Suggested motor sports reading

To those with knowledge:

I'm about to step in to a motor sports beat at a daily for the first time. I like covering motors OK (I'd put it in my top 5) but I don't have the passion of a junkie. I want the passion of a junkie or, failing that, the passion necessary to keep the junkies reading to the end of my story.

Literature usually gets my engines burning (pun intended). Are there any good/required racing books out there that would get me on the inside of the sport looking out?

 

Which corner of the sport? NASCAR? IRL / Champ Car? Drag racing? Each has its better reads.

 

What Moddy said.

 

Just go to the track and be a sportswriter.

 

It'll be mostly NASCAR and drags.

 

I wouldn't suggest covering NASCAR in drag.

 

"The Hot Rod: Resurrection of a Legend," by Brock Yates, goes a long way toward explaining car culture in general. "Daytona: From the Birth of Speed to the Death of the Man in Black," by Ed Hinton, is exceptional on NASCAR.

 

Yep. That's the one.

Everyone should read it, actually.

 

This is not really a NASCAR book, but it is a great read from the long-time publisher of National Speed Sport News

Let 'Em All Go!
By Chris Economaki with Dave Argabright
http://www.daveargabright.com/Let%20'Em%20All%20Go.htm

 

Get a sub to NASCAR Scene

 

Peter Golenbock has written two good books on NASCAR:

American Zoom
Last Lap, The Lives and Times of NASCAR's Legendary Heroes

I second the suggestion to read Scene. Jeff Owens and Rhea White are excellent writers.