"Red dirt tracks is a fictional drama based on historical events, real people and actual happenings about the lives and careers of early race car drivers, before and immediately following the advent of NASCAR."--P. [7].

History of automobile racing on dirt tracks in the southern United States. Focuses on the first Dirt Cars of the late 1950's, the "late models," the "super late models," and on the Dirt Racing Speedways and series. Includes short biographies of 25 famous drivers and 92 photographs.

Prior to World War I, auto racing featured expensive machines and teams financed by auto factories. The teams toured the country, and most of the races were held in large cities, so the vast majority of Americans never saw a race. All this changed after World War I, though, and in the 1920s and 1930s there were approximately 1,000 dirt tracks in the United States and Canada. The dirt tracks offered small-time racing--little prize money and minimal publicity--but people loved it. This pictorial history documents dirt track racing, with what are today called sprint cars, around the United States from 1919 to 1941. Information on dirt track racing in Canada during this time is also provided. Regionally divided chapters detail the drivers, tracks, and specific races of each area of the country. Some of the drivers went on to win fame and fortune while others faded into obscurity. Tracks included well known facilities as well as out-of-the-way sites few people had ever heard of. The cars ranged from state of the art machines to the more common home built specials based on Model T or Model A Ford parts. Taken together, the drivers, tracks, and races of this era were instrumental in making auto racing the popular sport it is today.

It's a sizzling summer Saturday, and Headwaters Speedway has suddenly become the place to be. Thanks to rainouts across the state, this small-town dirt track is drawing both big-time stock cars and local drivers. There's Trace Bonham, whose Street Stock Chevy is acting up in a big way. And Beau Kim, whose "stone soup" Modified has been patched together from whatever parts he could scrape up. And no one could forget Amber Jenkins, a strawberry blonde who has what it takes to run rings around them all. Keeping everyone on track is Melody Walters, who knows that the impending rain might be exactly what they need to keep her father's speedway afloat—or sink it for good. In Will Weaver's high-revving novel, the first in the Motor series, a cast of car-obsessed teens and adults are all out to prove themselves, both on and off the quarter-mile track, as they move through their day on a collision course to meet on Saturday night dirt. Saturday Night Dirt is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

In this history of the stock car racing circuit known as NASCAR, Daniel S. Pierce offers a revealing new look at the sport from its postwar beginnings on Daytona Beach and Piedmont dirt tracks through the early 1970s, when the sport spread beyond its southern roots and gained national recognition. Real NASCAR not only confirms the popular notion of NASCAR's origins in bootlegging, but also establishes beyond a doubt the close ties between organized racing and the illegal liquor industry, a story that readers will find both fascinating and controversial.

The campervan sits in the driveway, waiting for jaded academic Alice and her husband Will to retire and hit the road...any day now. But when Will suddenly dies, Alice is lost. Unhappy at work and with her future plans thwarted, she rises daily, putting one foot in front of the other; existing, not living. Until one day, when she climbs into the campervan and decides to go alone. Escaping her city life, Alice heads across the Nullabor, taking the odd job as it comes along and meeting a colorful cast of characters who will change the way she views the world. Red Dirt Odyssey is a reminder that life can change in a moment. An exploration of contemporary Australian life, loss and loneliness, friendship and renewal, risk and adventure, it is a powerful narrative set against the dramatic landscapes of coastal Australia and the Outback.

"Inspired by teen musician, Forrest French"--Cover.