Full Throttle
The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner
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- 12,99 €
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- 12,99 €
Description de l’éditeur
"A superbly researched and engagingly written biography" of NASCAR legend Curtis Turner, known as the Babe Ruth of stock car racing (Sports Illustrated).
Curtis Turner's life embodied everything that makes NASCAR the biggest spectator sport in American history; the adrenaline rush of the races, the potential for danger at every turn, and the charismatic, outrageous personality of a winner. Turner created drama at the racetrack and in his personal life, living the American Dream several times over before he died a violent and mysterious death at the age of forty-six.
In gripping prose, and with access to the files of Turner's widow, sports writer and author of NASCAR Generations Robert Edelstein offers the first complete chronicle of Turner's life. From his days as a teenage moonshine runner in Virginia, through millions earned in fearless finance deals, to his incredible comeback after four years of being banned from the NASCAR circuit, Full Throttle lets you ride shotgun with the legend.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Curtis Turner dominated the sport of stock car racing and thrilled fans with his daredevil driving in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, long before NASCAR became an official racing organization. Motor sports writer Edelstein breathlessly recounts Turner's career as well as his significant contributions to the sport. Turner (1924 1970) started driving his father's car at age nine; by the time he was a teenager, he was running moonshine in the Virginia hills, becoming famous for his ability to outrun cops. During those years, Turner perfected a move immortalized by Burt Reynolds in his Smokey and the Bandit movies: he'd slam on the brakes, spin a complete 180 to face his pursuers and escape. Turner moved on to racing at dirt tracks throughout the South, driving with the reckless abandon he'd learned as a teenage 'shine runner. His personal life moved quickly, too: he became a millionaire many times, but spent the money as quickly as he earned it, often on failed business ventures, women and parties. Edelstein is impressed by Turner's accomplishments (and rightly so); he effusively chronicles one after another (e.g., Turner's status as the first race car driver pictured on Sports Illustrated's cover; his building of the Charlotte Motor Speedway) and draws on concrete sourcing based on Turner's personal files to give the book depth and perspective. Photos.
