We thought of Super Stock: Drag Racing the Family Sedan, by Larry Davis, when we heard the news of the John Calvert driving a new Cobra Jet Mustang to the win Stock Eliminator at the 2009 NHRA Winternationals. One of the original 1968 Cobra Jets is featured on the cover of this book, although not the event-winning car driven by Al Joniec.

This book has been out for several years now and frankly nothing can touch it for the sheer volume of photos and information contained inside it. Even we hardcore drag dweebs have gotten overwhelmed at the sheer volume of race-by-race info contained in this book. It’s an incredible reference material and great historical log.

This is one piece of literature that won’t embarrass you when telling people that you bought it for the pictures. There are hundreds of photos, color as well as black and white. We’d go so far to say that this is the most complete work done on the subject as Davis covers all his bases and then some.

Also included through the book are highlights of some of the more memorable, famous, and infamous class cars of the ’50s and ’60s. Pay close attention for his chronicle of Dave Koffel’s amazing Packard.

As far as downsides, we’d say that Davis goes almost too deep into race results and individual race performances for even us. It makes for slow reading if you are interested in covering the piece word for word, but if you are more of a visual person, the photos and captions are just plain awesome.

It’s a coffee table book with a hard cover, so it is not cheap but if you’re a dedicated lover of Stock and Super Stock from the era that truly made it what it is today, you cannot go another day without this book.