Swerve or Die

Life at My Speed in the First Family of NASCAR Racing

By: Kyle Petty, Ellis Henican

Narrated by: Kyle Petty

This program is read by Kyle Petty and Includes his performance of his original song, "Under the Big Top."

Stock-car racing star, country singer, and sports broadcaster Kyle Petty shares his familial legacy, intertwined with NASCAR’s founding and history, in Swerve or Die—written with Pulitzer Prize-winner Ellis Henican, the New York Times bestselling coauthor of In the Blink of an Eye.

“Born into racing royalty. The only son of NASCAR’s winningest driver ever. The grandson of one of the sport’s true pioneers. The nephew of our very first Hall of Fame engine builder. It’s quite a family to represent, and through it all, I’ve somehow managed to keep being Kyle.”

Kyle Petty won his very first stock-car race, the Daytona ARCA 200, in 1979 when he was eighteen. Hailed as a third-generation professional NASCAR racer, he became an instant celebrity in circles he had been around all his young life. Despite being the grandson and son of racing champions Lee Petty and Richard Petty, Kyle didn’t inherit innate talent. Working in his family’s North Carolina race shop from an early age, he learned all about car mechanics and maintenance long before he got behind the wheel. And although Kyle continued the family business, driving “Petty blue” colored cars emblazoned with his grandfather’s #42—a number once used by Marty Robbins—his career took a different route than his forebears’.

In Swerve or Die: Life at My Speed in the First Family of NASCAR Racing, Kyle chronicles his life on and off the racetrack, presenting his insider’s perspective of growing up throughout the sport’s popular rise in American culture. In between driving and running Petty Enterprises for thirty years, Kyle took some detours into country music, voiced Cal Weathers in Pixar’s Cars 3, and started his annual motorcycle Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America. And when his nineteen-year-old son Adam, a fourth-generation racing Petty, tragically lost his life on the track, Kyle founded Victory Junction, a camp for children with chronic and serious medical conditions in Adam’s name—with help from Academy Award-winning actor and motorsports enthusiast Paul Newman.

Filled with NASCAR history, stories of his family’s careers, and anecdotes about some of stock-car racing’s most famous drivers, Kyle’s memoir also tackles the sport’s evolution, discussing how welcoming diverse racers, improving car and track safety features, and integrating green technology will benefit NASCAR’s competitors and fans in the future.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

©2022 Kyle Petty and Ellis Henican (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

great read

I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed it very much.
Kyle made you feel like it just the two of you swapping stories

Listening is better than reading for this book!!

Do yourself a favor and listen to this book. To hear Kyle read this book you can feel the emotion in his voice on the funny stories you can also feel his hurt and sadness from the tragedies that have been in his life. This book really open my eyes to more of Kyle Petty his family Their trials and their triumphs. Do yourself a favor and listen to this book all the way to the end and to hear the song at the end well that was just an unexpected surprise. Kyle, I wish you and your family the very best I will be following you and your music and I look forward to riding motorcycles with you again, Sincerely Mark

Having Kyle Narrate Really Made It

An amazing ride! Thanks for inviting us along! We look forward to the next stage-and the next Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America!

Great read!!

Great read. Kyle Petty at his best. I am a true nascar fan. Enjoyed this book very much

Great stories about an extraordinary life. Everyone should read whether you follow NASCAR or not.

Kyle is a great storyteller. I’m not a NASCAR fan, but that doesn’t matter when reading this book. Kyle had me laughing out loud and a few pages later there would be tears of sorrow running down my cheeks. Loved it from cover to cover.