
×
Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.
For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now.

NOOK Book(eBook)
Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps.
WANT A NOOK?
Explore Now
LEND ME®
See Details
9.99
In Stock
Overview
Okay, I never raced and, honestly, at best I’m barely an auto mechanic. But I’m not new to auto racing. My father, Samuel, owned an auto parts store and was a truly talented mechanic who built and owned stock cars that raced at the old West Peabody Speedway in Massachusetts. We spent Saturday evenings at that track. I spent endless hours making wooden soapbox derby racers. And well before NASCAR was so popular, we spent every Memorial Day weekend glued to the radio and later the TV to hear the Indy.
In 1953, when I was just ten, my father built the first “micro-midget” race car in our hometown of Beverly. To the great annoyance of the neighbors and local police, I raced it all over town. On a straightaway at the Beverly Airport, we pushed it up toward 30—about the same speed the first racecars hit when Olds brought his racer to Ormond Beach, Florida, for the first-ever auto race in 1903.
Who would have thought an auto mechanic’s son would become a dedicated poet? But that’s what happened, and a later-life moment provided the inspiration for this new book of poems. In a conversation not long before my father passed away (at the age of 89) he confessed to me, “I never understood your poetry!” That set me on a project to write a book of short pieces—of poetry—that would appeal to everyone, particularly auto racing fans.
The book is based on my researching a lot of racing history, interviews with fans, drivers, crews, lots of time at NASCAR events. I suppose I should also admit that I indulged myself and spent way too much money fixing up a 1968 Olds Cutlass 442 convertible with a re-worked 451 engine in it. Who cares if the numbers didn’t match. Just take your foot off the brake at a stop light and you’d get whiplash leaving rubber. (It went away in that divorce...) So, I’ve also put in some of my own personal experiences because fast cars, racing, love and friendships are all intertwined as an important part of my life.
I hope these poems make an easy and enjoyable read. These poems mean what you think. There are no deep, hidden meanings here, and no, there will be no test at the end of the book! Just enjoy the sights, sounds and emotions at the heart of one of America’s most popular sports.
David B. Axelrod
In 1953, when I was just ten, my father built the first “micro-midget” race car in our hometown of Beverly. To the great annoyance of the neighbors and local police, I raced it all over town. On a straightaway at the Beverly Airport, we pushed it up toward 30—about the same speed the first racecars hit when Olds brought his racer to Ormond Beach, Florida, for the first-ever auto race in 1903.
Who would have thought an auto mechanic’s son would become a dedicated poet? But that’s what happened, and a later-life moment provided the inspiration for this new book of poems. In a conversation not long before my father passed away (at the age of 89) he confessed to me, “I never understood your poetry!” That set me on a project to write a book of short pieces—of poetry—that would appeal to everyone, particularly auto racing fans.
The book is based on my researching a lot of racing history, interviews with fans, drivers, crews, lots of time at NASCAR events. I suppose I should also admit that I indulged myself and spent way too much money fixing up a 1968 Olds Cutlass 442 convertible with a re-worked 451 engine in it. Who cares if the numbers didn’t match. Just take your foot off the brake at a stop light and you’d get whiplash leaving rubber. (It went away in that divorce...) So, I’ve also put in some of my own personal experiences because fast cars, racing, love and friendships are all intertwined as an important part of my life.
I hope these poems make an easy and enjoyable read. These poems mean what you think. There are no deep, hidden meanings here, and no, there will be no test at the end of the book! Just enjoy the sights, sounds and emotions at the heart of one of America’s most popular sports.
David B. Axelrod
Product Details
BN ID: | 2940013801912 |
---|---|
Publisher: | TotalRecall Publications, Inc. |
Publication date: | 12/07/2011 |
Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
Format: | NOOK Book |
Pages: | 120 |
File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Dr. David B. Axelrod served as Suffolk County, Long Island’s Poet Laureate, before moving to Daytona Beach, Florida. He is founder of Writers Unlimited Agency, Inc. (www.writersunlimited.org) which he directed for over thirty years, and also publisher of Writers Ink Press. His newest project is the Creative Happiness Institute, Inc., where he offers his services to the public.
He has published twenty books of poetry in addition to hundreds of essays and articles. He is the recipient of three Fulbright Awards, including his being the first official Fulbright Poet-in-Residence in the People’s Republic of China. The New York Times described him as “A Treat!” He has shared the stage with such literary notables as Louis Simpson, Galway Kinnell, William Stafford, Robert Bly and Allen Ginsberg, performing at the United Nations and around the world. He has been translated into fifteen languages.
He has published twenty books of poetry in addition to hundreds of essays and articles. He is the recipient of three Fulbright Awards, including his being the first official Fulbright Poet-in-Residence in the People’s Republic of China. The New York Times described him as “A Treat!” He has shared the stage with such literary notables as Louis Simpson, Galway Kinnell, William Stafford, Robert Bly and Allen Ginsberg, performing at the United Nations and around the world. He has been translated into fifteen languages.
Customer Reviews
Related Searches
Explore More Items
The extent of the abilities of the human mind have never been fully realized. What
would happen if an illegal drug, discovered by accident, could open pathways that have never before been opened?In the late 1960s, American young people began ...
On July 6, 1946 the SS Josiah Wedgwood was thirty miles from the Port of ...
On July 6, 1946 the SS Josiah Wedgwood was thirty miles from the Port of
Haifa. I was an eighteen-year-old crewman on that vessel, which was carrying 1,257 Holocaust survivors from camps in Italy to Palestine. Passengers and crew alike ...
<B>Its complicated! The Mob - Stolen cars - Military - Cops - Stabbings – Medical ...
<B>Its complicated! The Mob - Stolen cars - Military - Cops - Stabbings – Medical
- Prison - Federal – Legal - FBI – Crimes – you will see.</B> A powerful true story of one child's escape from the horrors ...
Sisters, Riley and Miranda are beyond excited to tour Disneyland, California. While they are enchanted ...
Sisters, Riley and Miranda are beyond excited to tour Disneyland, California. While they are enchanted
with the attraction It's A Small World, Disney Magic cocoons them transporting the girls back to the time of American slavery. In the woods near ...
Jola´n Marko, an eleven year old girl, flees her native Hungary hiding in the back ...
Jola´n Marko, an eleven year old girl, flees her native Hungary hiding in the back
of a meat truck heading for Austria with her parents during the revolution against Communist Russia in 1956. Molotov Cocktails, Russian bayonets, an aircraft fire ...
<B><I>LOOSE ENDS KILL</I></B> is a fast paced mystery/thriller that takes place in the historic city ...
<B><I>LOOSE ENDS KILL</I></B> is a fast paced mystery/thriller that takes place in the historic city
of San Antonio, Texas, and throws Jim West into the middle of a police investigation of the murder of an old friend’s wife. The police ...
Four teenagers, one the star quarterback of his high school's team, their fathers, their priests ...
Four teenagers, one the star quarterback of his high school's team, their fathers, their priests
plus a corrupt college booster and a police captain, collide with greed, ambition and convoluted definitions of morally right. All are blanketed by a dark ...
After his parents' marriage and finances collapse, high school junior Kyle Donovan must move in ...
After his parents' marriage and finances collapse, high school junior Kyle Donovan must move in
with his no-nonsense grandfather in the city and discover whether football can help him overcome ethnic and socioeconomic obstacles.Kyle Donovan, a seventeen year old star ...