Sunday Money: Speed! Lust! Madness! Death! a Hot Lap Around America with NASCAR

Until reading Sunday Money, I had little interest in books about motorsport racing in general, and about NASCAR in particular. However, since childhood, I have had a keen interest in books which focus on adventures during a journey of some kind. Homer's Odyssey, for example, and Cervantes' Don Quixote. More recently, William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways and River Horse. To me, such books are like "magic carpets" which transport me to unfamiliar cultures and often to distant centuries. That said, Sunday Money is one of the most entertaining as well as most informative books I have read in recent years. MacGregor and his wife (an award-winning photographer) committed ten months and a small fortune to traveling almost 50,000 miles throughout the United States inorder to observe a complete NASCAR racing season first-hand. As I began to read this book, these were the questions of greatest interest to me: 1. What were the origins of NASCAR? 2. What have been the most significant developments since then? 3. Most people observe NASCAR races on television or at a distance from the on-track competition. What did the MacGregors (especially Jeff) learn about NASCAR racing which can only be experienced "up close and personal"? 4. Why has NASCAR racing become so popular? 5. What are the most common misconceptions about it and those who are so devoted to it? 6. In MacGregor's opinion, what does NASCAR reveal about our society? 7. What were the MacGregors' fondest memories of their 35-state journey? 8. How do male and female perspectives on NASCAR racing differ? 9. Why does NASCAR racing remain "overwhelmingly, blindingly white"? 10. For those who have not as yet driven a competition car, what's it like? MacGregor answers each of these and other questions for those who know little and care less about motorsport racing. My guess (only a guess) is that several are the same questions which MacGregor had when he and his wife began their journey of exploration and discovery within the NASCAR World. It was a pleasure to tag along with them.

Boogity boogity boogity, let's go reading! So a guy who isn't really a hardore NASCAR fan at all ups and buys a motorhome and he and his wife (who sounds like the coolest chick on the planet) follow the NASCAR circuit like hippies following the greatful dead. the book is a travel narrative based around stockcar racing, with the history of the sport and organization, anecdotes, interviews, and a regular guy's view of the culture. the less you know about NASCAR, the better, you will learn all about it. as long as you don't absolutely despise the sport, you will probably enjoy the hell out of this book. the author is quite unbiased. he doesn't just praise NASCAR, he tells the good and the bad, and gives some insight into the whole shebang that touches on things i never even thought about, like how, weather you like it or not, if you buy anything at your supermarket, you are linked to NASCAR. the book is well written, funny, poetic at times, and i honestly felt like i was living in his motorhome with him and travelling right there with him. the only people i might not reccommend this book to are the hardcore fans, who already know just about everything this guy talks about, but then again, they might enjoy this guy's opinion and experiences, so yeah, i would reccommend it to everyone i talk to. yeehaw!

It is hard to describe the pleasure reading this book causes. Part of it is the sheer audacity of abandoning your comfortable life in NYC to the strict confines of motorhome living. And then reading as Jeff and his wife try to understand what they have gotten themselves into. And yet through all the noise and the smoke, Jeff seems to have crystallized the NASCAR experience for the fan and non-fan alike. His descriptions leap off the page and require you to pay attention. A must read for any fan of great writing

I wouldn't consider myself a died-in-the-wool huge NASCAR fan, but this book was terrific. MacGregor's style is full of wit and yet he peels back much of the unknown about NASCAR and it's followers. He more than satisfies our curiosity and, as a result, leaves us not only smarter about NASCAR, but wiser about the kaleidoscope of our society.

Perhaps a little mad himself (he and his wife cash their savings in for a dee-lux motorhome), a better author I couldn't imagine for taking me on this raucous roll around the racetracks, and through the heart of America. SUNDAY MONEY is a sexy, witty, colorful portrait of the world that is NASCAR.