NASCAR Expert Available

Newswise — NASCAR, America's fastest growing sport, is grabbing national headlines with stories about "NASCAR dads" and increased race attendance. Dan Pierce, assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, is an expert on the history and culture of NASCAR. He is available for comment on general NASCAR topics, as well as specific issues such as the brewing Nextel All-Star Challenge controversy. Pierce, a North Carolina native, is the author of The Most Southern Sport on Earth: NASCAR and the Unions, which appeared in the summer 2001 edition of the journal Southern Culture. He also wrote the entry on the Bristol Speedway in The Encyclopedia of Tennessee History and Culture and entries on Bill Elliott, Atlanta Motor Speedway and NASCAR in Georgia for The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Pierce has taught a UNCA humanities special topic course, "Stockcars and Southern Culture," and is working on a full-length book focusing on the Piedmont working class roots of NASCAR.