NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series has become one of America’s fastest-growing spectator sports, with nationwide television coverage, custom-built race cars, and superstar drivers. Yet the sport’s roots are grounded in the moonshiners and farm boys who raced souped-up family cars every weekend on the dirt tracks of the Southeast. The evolution of stock car racing from a band of regional weekend warriors into a billion-dollar industry sponsored by some of the nation’s largest corporations is explored by eight of the sport’s most respected and experienced chroniclers. Taking Stock includes previously unpublished stories about the past and present of racing, and it provides a close-up look at the characters, rich and poor, prominent and obscure, who possess the stuff of legends.

This collection features racing stories by award-winning motorsports journalists Monte Dutton of the Gaston(GASTONIA, N.C.) Gazette, Kenny Bruce of NASCAR Winston Cup Scene, Mike Hembree of the Greenville (S.C.) News, Jim McLaurin of the State (Columbia, S.C.), Jeff Owens of NASCAR Winston Cup Scene, David Poole of the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, Thomas Pope of the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, and Larry Woody of the Tennessean (Nashville).