the day before the race, Adcox withdrew, and Lund - the first alternate - got his spot.Wanda's relationship with Tiny got off to a decidedly bizarre start. "He turned me over on his knee" and spanked her "like a two year old. Then we were an item after that." She relates how Tiny had not particularly wanted to race at Talladega that day, but had given his word to owner A.J. King. Wanda's retelling of the gnawing trepidation that kept her from even listening to MRN Radio's call of the race that day leave's the reader sweating.But the mos! t fascinating chapters are those of Lou Larosa. An engine ! builder with some of the best teams the sport has ever seen, Larosa gives a tremendously interesting insight into the evolution of the sport from the early 1970s to today. He relates the rise of drivers Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, and is quite harsh on some of the sport's biggest names.Some of Larosa's insights are genuinely surprising: one would never have thought that the Rod Osterlund team with which Earnhardt and Larosa won the 1980 Winston Cup title would have almost closed down even before the 1980 season began. Yet it was winnings from race purses that carried the team until sponsorship from businessmen Warner Hodgedon and Mike Curb came along in May of that year.Larosa also gives a sharp insight into modern factory politics. When he and Earnhardt joined Richard Childress Racing in 1984, a top Chevrolet official told Larosa that they were, in essense, forbidden from winning the championship: "That's Junior Johnson's territory." Despite that,! RCR Enterprises won 25 races and two championships spanni