JEFF MACGREGOR

Jeff MacGregor is currently a writer-at-large for Smithsonian Magazine. He has written often for The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker,  ESPN, Esquire, Men's Journal, Details and Los Angeles magazine, among many others. His fiction has appeared in Story, Esquire and The Land-Grant College Review. His prizewinning work has been widely collected and anthologized, appearing in Sports Illustrated's 50 Years of Great Writing and Sports Illustrated: The Anniversary Book, and is reprinted frequently in the Best American Sports Writing series. His acclaimed book, Sunday Money, was published by Harper Perennial. 

MacGregor was born in Evanston, Illinois, and grew up all over the place. An only child, his earliest ideas about America were formulated from the window of a moving car. America is a colorful blur to him; and a cooler full of his mother's egg-salad sandwiches. 

His patchwork education includes undergraduate and graduate programs at the University of Minnesota, the Ohio State University and Yale University. He is two credits away, generally in dance, or the history of theater, from every degree he ever sought. Thus, he holds no advanced degrees, but has a high school diploma, of which he is still proud, although it's packed away somewhere. He has taught both fiction and non-fiction writing at Yale University. Go figure. 

You can find recent writing for Smithsonian Magazine here.

PRAISE FOR SUNDAY MONEY

"[A] wonderful memoir, which speaks to both NASCAR fanatics and readers who view the stock-car phenomenon with a curious horror--the same mix of feelings with which they might observe, say, a traffic accident. In all, an informed and engaging account of NASCAR today." – Booklist (starred review)

"Traveling across the country, making pit stops in Wal-Mart parking lots, MacGregor becomes one with the throngs who worship weekly at the altars of speed and death in places like Richmond, Va.; Bristol, Tenn.; and Rockingham, N.C. As he reports the highlights of each race—who won, who wrecked, which racer had the sexiest women in his company, which fans were the wackiest—he neatly weaves the history of the sport into his story to measure the distance racing has traveled from its days on dirt tracks with unregulated stock cars to mammoth stadiums and corporate sponsorships." – Publisher's Weekly

“A colorful year on the road chasing NASCAR and sharing track-space with its ardent fans, from fine, clever-boots sportswriter MacGregor… After this piece of good old journalism’s blister of words, the season is suddenly over, and the reader wishing it weren’t.” – Kirkus

“Essential… Wry, witty, and clear-eyed, Mr. MacGregor recounts enough lore, and explodes enough myths, to keep racing followers in thrall. But his engaging book is also a primer for those who aren’t among the 75 million who worship at the First Church of Nascar.” – James G. Cobb

"MacGregor has crafted inspired portraits...His description of the carnival-like atmosphere evokes the sensation of being there. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal

"MacGregor has heard clearly over the din, seen through the smoke and the haze, and gotten it all down perfectly." -- Frank Deford, National Public Radio

"The wittiest, most searching sportswriting since A.J. Liebling, SUNDAY MONEY is a brilliant stream-of-consciousness documentary..." -- Robert Stone, author of Dog Soldiers and Bay of Souls

"You name it, MacGregor covers it...as much a look at America as it is NASCAR...SUNDAY MONEY nails it." -- The Charlotte Observer

The New York Times Book Review, "Sunday Money" and "Full Throttle": Nascar Nation, May 22, 2005