The Physics of Nascar: The Science Behind the Speed

I learned a TON from this little book. Reading it has increased my science literacy significantly (that will let you know how weak I am in science... I was a music major in college and studied the social sciences in graduate school. Hard science background? Basically none)This is a fun title, and a great way to get people solid science content "on the sly." However, as a newer NASCAR fan, I found the book absolutely essential. The depths of this wonderful American sport are difficult to describe to the uninitiated. Many of my friends think the sport is just corporate sponsored cars turning to the left. I love working on my own car, in fact I love all things mechanical, and I love things that go fast; I for one find NASCAR totally enthralling. This book has only deepened my obsession.As an educator I found this book potentially quite powerful. I recently read  Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work  and I find it connects with this book in interesting ways. I think the author is interested in increasing science literacy by connecting the concepts to something that students will find engaging an interesting. I think one of the reasons so few students are rapt with the hard sciences these days (besides the fact that they are hard in more ways than one) is that we have done away with serious manual education in the classroom. Students used to learn about combustion and tolerances of certain materials connected with the manual, interesting, and observable phenomena of a car in auto-shop. Shop classes are on the chopping block everywhere, and science classes devoid of real world applications students find interesting become even more abstract and difficult to follow. This book, like Shop Class as Soulcraft, may be part of the remedy for this terrible situation.Sometimes it is evident that the author is interested in giving science lessons on the sly, as opposed to just dealing with the science of NASCAR. For instance, in the section on paints, she goes into a lengthy discussion on light waves work and how our eyes perceive color. This would be outside scope if the purpose of the book were to simply address the science of NASCAR. If the purpose of the book is to increase the science literacy of NASCAR fans (especially the kids) then it is not outside the scope at all, and is very valuable.As a teacher (NOT a science teacher) I found this book EXCELLENT. I think it would do school districts a service if this book were placed on summer reading lists for the science department. This is a book students who are NASCAR fans will be drawn to. And it will teach them a LOT if they stick to it.From the perspective of understanding automobiles, the economics of racing, how the race car is built, and other inside elements of NASCAR this book is incomparable. It will give one a decent overview of the sport and will really increase interest in the races by making the would-be fan much more aware of everything that goes into fielding a winning NASCAR team.This is a great book. Highly recommended for NASCAR fans of all ages... ESPECIALLY students at the High School (or even bright Junior High students) to help them understand why studying science is so important. Diandra Leslie-Pelecky is a physicist and that is noble. But she transcends the rarified air of the academy to also be a good teacher, and that is even more noble in my book.

I loved that book, and read it in two sittings and have lost track of my copy, since it is being passed around by a bunch of my colleagues who are some of the best aerospace engineers in the world. Thus it gets my 5 star seal of approval.I have to admit that I never was really interested in any NASCAR activity. For me NASCAR was synonymous with huge, loud, beer swilling, funny hated and sun burned crowds. The millions of people that spent their time and a small fortune to watch a few dozen cars roll around a track driven by good old boys trained in the hinterlands of home made moonshine country, with the accompanying noise dust and yelling from the hyper heated crowd, was absolutely not my cup of tea. Something I am sure, is difficult to find around the tracks, at Talladega or other Texas Motor Speedways.So smug in my opinion, I do not remember what attracted me when I saw the gaudy colored cover of this book, beside the title. Being an aerospace engineer with about as many degrees as stickers on a "Car of Tomorrow" body, I was intrigued by the title. Was there really physics in NASCAR?The instant I opened the book, I was hooked. The science is not exactly graduate school stuff, which is perfect for this type of popular books, but it refreshed some of my undergraduate memories and it is with delight that I jumped in with both feet and read the book in two sittings. That I was amazed is an understatement, I was even more delighted. A complete new world opened to me. The clear, concise and easily to follow physics lesson by Dr. Diandre Leslie-Pelecky are a delight to read, at least for an avid science reader as myself. It is maybe asking too much of each of these above described NASCAR fans to be excited by basic metallurgy, or the atomic structure of hydro carbons, or an explanation of turbulence and other air flows, but they should maybe be interested in problems like "roof lift", which maybe could cause some mayhem. By the way, I learned how extremely important the safety aspect of the race, for drivers and cars is for the NASCAR management.From the descriptions of how to built the car, to the physics of aero dynamism, and going through a complete explanation of what happens physically when the rubber really meets the road, I was enthralled, excited and hooked. The biggest surprise was the rigorous rules and severe inspections of NASCAR racing. Even the spoilers are standard and cannot be customized.Let me inform future readers of that book that the RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) technology has been proposed and recommended by the FAA, yet still not installed by Boeing nor AIRBUS in their advanced airplanes, but NASCAR has it in their cars!Now, I know who Elliott Sadler is, and next time I watch a NASCAR race on my TV, I will root for car No 19!

What really goes into getting a car ready to take on NASCAR races? This book tells you that. But more than that, you get to know the people who all put everything they have on the line, every time their driver takes their car onto the track to battle all the other teams doing the same thing.

Libro interessante per una infarinatura sulla tecnica e fisica delle auto Nascar.Niente di tecnico o particolarmente specifico, niente formule o grafici.Discorsivo, se fosse stato in italiano sarebbe stato piu godibile.

very informative and very technical

Great read, had to purchase the digital copy to read it again.

received all at the right time