Praise for Jeff MacGregor's SUNDAY MONEY:

Editor's Choice: The New York Times Book Review, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, Dallas Morning News, The Toronto Star, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Orlando Sentinel, The Charlotte Observer, Corvallis Gazette-Times, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, The Albany Times-Union, Sports Illustrated, Book Lust, Amazon Best Books of 2005, AskMen.com, Deadspin.


"Essential... Wry, witty and clear-eyed, Mr. MacGregor recounts enough lore, and explodes enough myths, to keep racing followers in thrall. But his engaging book is also a primer for those who aren't among the 75 million who worship at the First Church of Nascar."
- James G. Cobb, The New York Times, June 3, 2007
- Read the Full Article



"The steamboat had Mark Twain. The stock car has Jeff MacGregor."
- Le Anne Schreiber, ESPN


"...one of our favorite sports books of all time... it's just an amazing book about this weird, scary, beautiful America. We know we're supposed to be all full of bile and vinegar around here, but we have a hard time even pretending to be cynical about this book: We desperately wish we could write like this. Buy it. Seriously."
- Will Leitch, Deadspin, November 22, 2005

- Read the Full Review & Interview


"...gripping... Outside of short glimpses in bars, restaurants and other places where the TV is not under my control, I've never watched a NASCAR race. But once I read even one page of Jeff MacGregor's SUNDAY MONEY, I was strapped in tight, circling the track at 200 miles per hour, unable to put the book down.... Even if NASCAR isn't your speed, MacGregor's colorful, original language and knack for finding the perfect detail will keep you riveted.... It's entertaining and lively, packed with examples and anecdotes and written by a sharp mind with a gentle hand. Put yourself on the fast track to the bookstore to buy SUNDAY MONEY."
- Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, MSNBC, June 24, 2005

- Read the Full Article

"...wickedly funny..."
- People, June 20, 2005

"A fabulous new book about the phenomenal stock car association... MacGregor traces the gothic Southern history of NASCAR, the prohibition days when grizzled drivers earned their stripes by carrying moonshine and outrunning cops on country roads. At every stop along the way, not to mention every Wal-Mart, MacGregor burrows into the cultural heart of NASCAR and blows up -- in both senses of the term -- its stereotypes.... Better than any sportswriter to date, MacGregor cracks the glazed personas of rock star drivers Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. His insights into four-time champion Gordon are killer...
MacGregor goes to great lengths to treat NASCAR fans and drivers with sympathy. He has a generous heart, and he succeeds.
- Kevin Berger, Salon.com, June 11, 2005
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"SUNDAY MONEY, which chronicles a frenzied year on the Nascar circuit, is MacGregor's attempt to grab the torch from [Tom] Wolfe... In that regard, he triumphs... SUNDAY MONEY is, for my money, the first (and maybe only) book that nonfans or casual fans or just the mildly curious should crack in order to understand the 'noise and speed and glory and death' that is Nascar."
- Jonathan Miles, The New York Times Book Review, May 22, 2005
- Read the Full Review


"The most remarkable parts of SUNDAY MONEY are... long, risky strings of images and impressions that roar along the page, no more likely to encounter a sentence-ending bit of punctuation than Jeff Gordon is to come upon a railroad crossing out of the first turn at Daytona. MacGregor pulls off dozens of these high-energy twists and turns without once scraping the wall. But he's also straight journalist enough to ask tough questions of the sport that blithely advertises itself as the country's most popular game..."
- Bill Littlefield, The Boston Globe, May 22, 2005
- Read the Full Review


"[Jeff MacGregor] bought a motor home, sweet-talked his wife into joining him and set out on an all-American odyssey, attending nearly 100 races in 35 states and clocking 47,649 miles on the odometer during the 2002 Nascar season. SUNDAY MONEY, the drivers' term for prize money, is his overstuffed log book, a wild, often hilarious take on the sights, sound and smells of a multibillion-dollar sport that some political commentators now see as the key to understanding mainstream America.... Mr. MacGregor writes the way Nascar drivers drive: foot on the floor, screaming into the turns, risking a spectacular blow-out.... "
- William Grimes, The New York Times, May 25, 2005
- Read the Full Review


"SUNDAY MONEY is an altogether strange and wonderful book.... If you like NASCAR, you'll like portions of SUNDAY MONEY and be outraged by other portions, because Jeff MacGregor is too smart to buy the whole package without carefully turning the product over and over in his hands until he sees its blemishes as well as the way it shines. But this book is really for people who enjoy drafting behind a writer who finds in fleeting images at the races clues to what we've become: a nation addicted to loud thrills and bright colors, a crowd happy to grasp and cling to a notion of patriotism built on plentiful oil and Wal-Mart -- concepts worth defending to the death."
- Bill Littlefield, NPR's "Only a Game," May 13, 2005
- Read the Full Review
- Listen to Jeff's "Only a Game" radio appearance


"...[MacGregor's] book is a rambling, all-consuming commentary on NASCAR and everything that crosses its path, including: Wal-Mart, motor homes, Jesus, patriotism, Jocko Flocko, pit lizards, driving schools and fan behavior. You name it, and MacGregor covers it. SUNDAY MONEY is as much a look at America as it is the NASCAR circuit. The book also is full of paragraph-length sentences that at times give the reader a breathless, light-headed feeling -- not unlike NASCAR. The prose is both slangish and stylish, mixing profanity and low-ball humor with metaphors as beautiful as any in a poetry chapbook...."
- Karsen Price, The Charlotte Observer , May 8, 2005
- Read the Full Review

"...Part travelogue, part history of stock car racing, and part philosophical exploration into the meaning of life on and off the track, SUNDAY MONEY captures the exhilaration of being part of a crowd focused on the tenacity and razor-sharp skills of the drivers.... MacGregor's fast-paced prose and his hard-driving firsthand account of what the racing life is like for NASCAR fans and drivers alike propel him past the checkered flag and into a victory lap around all other NASCAR books."
- Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Orlando Sentinel, May 8, 2005
- Read the Full Review


"Gearheads and fans of great sportswriting will find much to love in SUNDAY MONEY. Sports Illlustrated's Jeff MacGregor followed the NASCAR circuit for 11 months and 48,000 miles in an RV to create this portrait of fans, drivers and owners in America's fastest-growing sport. The wiseguy prose is pure daredevil, with characters and scenes so vivid you can smell the Valvoline and grilled turkey legs."
- Parade Magazine, Parade Picks, May 1, 2005


"SUNDAY MONEY: Been waiting for years for a definitive must-read for fans still trying to get a handle on NASCAR. This is it. Hate NASCAR? Don't get it? Be smart (and open) enough to read at least one book to understand it; Jeff MacGregor's is the one. Excellent."
- Dan Shanoff, ESPN's "The Daily Quickie," April 28, 2005



"...[MacGregor's] style is the literary equivalent of an incredibly talented dirt track racer: sliding and careening at extreme speeds on the very edge of control, with the bravado, guts, glory and volume to match. He comes to the sport as an urban intellectual, and endeavors to examine what has made NASCAR an iconic American institution. It's a glimpse under the hood for those that may not be fans, or have never attended a race.... It's a fun ride, and if you've ever daydreamed about following the entire circuit for a year, this is a must-have addition to your library.... "
- Jade Gurss, co-author of Driver #8, owner of fingerprint inc., providing publicity for Anheuser-Busch & Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Read the Full Review


" ...In fun, rambunctious sentences, some squirming over half a page, MacGregor crosses the breadth of the country ten times, mingling with people and absorbing the atmosphere, then spinning the happy anarchy back at us. He can make well-tooled, acidic wisecracks; provide dreamy sarcasm; and show a keen descriptive talent... He never comes across as superior to it all -- his shames and peccadilloes are all on quiet display -- but his eye and ear miss almost nothing... After this piece of good old new journalism's blister of words, the season is suddenly over, the reader wishing it weren't."
- Kirkus Reviews


"...Sports Illustrated contributor MacGregor and his photographer wife took a year-long road trip to cover all 36 races of the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup season. The result is this wonderful memoir, which speaks to both NASCAR fanatics and readers who view the stock-car phenomenon with a curious horror -- the same mix of feelings with which they might observe, say, a traffic accident. There are lots of yuks about the pair's travels in their newly bought 26.5-foot motorhome and their loving but painfully "honest" relationship with one another. But MacGregor's focus stays on NASCAR, and he offers up a short but solid history of the sport along with detailed, human portraits of the principals: founders, owners, drivers, teams, sponsors, and fans... In all, an informed and engaging account of NASCAR today."
- Booklist (starred review)


"Journalist and fiction writer MacGregor breaks out of the well-slicked groove of books on NASCAR auto racing, which typically repackage popular races, drivers, and history, to investigate the social and cultural fabric of the sport. MacGregor, who followed the 2002 racing tour in a motor home, has crafted inspired portraits of the fans, the drivers, and their interactions. His description of the carnival-like atmosphere of the Daytona 500 evokes the sensation of being there..."
- Library Journal


"The wittiest, most searching sportswriting since A.J. Liebling, SUNDAY MONEY is a brilliant stream-of-consciousness documentary of America's whirl into the twenty-first century, dragging its fierce love affair with internal combustion into the realm of a metaphysical circus. This is a book that anyone in pursuit of the American nation's secret resources, spiritual and automotive, must read."
- Robert Stone, author of Dog Soldiers, Damascus Gate,
Bay of Souls, Children of Light, Outerbridge Reach

"One part comic travelogue, one part cultural history, and three parts kick-ass sportswriting, SUNDAY MONEY is an exhilarating ride from pole to checkered flag. Jeff MacGregor is a witty, sharp-eyed observer; you couldn't ask for a better guide to the mysteries, drama, and unexpected pleasures of NASCAR."
- Tom Perrotta, author of Election and Little Children

"Jeff MacGregor shows a discerning affection toward the folks and the folk customs that inhabit this squirrelly piece of Americana. He's heard clearly over the din, seen through the smoke and the haze, and gotten it all down perfectly."
- Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, NPR, and author of
Everybody's All American

"NASCAR can rest. It has found its poet. In Jeff MacGregor, America has found one too."
- Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated


 




 




 


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