NASCAR Mavericks The Rebels and Racers Who Revolutionized Stock Car Racing

by Branham, H.A.; Cain, Holly; Stewart, Tony; Chastain, Ross

• ISBN13: 9780760388785
• ISBN10: 0760388784
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2024-10-15
• Publisher: Motorbooks

Summary

In this officially licensed and stunningly illustrated volume, get a thrilling, up-close-and-personal look at NASCAR’s mavericks and key moments from the dawn of the sport to present day.

In every sport there are mavericks—trailblazers, risk-takers, hell-raisers, forward-thinkers—who drive the breakthroughs and advances that shape and define the sport. Written by longtime motorsports journalists H.A. Branham and Holly Cain, NASCAR Mavericks covers the NASCAR story in chronological order, focusing on key movers and shakers—the men and women key to the sport’s evolution—often related through first-hand stories. Racing great Tony Stewart’s foreword sets the scene.

Accompanied by exceptional images sourced from NASCAR’s archives plus other top photographers, the profiles include such NASCAR legends as:
 

• Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr.
• The Flock Brothers
• Lee and Richard Petty
• Smokey Yunick
• Janet Guthrie
• The Earnhardts
• Humpy Wheeler
• Tony Stewart

Interspersed with the maverick profiles are sidebars highlighting legendary races, machines, and events like the first Daytona 500, Plymouth’s Hemi Superbird, record-setting pit stops, Jeff Gordon’s T-Rex car, and more.

NASCAR Mavericks proves that racing always improves the breed!

Author Biography

H.A. Branham worked in the communications departments at NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway for nearly two decades. Prior to that, he worked as an editor and writer at the Tampa Tribune (Florida) for 21 years. He has authored five previous books, including four works of NASCAR history: Big Bill–The Life and Times of NASCAR Founder Bill France Sr.;Bill France Jr.–The Man Who Made NASCAR;The NASCAR Family Album; and The NASCAR Vault. Branham, a graduate of the University of South Florida, is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana. He has four children, two grandchildren, and lives in Ormond Beach, Florida, with his wife, Catherine.
 

Holly Cain is a veteran sports reporter, having covered all forms of auto racing for more than three decades–from Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Mario Andretti, and A.J. Foyt to the Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson eras, to today’s biggest stars such as IndyCar’s Scott Dixon, NASCAR’s Kyle Larson, and Formula One’s Max Verstappen. Cain has worked previously at major newspapers in Tampa, Dallas, and Seattle, and numerous online publications such as AOL Fanhouse, CBS Sports, NASCAR.com and the NASCAR Wire Service. She is the author of Rusty’s Last Call chronicling NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rusty Wallace’s farewell season. She makes regular appearances on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and (PRN) along with Tampa-based television stations as a racing analyst. Cain, a graduate of the University of South Florida, has two children and lives in her hometown of Lakeland, Florida.

Tony Stewart has been one of the most versatile racers of his–or any–generation, all the while achieving success in his own, inimitable style. After a twenty-year NASCAR driving career, the last eighteen of which were spent in the NASCAR Cup Series, Stewart retired from his NASCAR driver duties following the 2016 season to focus on his co-ownership of Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) with industrialist Gene Haas. His new Tony Stewart Racing Team joined the NHRA in 2022 with two full-time entries, one driven by his wife Leah Pruett. Stewart himself returned to the track full-time in 2023, in the NHRA’s Top Alcohol Dragster class.

Since first wheeling a go-kart in 1978 at a Westport, Indiana, racetrack, Stewart has won thirteen driving championships during a career highlighted by three NASCAR Cup Series titles. The Columbus, Indiana, native came to NASCAR in 1999 by way of the IndyCar Series, where he was the series champion in 1997. And before he made his mark in Indy cars, Stewart won four United States Auto Club (USAC) open-wheel titles, perhaps his personal-best homage to his hero, A.J. Foyt. Stewart has been inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the NASCAR Hall of Fame (2020), the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame (2020), the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2019), the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame (2019), the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame (2019), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame (2018), the USAC Hall of Fame (2016) and the National Midget Racing Hall of Fame (2001). Stewart still lives in his hometown of Columbus, Indiana. He announced in 2023 that he would replace his wife behind the wheel of the TSR Top Fuel dragster in 2024, as the couple wanted to focus on starting a family.