“Moonshiners put more time, energy, thought, and love
into their cars than any racer ever will. Lose on the track and you
go home. Lose with a load of whiskey and you go to jail.” —Junior
Johnson, NASCAR legend and one-time whiskey runner
Today’s NASCAR is a family sport with 75 million loyal fans,
which is growing bigger and more mainstream by the day. Part
Disney, part Vegas, part Barnum Bailey, NASCAR is also a
multibillion-dollar business and a cultural phenomenon that
transcends geography, class, and gender. But dark secrets lurk in
NASCAR’s past.
Driving with the Devil uncovers for the first time the true
story behind NASCAR’s distant, moonshine-fueled origins and paints
a rich portrait of the colorful men who created it. Long before the
sport of stock-car racing even existed, young men in the rural,
Depression-wracked South had figured out that cars and speed were
tickets to a better life. With few options beyond the farm or
factory, the best chance of escape was running moonshine.
Bootlegging offered speed, adventure, and wads of cash—if the
drivers survived. Driving with the Devil is the story of
bootleggers whose empires grew during Prohibition and continued to
thrive well after Repeal, and of drivers who thundered down dusty
back roads with moonshine deliveries, deftly outrunning federal
agents. The car of choice was the Ford V-8, the hottest car of the
1930s, and ace mechanics tinkered with them until they could fly
across mountain roads at 100 miles an hour.
After fighting in World War II, moonshiners transferred their
skills to the rough, red-dirt racetracks of Dixie, and a national
sport was born. In this dynamic era 1930s and ’40s, three men
with a passion for Ford V-8s—convicted criminal Ray Parks,
foul-mouthed mechanic Red Vogt, and crippled war veteran Red Byron,
NASCAR’s first champion—emerged as the first stock car “team.”
Theirs is the violent, poignant story of how moonshine and fast
cars merged to create a new sport for the South to call its
own.
Driving with the Devil is a fascinating look at the well-hidden
historical connection between whiskey running and stock-car racing.
NASCAR histories will tell you who led every lap of every race
since the first official race in 1948. Driving with the Devil goes
deeper to bring you the excitement, passion, crime, and
death-defying feats of the wild, early days that NASCAR has
carefully hidden from public view. In the tradition of Laura
Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit , this tale not only reveals a bygone era
of a beloved sport, but also the character of the country at a
moment in time.
From the Hardcover edition
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