My Life in the Pits: Living and Learning on the NASCAR Winston Cup Circuit
Rich, a sports marketing consultant and former journalist, has written an occasionally insightful but mostly superfluous tale of life within the inner sanctum of NASCAR. Stock-car racing, long considered the red-headed stepchild of American sport, has had a spectacular growth over the past 20 years, evolving from the Deep South moonshine trade that brought it to life into a multibillion-dollar nationwide phenomenon. Each time Rich begins to entice the reader with legitimate insight into the sport, she immediately compromises her argument by ducking behind one of three fronts: a somewhat snobbish and coquettish debutante attitude that belies the simple country girl shtick of much of the book; a dime-store display of feel-good pop psychology; and a dubious habit of painting an idyllic portrait of genteel Southern life unencumbered by issues such as race. Readers are told that NASCAR is the most popular sport in the U.S. but, considering its Southern origins, it seems a little odd that the circuit has fewer black participants than hockey. Unfortunately, Rich never attempts to interpret such anomalies, which is disappointing, especially because her introduction is a fabulous, funny tale of misconceptions about the sport and its fans that promises much more than the rest of the book delivers. Rich most certainly has a great NASCAR book in her this just isn't it.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.