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HOT CORNER

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A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, heard, observed, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here. One exception: No products will be endorsed.

What: “NASCAR Adrenaline, Vol. 1” DVD.

Producers: NASCAR Images.

Price: $19.99.

Using footage that should get your blood boiling, this DVD, with Steve Byrnes as host, is aimed at those people who attend races to see the crashes. There’s a definite “wow” factor watching the sparks, flips, fires and near catastrophes. Chapter titles are self-explanatory: “Photo Finishes,” “Last Lap Mayhem,” “Hard Hits,” “Wild Rides,” “The Big One,” “Pit Road Intensity,” “Bump and Grind,” and “Victory Lane.”

It begins with a close look at the Ricky Craven-Kurt Busch battle at Darlington last year that provided perhaps the best finish ever, and it doesn’t ignore notable brush-ups from the 1970s involving Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough. Among the special features is a look at Elliott Sadler’s airborne crash and barrel roll at Talladega in 2003. Sadler’s analysis sets this segment apart.

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NASCAR justifies showing all those crashes by providing a short tour of its Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., and an interview with its director, Gary Nelson.

There are few revelations, but you’ll get a feel for its philosophy, and an additional feature does clear up questions about those special restrictor plates that conspiracy theorists claim are behind Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s success. Others sharing insight include Ricky Rudd, Kenny Wallace, Jeff Burton and Derrick Cope.

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