The Daytona 500

Gr 5—7—The granddaddy of NASCAR racing gets a spit-and-polish treatment in Pimm's clear, readable text, nicely embellished with plenty of photos. First black-and-white images from the sand days on the beach itself, then the candy-apple reds and panther blacks of today's aerodynamic racing machines spill across the pages. Liberally sprinkled with checkered-flag info boxes on a wide variety of topics ("Dueling at Daytona," "Ditching the Lead," and "Ladies of NASCAR," among them), the text follows the development of NASCAR racing in general and at Daytona in particular. The changing rota of drivers, the rivalries, the tragedies, and the evolution of the simple stock cars to the sleek machines seen on TV are included. A special chapter puts readers behind the wheel with John Andretti as he describes his sensations and actions during a race. While not as heady as the scent of hot engine oil or as dramatic as a 10,000 rpm engine at full throttle, this colorful entry should still have young race fans wheedling for a "Speedweeks" vacation and dreaming of a place in a pit box.—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY