Speedway Books

All I can say is WOW...I just got back from Phoenix Raceway and had the opportunity to tailgate with Big John and the Ginn Racing Team...Big John is FABULOUS...The food was hearty and healthy too! Can you believe he made me eat all my veggies??? Well that was not hard to do because they were delicious...I am a Soldier in the Army and I have sampled some of the finest chow around the world...And I must say that Big John is the man!!! I am purchasing this book because I am a believer...Absolutley OUTSTANDING chow...A big "HOOAH" to Big John...Army Strong!

It is an answesome cookbook. The sloppy joes are A must make. There are even Deserts in there.

If you have NEVER tasted anything this man cooks, on or off the track

GET THIS BOOK!

He's a great friend and a great cook. I've been lucky enough to enjoy his food while on the NASCAR circuit.

Great book for your camping buddies.

The book was so entertaining and have tried a couple of the recipes already and they are great. Haven't seen "Big John" in over 20 years, but thought the book would be a great present for a friend, Bob Stout (not knowing that Mark had sent Bob the website and he'd already ordered his own copy). Just like having John in the room, reading the anecdotes.

Good recipes that are easy to follow, interesting stories, very informative for new tailgaters. You don't have to be a race fan to enjoy this book.

I presented actor Billy Bob Thornton with a copy of this book as his belated Christmas present (from 2007). When Billy Bob, proud owner of a midnight blue classic Chevelle muscle car, unwrapped the book and saw what it was about, he gasped, "Oh, wow!" I then presented him with the second part of his gift--one of Mark's acrylic paintings titled "Darrell's Cougar." It's a picture of a gray Mercury Cougar rescued from the junkyard in the film U-TURN. He added Billy Bob's character, Darrell the scary mechanic, behind the car. Needless to say (but I will say it anyway), the book and the painting were a huge hit. He couldn't stop showing both off to his fellow band members from The Boxmasters. Mark Osborne is a decidedly American talent who knows the way to a good ol' boy's heart is through his dream car. And Mark's a nice fella, to boot!

This book is great, you will not want to put it down until finished, if you were there when these things happened or just reading it will make you feel like you were there. For me it brought back so many old memories, and also the part before my time gave me an insight of what had happened before I knew the speedway. This is a book you will want to add to your collection of racing, and the art work is marvelous, Mark had to have the love for racing to be able to put his heart and soul into these.

Teresa C Way

An absolute must read for racing fans of any kind who have respect for the sport as well as for the risk-taking drivers. The vivid descriptions provided by the author's word choice had me reliving the good ole days with fond memories! Do yourself a favor, escape from today's reality and get lost in the small southern town of Sumter! Great read!!!!!

This book is about honesty. It's about the everyday occurances and problems that we all face, but steps into a realm few of us want to go. Being real and honest about what we feel is not a place that is comfortable. I found reading Ron's words were hard sometimes, they can make you cringe because you know exactly what he's feeling....you've been there too. They can be over the top, almost too graphic, but then an amazing sense of peace and sensitivity can be found in other passages.
I'm not a critic of poetry, I know what I like and don't like. This is honest and raw, as real as the picture on the cover. There is torment and peace inside. Get ready to see yourself on these pages...that's probably the most difficult part.

To all of those that have purchased my book, and supported me through this project.

I was stunned by what I found in this book, which quite literally, is a history of the birth of NASCAR told by some of its biggest names. We've all heard the legends of "moonshiners" and racing, but hear them told by the moonshiners themselves (or the wife of the major one), as well as Junior Johnson, makes this an unbelievable read. That in itself should be enough to make one buy the book.
But then, you hear about the "2nd generation" with Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Donny Allison and others talking about their experiences, and UNEDITED, in their words. To hear their own reverence of Lee Petty, Ralph Earnhardt, Ned Jarrett, Dink Widenhouse, Bobby Waddell, Buck Baker, and so many others left me with shivers.
This is the most incredible NASCAR book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The pictures, the tales, the people will blow you away. Especially the one of Dale Earnhardt Jr crying!!!

Don't miss this book. I cannot give this book any more than 5 stars, but it deserves twice that many.

This is truly one of the greatest racing books I have read. The photos are incredible, but not to take away from the content and the individaul stories. There are so many individual interviews with the Greats, like Richard Petty, Donnie and Bobbie Allison, Dennis Setzer, Bill France, Jr. Mr. Washburn even interviewed Mrs Fireball Roberts and Tiny Lund's former wife. The stories from Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett help to solidify the significance of racing in North Carolina. The extra treat...How Moonshine Money made racing.

There are those who form the catalysts in our lives, who lead in such a way
that they influence history. John Wilson was a keen observer of people who were genuine leaders and fairly portrayed their strengths and weaknesses.
As both an Indiana reporter, and a key player in the Justice Department, he
saw six decades of pivotal history in civil rights, Supreme Court rulings,
and tragic scandals. He reported at a time when reporters and office holders used tact and diplomacy before greedy scoops. His summations give credit to those who aided him through the years, instilling a sense of gentlemanly conduct. He longs for the days to return when both sides of a question are fairly debated. I could not put this book down and read it straight through.

Disclaimer: I was born and reared in Indianapolis and represented it in the U.S. House for 30 years. So naturally I savor this book about the people and places I know well. However, the book goes beyond the borders of my state, both because the author had two careers in Washington,D.C. and because the book is a beautiful ride in a time machine to palpable American history, styles, customs, attitudes, governmental policies and, yes, a fair amount of nievate about such things as tobbaco and slick sales scams.

This book is the ultimate guide for any type auto racing fan! I've got the '90 edition-it's getting pretty worn out. Time to get a new one. Plan a visit to a local short track on your next vacation. KEEP THIS BOOK WITH YOU WHEN YOU HIT THE ROAD! Like they say, don't leave home without it! Best bang-for-the-buck for any auto racing enthusiast!

If you are an auto racing fan and headed into new territory, you must have this book. It's very well organized. The entries (updated each year) are thoroughly reliable. Events, phone numbers and directions for every track. Schedules for major national and regional series.

You cannot call yourself a race-chaser without owning at least one copy.

Greg Fielden continues his outstanding work as one of the premier historians of Nascar Stock Car Racing. As with his earlier efforts; "Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volumes 1-5" and "Real Racers" ... Fielden's writing makes you feel as if you experienced some of the events he describes. I have visited many race tracks over the years, but never Charlotte ... 15 minutes of reading made me go check the race schedule for the upcoming season so I can witness some of the adventure that fills this book. If you're a Nascar fan, owning this book is a must ... if you are just generally a race fan (be it Champ Car, IRL, Stock Car or F1 as I am) you can't go wrong owning a copy.

"These poems revel in the precision of their own comic-constructed logic. It is a matter of fact that anything may turn into anything and hold, feelings encouraged to burst - 'the impossibility of tidiness.' I'm all for poetry that, like Covey's, wants to pull down the sky."-- Anselm Berrigan

"I admire these multi-tasking, speed of light, postmodern poems: the 'deferential machinery' of their precise absurdities and comic veerings, and the surprises ignited in almost every line. Each text is wild yet exact. Pulse and synapse quickening, cerebral, dabbling in the erotics of geometry, but also cartoony, this is lip smacking word art for a hungry 21st century citizenry." -- Amy Gerstler

"Elapsing Speedway Organism affords many pleasures. It can be goofy (rhyming "gargle" with "marbles"); and it can be keen ("If the dollars don't add up, drop your signifying"). Covey has a talent for recontextualizing the everyday, most brilliantly in his many list-poems. Popular culture, food, travel, it's all here. And what better way to humble Romantic sublimity than this: 'I want to wrap my claws around the uninterrupted sky / And pull it down around me in a puddle at my ankles.'"-- Jennifer Moxley

"Bruce Covey's delightful and willfully eccentric writing combines the giddy weightlessness of the information age with a barrage of tactile feedback. His poems are both hi-tech and low-rent, offering '14 Kung Fu Climaxes' as well as instructions that coach us to 'Ride into the electric descent.' I guarantee you'll notice a shiny new angle, curious corner, or 'charismatic fold' every time you open this book."-- Elaine Equi

The Bettenhausens have to be the most hard-luck racing family in the history of auto racing and the Indianpolis 500. Father Tony was killed at the Indianapolis 500. Merle lost part of an arm in a crash at Michigan and Tony (Jr.) was killed in an airplane crash (along with his wife Shirley and 2 other people). This book is in my auto racing memorabilia collection and it should be in yours as well.

In his history of this westside-Indianapolis parish, James Divita does a surprisingly good job of providing an informative and entertaining text. Within this book can be found not only the story of the parish, but various sections giving information and insights into this church's important and colorful people. Easily read and filled with superb photographs, the book is one which the reader may want to browse repeatedly. This book, another in Divita's excellent series of Indianapolis Catholic histories, is a must-have for any person interested in local church history.