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Rock-em, Sock-em, Travelin' Sideways Dirt Show: A History of Robert Smawley’s NDRA

FAST MEMORIES
Springfield Speedway
1947-1987

ECHOES OF THUNDER
IN THE HILLS

REBELS WITHOUT APPLAUSE: Southern Modified and Late Model Racing 1938-1949

The Ghost Racetracks
of Portland, Oregon

WISCONSIN
INTERNATIONAL
RACEWAY: Where
the Big Ones Run!

Dirt Tracks to Glory:
The Early Days
of Stock Car Racing As
Told by the Participants

THE ASPHALT MODIFIED YEARS AT THE STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY, 1967-1986

Modifieds of the Valley: 
A History of Racing at
Lebanon Valley Speedway

LIFE IN THE PAST LANE: The Next Generation

THE HOME OF HEROES:
Fifty Years of Racing at

Utica-Rome Speedway

FLORIDA MOTORSPORTS RETROSPECTIVE, Vol. 1, Second Edition

A History of Auto Racing
in New England

RED CLAY AND DUST:
The Evolution of
Southern Dirt Racing

All American Speedway

PAVED TRACK  
DIRT TRACK

HOT CARS
COOL DRIVERS

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S-1495
Price: $24.95

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Rock-em, Sock-em, Travelin' Sideways Dirt Show: A History of Robert Smawley’s NDRA

by Gary L. Parker


The story of the first national touring series for Dirt Late Models. Robert Smawley, founder of the National Dirt Racing Association (NDRA) was a visionary promoter who was clearly years ahead of his time. He brought money and national fame to Late Model dirt racing and its drivers. His series changed the sport of dirt racing forever. All of today’s national touring series owe their beginnings to Smawley and his "travelin' dirt show."

Author Gary Parker's father took him to his first dirt race at the famed Boyd's Speedway in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1955. Over the course of 60 years, he has watched hundreds of races all over the South and at several historic tracks that no longer exist. He traveled and became close friends with some of the icons of Southern dirt racing and was a crew member for a number of teams from the late 1960s through the 1970s and into the 1980s. Parker holds a PhD. in Anthropology.

Soft cover, 186 pages, 164 photographs, most in color.



S-1463UC
 Price: $24.95

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Back in Print!

FAST MEMORIES
Springfield Speedway 1947-1987

by Joyce Standridge and Terry Young

For 40 years, between the first thaw and the final frost, thousands converged at the corner of Clear Lake and Dirksen Parkway in Springfield, IL, to bask in the throaty roar of racing engines.

 "Little Springfield" became legendary as the toughest, fastest bullring imaginable. This is a comprehensive photo journey through the years.

Soft cover, 148 pp., 431 B&W photos.



S-983
 Price: $19.95

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ECHOES OF THUNDER IN THE HILLS
Photographic Memories of 1960s Auto Racing in Southeastern Ohio and Adjoining West Virginia

by Tony Martin

Covers the history of auto racing along the Ohio Valley from 1958-1972.

The book is printed on good stock, enhancing the more than 200 original photographs shot by two of the era/area's prominent racing photographers.

The story of the evolution from the old coupes and sedans to today's sprint cars is conveyed largely through the many photos and photo captions. 

Soft cover, 262 pp.










S-1749
 Price: $38.95

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REBELS WITHOUT APPLAUSE
Southern Modified and Late Model Racing 1938-1949

by Greg Fielden

REBELS WITHOUT APPLAUSE is the latest work of Greg Fielden, among the country’s most esteemed racing historians. He brings alive the pivotal, formative years before and just after World War II, starring a band of rowdies barnstorming across the South, inside and out of their primitive race cars - and the pokey.

Fielden's detailed research provides race-by-race recaps, along with box scores and money winnings for each race. For the first time, the real records, drama and often darkness of the era leading up the formation of NASCAR are brought colorfully to life.

Informal but highly informative, the book is 204 pages with 250 B&W and color photos. Soft cover, 8 1/2x11.”  






S-1748
 Price: $25.00

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The Ghost Racetracks of Portland, Oregon

by Bob Kehoe and Ralph Hunt

The Portland Speedway, dating back to 1924, stood as the anchor for automobile racing in Portland, Oregon, principally from 1936 until its demise in 2001.

Two more racing venues - Jantzen Beach Arena and, for a few years, the horse racing track at Portland Meadows - were added. These facilities were located within a one-mile radius of the Speedway. Northwest racing history was made at these speedways, much to the delight of millions of fans, who all had their local heroes.

This book is the first volume in a series that the authors hope will preserve the rich history of racing in Portland.

Soft cover, 492 pp. B&W photos.





S-1581
 Price: $19.95

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WISCONSIN INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY: Where the Big Ones Run!

by Joe Verdegan

Wisconsin International Raceway’s famous tagline is an accurate description for the generations of big-name drivers who have honed their skills on the Kaukauna racetrack.

WIR has been the Wisconsin racing destination for more than half a century for local hotshots like Terry Baldry, Scott Hansen, and Lowell Bennett, as well as NASCAR stars Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Alan Kulwicki, and Dick Trickle among others.

 Joe Verdegan shares interviews and classic photos to introduce the colorful characters and off-track stories that are part of WIR’s lore. 

Soft cover, 214 pages, color and B&W photos.

 

 

 



S-1710
 Price: $60.00

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Dirt Tracks to Glory: The Early Days
of Stock Car Racing As Told by the Participants


by Sylvia Wilkinson

More than forty years ago, Sylvia Wilkinson took her note pad, a tape recorder and an open mind to the dirt bull rings and backwoods of garages in the American South in the hopes of capturing the reflections of the people who made NASCAR stock car racing happen. What she encountered were the folksy origins, colorful characters and rough beginnings of today's billion-dollar sport.

In this all-new, beautifully designed and illustrated edition of Dirt Tracks to Glory we return to the very personal and often hilarious inside stories of sharp-witted people who became legends in the early days of NASCAR. Bill France Sr, Humpy Wheeler, Curtis Turner, "Little Joe" Weatherly, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, the Flock Brothers, Banjo Matthews, Smokey Yunick and a host of others emerge from these pages with their personal reflections and wry commentary on the way it was in the days of "haulin' shine", bangin' fenders and out-smartin' the other hot-shoes on Saturday nights.


Author Wilkinson says: "This book was told to me by and about the people who went with stock car racing from its beginnings...It is not an encyclopedia of stock car racing biographies, but a series of individual remembrances and perspectives of one special revelation of the American dream - from Dirt tracks to Glory!"

Hard cover with dust jacket, 208 pages, 100+ B&W photos.



S-1666
 Price: $17.95

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THE ASPHALT MODIFIED YEARS AT THE STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY, 1967-1986

By the Grace of God and 600 Horsepower

 

by Phil Smith

Racing journalist Phil Smith has fully documented what many consider the Golden Years of Modified Racing at Stafford Speedway, year by year, race by race.

The book focuses on the era’s personalities - drivers, owners, officials and track management. Jack Arute Sr. was co-owner of the Garuti-Arute Modifieds - among the top Mods at the time; most important in the history of the period was that Jack and Chuck Arute stepped up to purchase the track when it was in dire straits and faced closure.

Soft cover, 240 pp.

 






S-1600
Price: $29.95


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Modifieds of the Valley:  A History of Racing at Lebanon Valley Speedway

by Lew Boyd

Seven decades of colorful stories and images from Lebanon Valley Speedway, upstate New York’s ultra-racy half-mile dirt track.

Famous for high banks and high speeds, the popular track grew from a primitive start in the 1950s to a showplace for the mighty Big Block Modifieds and WoO, All Star, and ESS Sprinters, as well as for celebrated drivers Kenny Tremont, Tommy Corellis, Brett Hearn, Eddie Marshall, JR Heffner, Stewart Friesen, and so many more.

Soft cover, 252 pages, 280 color and B&W photos. 

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S-1167
Regular Price: $55.00
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THE HOME OF HEROES:
Fifty Years of Racing at Utica-Rome Speedway
by Bones Bourcier


Few short tracks in the Northeast – or anywhere, for that matter – can lay claim to having hosted as many top-level drivers as New York’s Utica-Rome Speedway. Because it operated as a high-profile NASCAR asphalt oval before becoming one of the region’s premier dirt tracks, Utica-Rome has welcomed, at one time or another, just about every racer of significance in the eastern United States, no matter their surface of preference.

They’ve all competed here … from Rene Charland, champion in the track’s first season, to Stewart Friesen, champion in its 50th … from Lou Lazzaro to Pat Ward … from Steady Eddie Flemke to Dave Lape … from Geoff Bodine to Jack Johnson … from Jerry Cook to Paul Jensen … from Richie Evans to Dale Planck … Utica-Rome Speedway has truly been the home of heroes.

But the track’s history has not been a long, smooth patch of road. Between Joe Lesik, who opened Utica-Rome in 1961, and Gene Cole, under whose current reign the speedway has flourished, came a number of ownership and management teams. Some prospered, others slipped and hit the wall. But through it all, the speedway along Route 5 in Vernon has survived, and racing is better for that.

Beautifully written and heavily illustrated, this Limited Edition is a collector’s item!

Hard cover, 400 pp, 500 B&W and color photos.




S-1405
Price: $34.95
Special: $24.95

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A History of Auto Racing in New England

- A Project of the North East Motor Sports Museum

There has never been a book like this one, a carefully researched and written biography of automobile racing in New England.


A History of Auto Racing in New England celebrates the colorful past of racing cars in the six states on road courses, up mountains, along the ocean’s beaches, around dirt and paved ovals, and down strips of concrete and asphalt.

More than the cars, we have focused on the people who drove them and those who created the stages on which the drivers exhibited their courage and their skill. The early races that make up much of the book were profoundly dangerous; participation required abnormal courage. As we celebrate the winners, we mourn with the families and friends of those who paid racing’s ultimate price.

A few have become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams through New England racing. The majority have participated for the love of going fast, the joy of turning wrenches while looking for more speed or better handling or to hear the cheers of the crowd following a winning Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

Go inside this book’s covers to discover how racing in New England has made so many lives more thrilling and fulfilling – and in ways that could never happen again.

Proceeds benefit NEMSM.

Hard cover, 400+ B&W photos, 304 pages.

S-229
Price: $23.95

Hot Cars
Cool Drivers



 by Lew Boyd

Hot Cars Cool Drivers is the story of three great Massachusetts speedways, Norwood, Westboro, and The Pines. With four hundred photographs and scores of interviews with the Northeast’s most colorful competitors, the book chronicles the amazing rise and fall of the midgets and then the stock cars.

If you ever attended a race in Massachusetts or if you are serious about understanding the evolution of racing, this book is an absolute must!

Soft cover, 240 pages,
400+ black & white photos.


S-816
Price Was : $16.95
Special: $14.95


PAVED TRACK  
  DIRT TRACK

by Lew Boyd

Bridge Stadium in New Jersey and Nazareth Raceway in Pennsylvania were gritty but dramatic tracks that hosted the finest drivers from all over the Eastern Seaboard.

Amazing tales of Schneider, Flemke, Tasnady, the Reutimanns, Kelly, Frazee, Hildreth and many more.

Hundreds of pictures, most never before published.

The latest in our track book series.

Soft cover, 8 1/2" by 11",
220 pages, over 200 photos.







S-1582
Price: $19.95

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LIFE IN THE PAST LANE: The Next Generation

by Joe Verdegan


Author Joe Verdegan has had a front-row seat to the stories, people and politics that have captured the attention of northeast Wisconsin auto-racing fans for decades.

As the region’s recognized racing historian, Verdegan provides an expert’s perspective on the people and events that defined a turbulent era from roughly 1980 to 2017.

Verdegan presents the driver rivalries, family connections, and passionate dedication to the sport displayed by track owners and promoters in this follow-up to his earlier LIFE IN THE PAST LANE: A History of Stock Car Racing in Northeast Wisconsin from 1950-1980.

Soft cover, 222 pages, color and B&W photos.









S-1493
Price: $39.95
Special: $27.95

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FLORIDA MOTORSPORTS RETROSPECTIVE, Vol. 1, Second Edition

by Eddie Roche

Back at last is Volume 1 of Eddie Roche’s classic Florida Motorsports Retrospective Pictorial, long out of print and much requested.

But the second edition is greatly enhanced with more track chapters; updated track records and point champs; major event winner listings, additional photos and much-improved photo quality. It’s now a comprehensive directory of 150 past and current Florida tracks (ovals, road courses, and dragways).

Even if you have the original, you will want this collectible second edition.


Soft cover, 200 indexed pages, 1500 photos.








S-1459
 Price: $24.95

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RED CLAY AND DUST: The Evolution of Southern Dirt Racing

by Gary L Parker

A history of automobile racing on dirt tracks in the southern United States.

The book focuses on the first dirt cars of the late 1950s, the "Late Models," the "Super Late Models," and on the dirt tracks and series.

Included are short biographies of 25 famous drivers, with 92 photographs.

Soft cover, 182 pages.













S-1342
Price: $21.95
Now: $18.00


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All American Speedway

by Bill Poindexter


It began as a rodeo arena with bucking broncos entertaining an annual gathering for the Placer County Fair in Roseville, California, about 10 miles east of Sacramento. The rodeo grounds eventually gave way to a different kind of horsepower in 1955, when a dirt track was built.

The original Roseville Speedway later became All American Speedway. The surface was paved in 1972, and three years later, its signature race, the Rose Classic, was born.

Future NASCAR drivers Ernie Irvan, Mike Skinner and more visited the track. The Rose Classic went away in the early 1990s, but NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action lives on each year.

Soft cover, 128 pages.