Pocono: NASCAR's Northern Invasion

About the Book

Pocono: NASCAR's Northern Invasion," by author Joe Miegoc, is the story of how NASCAR stepped into the breach created by the Indy car war of the late 1970s, saved Pocono Raceway from extinction and gave it an expanded national identity. In the late 1970s, NASCAR's northern races were few. One was at Pocono, a unique three-turn track caught in the middle in the CART-USAC war which was about to send Indy car racing's popularity into history's ashbin. As Pocono teetered on bankruptcy, NASCAR founder Bill France convinced Pocono owner Dr. Joe Mattioli to try it one last time. France knew Pocono's strategic value, rewarding Pocono with a second Winston Cup race in the process. Hall of Fame drivers and NASCAR insiders tell how Pocono gave NASCAR expanded exposure to 30 million people in a 300-mile radius of the track. "Pocono: NASCAR's Northern Invasion" tells the story of the third-largest rock festival of the 1970s drawing 200,000 fans, of where Janet Guthrie became the first woman to drive in a 500-mile Indy car race, where Tim Richmond flashed onto the stock-car scene and where Bobby Allison's career ended on a Father's Day afternoon.

About the Author

Joe Miegoc covered racing at Pocono Raceway for 15 years and is currently an editor at The Times-Tribune in Scranton, Pa. He was born in Scranton and graduated from Girard College in Philadelphia and East Stroudsburg University, with a degree in English. He is a former sports editor of The Pocono Record, sports writer for The Times-Leader, Wilkes-Barre; and The Times-Tribune. He is a former manager of media relations for the United States Golf Association and is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, having covered nearly 20 Masters Tournaments and U.S. Opens. He has two children, a son, Joe, and a daughter, Mary Jo. He resides in Carbondale, Pa.