From the time cars were invented just before the turn of the 20th century, men have loved driving fast in them. It was almost a compulsion of pioneers like Emile Levassor and Karl Benz to make their machines go fast. Racing fever began in Europe, with races happening from point to point, city to city, on existing roads. Open-wheel road racing there evolved into the super high tech, big budget sport of Formula One racing. American open-wheel racing matured on oval tracks, most famously the one at the Brickyard in Indianapolis, home to the world's most famous auto race, the Indianapolis 500, the crown jewel of the Indy Car circuit. Racing also took on a distinctly American form, with stock car racing evolving into one of the most popular spectator sports in the country, with NASCAR as its multi-billion dollar brand. Each book in the Inside the World of Sports series takes you from the very beginning of a sport to a look at its future. Inside these pages, learn more about auto racing's greatest moments, iconic athletes, and what the future holds for racing.

Each title in this series contains color photos throughout and back matter including: a chronology, glossary of terms for each sport, an index, and further reading lists for books and internet resources. Key Icons appear throughout the books in this series in an effort to encourage library readers to build knowledge, gain awareness, explore possibilities and expand their viewpoints through our content rich non-fiction books. Key Icons in this series are as follows: Educational Videos are offered throughout the first chapter, through the use of a QR code that when scanned takes the student to an online video showing a greatest moment in sports' history. This gives the readers additional content to supplement the text. Words to Understand are shown at the front of each chapter with definitions. These words are set in boldfaced type in that chapter, so that readers are able to reference back to the definitions--building their vocabulary and enhancing their reading comprehension. Text-Dependent Questions are placed at the end of each chapter. They challenge the reader's comprehension of the chapter they have just read, while sending the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there.

Research Projects are provided at the end of each chapter as well and provide readers with suggestions for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis.