Wide Open: Days And Nights On The Nascar Tour

The author of Wide Open: Days and Nights on the NASCAR Tour takes his title from the acronym WFO, racing shorthand for a less clean version of "wide open"; to go WFO is to bring the hammer down. When conditions are right and the car feels good, a driver has a chance to go WFO--that is, if he has the skill and the guts. Going WFO in a 700-horsepower racecar, confined by a limited space and surrounded by 40 similar vehicles, is a relative concept, having more to do with the vehicle's performance and the driver's threshold for fear than anything else. This is the driving force behind stock car racing; it's a ludicrously dangerous sport that embodies everything Americans cherish: high risk, big money, and palpable thrills. Shaun Assael chronicles a year in the life of the people involved in the ever-moving caravan of Winston Cup racing. Following the fortunes of three drivers on the 1996 tour, he provides an up-close look at the tremendous mental, physical, and financial pressures that mount for the competitors of the world's biggest and fast-growing spectator sport. Wide Open is a fast-paced ride behind the scenes of the NASCAR tour.