Author Neal Thompson Shares the Spirits-Soaked Stories of His Book
Driving With the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels and the Birth of NASCAR
On North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, July 27 at 9:30 PM

NASCAR, a sport that prides itself on fast-paced, death- defying thrill rides, is quickly emerging as a symbol of America itself. The red, white, and blue logo is splashed across everything from cereal boxes and magazines to clothing and even leather recliners. At a time when some pro-baseball teams play before paltry crowds of a few thousand, attendance at NASCAR races averages nearly 200,000 and is growing by 10 percent a year. The sport’s stars are millionaire celebrities, appearing in music videos, dating supermodels, and living in mansions. But how did NASCAR happen at all? And why? 

In the latest episode of UNC-TV’s local literary series North Carolina Bookwatch, premiering Friday, July 27, at 9:30 PM, Author Neal Thompson discusses these questions and more when he shares his recent work, Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels and the Birth of NASCAR.  

“This is not a book about NASCAR really, it’s broader than that, and it explores a whole lot of ground that deals with the history of moonshine, the history of the south, and the people who started this sport,” admits Thompson. “But what led me to spend so much time exploring the phenomenon of NASCAR as well is from seeing what the sport has become over the years.”

In Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels and the Birth of NASCAR, author Neal Thompson takes readers on a trip down the weathered red-dirt roads below the Mason-Dixon line, uncovering the whiskey-soaked stories of the troubled men who, with the help of moonshine and fast cars, created a new sport for the South to call its own.

In this exclusive interview, Thompson, an Asheville resident, reveals that he is an unlikely figure to capture this historic slice of this southern sport.

“I’m from New Jersey, I’m not from the south, I didn’t grow up running moonshine or going to NASCAR races, but in the past few years, I, like everyone else in the country, have seen NASCAR grow from this regional sport into this monstrous national thing…a little bit circus, entertainment and even religion,” says Thompson. “And even though it’s been around since the late 940s, it’s really been in the past decade that it has exploded and become this national thing. There are upwards of 70 million dedicated fans, even more casual fans, television contracts worth billions of dollars, merchandising worth millions, drivers who are millionaires with mansions…and surprisingly half the fans of NASCAR are women. So, I think there are lots of things about NASCAR in its current format that would surprise people who don’t follow the sport.”

Don’t miss DG Martin’s all-new interview with Neal Thompson on North Carolina Bookwatch, Friday, July 27, at 9:30 PM, with an encore episode airing Sunday, July 29, at 5 PM, only on UNC-TV!

During the 20-week, 10th anniversary season of North Carolina Bookwatch, guests also include: J. Peder Zane (The Top Ten), Gov. Michael Easley (Look Out, College, Here I Come!), Michele Bowen (Holy Ghost Corner), Joseph Bathanti (Coventry) Joanna Catherine Scott (The Road from Chapel Hill), James Dodson (Beautiful Madness), Dan Heath (Made to Stick), Margaret Maron (Hard Row), James Peacock (Grounded Globalism: How the U.S. South Embraces the World), Tim Madigan (I’m Proud of You), Melton McLaurin (The Marines of Montford Point), Kathryn Stripling Byer (Coming to Rest), David Guy (Jake Fades),  Georgann Eubanks (Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains), Zelda Lockhart (Cold Running Creek), Mike Lassiter (Our Vanishing Americana: A North Carolina Portrait), Joe and Terry Graedon (Best Choices from the People’s Pharmacy), Fred Hobson (Off the Rim), and William Powell (Encyclopedia of North Carolina).

For additional information about series guests and airdates, plus links to the Bookwatch blog and online book club, please visit: www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

Funding for North Carolina Bookwatch is provided by UNC-TV members and by Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh’s independent, full service bookstore, bringing readers and writers together since 1984.

North Carolina Bookwatch is part of UNC-TV’s ongoing commitment to produce programs for and about North Carolina. UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

For more information about North Carolina Bookwatch and UNC-TV’s other original productions, please visit our website at www.unctv.org.