Book Review: NASCAR Legends by Robert Edelstein
Published in 2011, NASCAR Legends charts a course through 50 years of stock-car history via portraits of some of its biggest personalities and most memorable races. From the early 1990s, journalist and author Edelstein spent more than a decade on the NASCAR beat at a time when the sport was at its most popular but also endured tragedies like the deaths of Dale Earnhardt and Adam Petty.
Edelstein’s interest in NASCAR history was prompted by a 1993 meeting with Bobbie Allison. If you’ve read Peter Golenbock’s outstanding Miracle: Bobbie Allison and the Saga of the Alabama Gang, you’ll know that there are few drivers with a bigger tale to tell than the admirable Allison, who endured more tragedies than anyone should have to bear.
NASCAR Legends starts and, movingly, finishes with Allison, returning briefly to his story midway through, as Davey Allison enters the narrative. The early sections on convertible racing, Curtis Turner and the ’79 Daytona 500 are interestingly told – in the case of Turner, I assume, born out of Edelstein’s research for an earlier book, Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner, which I’m sure I’d really enjoy.
Unfortunately, much of the second half of the book is given over to popular stars of the late-1990s and 2000s – the Earnhardts, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson – and the tone, in contrast to the early chapters, is too contemporary for the NASCAR Legends title, even if those drivers’ place in the history of the sport is undisputed. Too many as-it-happens soundbites clog the text – both direct quotes from commentators during race coverage and the generally uninteresting stuff that drivers have to say after a race, without the perspective to reflect on their careers.
If I want to watch a race from the 1990s or 2000s, chances are I can look it up on YouTube. Reading a transcript of what was said is altogether less appealing. In the Acknowledgements, Edelstein credits his wife for removing, “20% of the fat”. I feel like there’s at least another 10% that could have come out of the final draft.
Make no mistake, there’s some interesting material here, but overall NASCAR Legends has an oddly incoherent feel that for me, doesn’t do complete justice to either its protagonists’ stories or the author’s undoubted knowledge and enthusiasm.
NASCAR Legends
by Robert Edelstein
Overlook, 2011. ISBN 978-1-59020-184-8
Find it on eBay
Find it on Amazon
Edelstein’s interest in NASCAR history was prompted by a 1993 meeting with Bobbie Allison. If you’ve read Peter Golenbock’s outstanding Miracle: Bobbie Allison and the Saga of the Alabama Gang, you’ll know that there are few drivers with a bigger tale to tell than the admirable Allison, who endured more tragedies than anyone should have to bear.
NASCAR Legends starts and, movingly, finishes with Allison, returning briefly to his story midway through, as Davey Allison enters the narrative. The early sections on convertible racing, Curtis Turner and the ’79 Daytona 500 are interestingly told – in the case of Turner, I assume, born out of Edelstein’s research for an earlier book, Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner, which I’m sure I’d really enjoy.
Unfortunately, much of the second half of the book is given over to popular stars of the late-1990s and 2000s – the Earnhardts, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson – and the tone, in contrast to the early chapters, is too contemporary for the NASCAR Legends title, even if those drivers’ place in the history of the sport is undisputed. Too many as-it-happens soundbites clog the text – both direct quotes from commentators during race coverage and the generally uninteresting stuff that drivers have to say after a race, without the perspective to reflect on their careers.
If I want to watch a race from the 1990s or 2000s, chances are I can look it up on YouTube. Reading a transcript of what was said is altogether less appealing. In the Acknowledgements, Edelstein credits his wife for removing, “20% of the fat”. I feel like there’s at least another 10% that could have come out of the final draft.
Make no mistake, there’s some interesting material here, but overall NASCAR Legends has an oddly incoherent feel that for me, doesn’t do complete justice to either its protagonists’ stories or the author’s undoubted knowledge and enthusiasm.
NASCAR Legends
by Robert Edelstein
Overlook, 2011. ISBN 978-1-59020-184-8
Find it on eBay
Find it on Amazon