 | Price Comparisons: Rental | | Sorry, the textbook you were looking for is not available as Rental, at any of the stores we searched. | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | Every NASCAR fan – at one time or another – asks the same question: Why isn’t my favorite driver winning? This is your chance to discover how much more there is to NASCAR than “Go fast, turn left and don’t crash.” If you’ve ever wondered why racecars don’t have mufflers, how “bump drafting” works, or what in the world “Let’s go up a pound on the right rear and add half a round of wedge” means, The Physics of NASCAR is for you.
In this fast-paced investigation into the adrenaline-pumping world of NASCAR, a physicist with a passion uncovers what happens when the rubber hits the road and 800- horsepower vehicles compete at 190 miles per hour only inches from one another.
Diandra Leslie-Pelecky reveals how and why drivers trust the engineering and science their teams literally build around them not only to get them across the finish line in first place, but also to keep them alive. Professor Leslie-Pelecky is a physicist in love with the sport’s beauty and power and is uniquely qualified to explain exactly how physics translates into winning races.
Based on the author’s extensive access to race shops, pit crews, crew chiefs and mechanics, this book traces the life cycle of a race car from behind the scenes at top race shops to the track. The Physics of NASCAR takes readers right into the ultra competitive world of NASCAR, from the champion driver’s hot seat behind the detachable steering wheel to the New Zealander nicknamed Kiwi in charge of shocks for the No. 19 car.
Diandra Leslie-Pelecky tells her story in terms anyone who drives a car--and maybe occasionally looks under the hood--can understand. How do drivers walk away from serious crashes? How can two cars travel faster together than either car can on its own? How do you dress for a 1800°F gasoline fire? In simple yet detailed, high-octane prose, this is the ultimate thrill ride for armchair speed demons, auto science buffs, and NASCAR fans at every level of interest.
Readers, start your engines. |
Average Customer Rating:   Not light reading I bought this as a gift thinking I was buying something a little less intense. Yes, there is physics here. Well science anyway. But what I didn't expect was a total lack of color pictures, illustrations and diagrams.
If you want to buy a book and study Nascar - like it's your homework project, get this book. If you want to browse a book that gently introduces you to Nascar, forget this book. Too much chemistry, weak on physics Most highly educated technical people have problems communicating their technical knowledge to anyone except their peers. This author is an extreme case of that shortcoming. Most of the contents of this book is so dumbed down its insulting.
I bought it thinking it would be the stock car racing version of Amusement Park Physics for High School Students, full of formulas and exercises. Alternately I thought it might be a simpler version of Race Car Engineering. It does not contain a single mathematical formula. There are some buried in the text but that's it.
It also contains no photographs. A lot of text is wasted describing things that a few pictures could show more clearly. There are about 30 line drawings or tables but they are very simple. They illustrate things like the four cycles of an engine. A single graph of horsepower vs. torque is stretched horizontally and has no numbers on the vertical axis. The last 70 pages contain no illustrations.
The author has a chemistry fixation. Many of the drawings illustrate chemical bonds. She carefully identifies the company who developed and manufactures every chemical product she mentions. If you want to know why Kevlar is strong and who makes it and why Nomex doesn't burn then this is the book for you.
The portions of the book about attending races, going to driver school, and visiting team headquarters are weak. They have been done better in many other books.
NASCAR should be more careful about what they put their name on.
Fun book! 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. Great book for anyone wanting to work in nascar This is the best book i have ever read.This book teaches so much about the sport its unbeleiveable.When you get done reading this book you will have a whole new perspective on nascar as a sport and how nascar opperates.Unlike other books this one dosent ever get boring.I would highly recomend this book to anyone intrested in the sport of nascar!!! Physics lessons + NASCAR = fun! A physics teacher gives us some remedial physics lessons in "The Physics of NASCAR". She covers areas that you would expect, such as force and intertia, but goes on to cover the color spectrum and even some baxic metallurgy. The physics lessons are fairly simple. I did get some reminders of things I had forgotten and even some new information but I also learned a lot about how NASCAR works too. The book is very interesting on both fronts. Nothing too challenging. A very enjoyable read. |  |
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