Speed: Stories of Survival from Behind the Wheel

Adrenaline offers all the thrills and power of speed with exhilarating writing about NASCAR, speed records, third-world road trips, driving in war zones, getaways, "pick-up" competitions (drag races and games of chicken), and all the other activities that offer adventure on wheels. Speed includes passages from Road Fever by erstwhile adventurer Tim Cahill; a selection from Charles Portis's anarchic The Dog of the South; a description of driving across...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560253916
• ISBN13: 9781560253914
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Pretty Good . . . But -

First of all, the stories in the book are not necessarily the ones listed above. Nothing by McMurtry, or EB White, or the history of NASCAR. Just be aware. Since I'm sending in a correction, it may be fixed by now.Now, what are in the book are 15 stories, and the 10 that are non-fiction are terrific. You'll go into the pits at NASCAR, on the track at Indy and across numerous continents during road rallies. The writing is great and the excerpts do what excerpts should - they had me in the store looking for the whole work. Nate Hardcastle made wonderful choices.But . . . here's the but. Five stories - a full one hundred pages are fiction, and not really very exciting fiction at that. Maybe it's me - maybe I just don't get it - but the book's subtitle is Stories of Survival, not Best Writing about Cars. I know there were plenty of other exciting nonfiction stories that could have gone in here, better in keeping with the Adrenaline label. You'll still enjoy this - the first ten stories are worth 5 stars by themselves - but nearly 1/3 of the book is not quite what I expected.