The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, or NASCAR, is a highly organized motorsports organization that sanctions national racing series and races in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Europe. Race car driver Bill France launched NASCAR in 1948 to promote the sport and to bring order with rules and regulations.
Since the early years, when stock car racing included former moonshine drivers from the U.S. South, NASCAR has always attracted and featured colorful personalities. On November 12, 2024, Motorbooks is publishing NASCAR MAVERICKS: The Rebels and Racers Who Revolutionized Stock Car Racing by H.A. Branham and Holly Cain. This new book tells the stories of more than 60 of NASCAR’s free-spirited personalities.
Why NASCAR MAVERICKS matters
Tales of NASCAR drivers’ exploits are entertaining, but the book’s compilation of stories, photographs, and history captures the independence, free-spiritedness, and will of the personalities that have characterized NASCAR since its beginning.
What the book contains
Beginning with a story about “Big Bill” France Sr., NASCAR historian H.A. Branham and motorsports journalist Holly Cain tell the tales of NASCAR drivers, crews, and other characters such as Smokey Yunick, Curtis Turner, Louise Smith, Janet Guthrie, and Wendell Scott. The list also includes stories about Brian France, the Busch Brothers, Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing team, and Jimmie Johnson’s longtime crew chief, Chad Knaus.
For the stories of the earlier drivers, Branham and Cain sourced journalists who witnessed the personalities in action. Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart wrote the forward, and current leading driver Ross Chastain penned the afterword. Both drivers’ tales are also included in the book.
