Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR

Neal Thompson

Feb 2009 · Sold by Crown

About this ebook

The true story behind NASCAR’s hardscrabble, moonshine-fueled origins, “fascinating and fast-moving . . . even if you don’t know a master cylinder from a head gasket” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

“[Neal] Thompson exhumes the sport’s Prohibition-era roots in this colorful, meticulously detailed history.”—Time

Today’s NASCAR—equal parts Disney, Vegas, and Barnum & Bailey—is a multibillion-dollar conglomeration with 80 million fans, half of them women, that grows bigger and more mainstream by the day. Long before the sport’s rampant commercialism lurks a distant history of dark secrets that have been carefully hidden from view—until now. 
 
In the Depression-wracked South, with few options beyond the factory or farm, a Ford V-8 became the ticket to a better life. Bootlegging offered speed, adventure, and wads of cash. Driving with the Devil reveals how the skills needed to outrun federal agents with a load of corn liquor transferred perfectly to the red-dirt racetracks of Dixie. In this dynamic era (the 1930s and ’40s), three men with a passion for Ford V-8s—convicted felon Raymond Parks, foul-mouthed mechanic Red Vogt, and war veteran Red Byron, NASCAR’s first champ—emerged as the first stock car “team.” Theirs is the violent, poignant story of how moonshine and fast cars merged to create a sport for the South to call its own. 
 
In the tradition of Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, this tale captures a bygone era of a beloved sport and the character of the country at a moment in time.

Ratings and reviews

I've not had the chance to read the book as of yet. However Bernard Mitchell Mentioned on page 215 was my father. There are photos of his car in the air with others passing under it. There is a spot way above the car that he always told us was him. My father was a great story teller and often would pull your leg as he would say. He died in 1975, It was several years later when we had the picture blown up and hung in my brother Mike pool hall. Stockbridge Billiards in Stockbridge Ga. That you could clearly see it was indeed him way up above the car. I was wondering if the publishers knew there was even a photo of the crash. I'm very honored that he is to be remembered in print for generations to come to learn a little about him. Jack Mitchell

Good one

About the author

Neal Thompson is a veteran journalist who has worked for the Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, and St. Petersburg Times, and whose magazine stories have appeared in Outside, Esquire, Backpacker, and Men’s Health. He teaches at the University of North Carolina-Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program and is author of Light This Candle: The Life & Times of Alan Shepard, America’s First Spaceman. Thompson, his wife, and their two sons live in the mountains outside Asheville, North Carolina.