Then Junior Said to Jeff

This collection of behind-the-scenes happenings from the history of the beloved stock car series shares stories of the great and the infamous, revealing privy insights into the drivers that fans thought they knew everything about. The book grants a glimpse into Buck Baker’s tomato juice incident, how his son Buddy Baker landed face first in the mud on an ambulance stretcher, Dale Earnhardt’s 1997 Daytona 500 rolling crash and how he famously went from ambulance to car to complete the race, Tony Stewart’s realization that racing was the ideal career choice, and how Jeff Gordon “misplaced” his commemorative Richard Petty money clip. Race fans with allegiance to any era of NASCAR, past or present, will feel drawn into the inner circle of the drivers after sharing in these inside stories that are worth the telling.

Jim McLaurin is an award-winning NASCAR journalist for the State in South Carolina who has twice been honored with the National Motorsports Press Association George Cunningham Award, as well as with the International Hot Rod Association Media Award. He is the author of NASCAR’s Most Wanted and coauthor of Taking Stock: Life in NASCAR’s Fast Lane. He lives in Columbia, South Carolina. David Poole was a celebrated NASCAR journalist for the Charlotte Observer. He was the host of “The Morning Drive” on Sirius NASCAR radio and the author of NASCAR Essential, as well as a four-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association George Cunningham Award. Tom Gillispie is an editor, an author, and a veteran sportswriter who has covered auto racing and other sports for many years, including for the Winston-Salem Journal. He has also written for numerous motorsport publications that include Auto World Weekly, Stock Car Racing Magazine, and Speedway Illustrated. He lives in Rural Hall, North Carolina.