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S-1774
Price: $36.95

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QUARTER-MILE CORVETTES 1953-1975: The History of Chevrolet’s Sports Car at the Drag Strip

by Steve Holmes

Racing historian Steve Holmes breaks new ground by unearthing the complete early history of the Corvette in drag racing. Quarter-Mile Corvettes focuses on the period from 1953 to 1975, which spans the first two decades of Corvette V-8 production.

Fittingly, this was also the era considered by many to be the greatest in drag racing’s history, and Corvettes encapsulated the vibrancy of the period in a way that will never be repeated.

 Certainly, Chevrolet never intended for the Corvette to become a quarter-mile terror, but today, its nameplate has become one of the longest running in all of drag racing.

Soft cover, 192 pages, 372 color and B&W photos.







S-1772
Price: $26.95


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VUKOVICH
The Man Who Wouldn’t Lift

by Angelo Angelopolous

edited by Mark Montieth

Bill Vukovich was the among greatest race drivers of his era, a grim, hard-charging product of a humble and difficult childhood. He honed his racing skills and temperament on the Midget and Sprint Car tracks in California and then went on to dominate the Indianapolis 500. He led 150 laps of the race in 1952 before steering failure forced him out eight laps before the finish. The winner in 1953 and ’54, he still is the only driver to have led the most laps in the race for three consecutive years. He had a 17-second lead after 57 laps in 1955 when a multi-car accident on the backstretch sent him flying over the outside wall. He landed upside down on parked cars and was killed instantly.

Indianapolis sportswriter Angelo Angelopolous, widely recognized as one of the best in the country at his craft, was the only media member to grow close to Vukovich. He dedicated himself to telling Vukovich’s dramatic life story.

He was working against a tight “deadline,” however, because he was slowly dying of leukemia. Angelopolous, who died in 1962 at age 43, had a contract with a publishing house and left behind an edited manuscript that for unknown reasons never reached print. He had insider access to Vukovich’s garage at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and socialized with him as well. He presents never-before-published details of Vukovich’s life and career, including dialogue that will make readers feel as if they are along for the ride. The story reads like fiction but is thoroughly researched and entirely truthful—altogether an unforgettable story. 

Journalist Mark Montieth learned about the manuscript from the author’s nephew, who had kept the typed manuscript stored away for years after Angelopolous died. It was an intimidating editorial project because of many hand-written margin notes and had to be retyped into a laptop to work on it. Montieth added a lengthy prologue about the author and an epilogue that brings the Vukovich history, including later family history, up to date.

Hard cover, 240 pp.



S-1771
Price: $39.95

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ASCOT
Where the Harbor, the San Diego,
and 91 Freeways Collide

by Dave Wolin

The story of the iconic dirt track that defined Southern California racing. It began in 1903 as a horse track, then as a one-mile dirt track in L.A., then as New Ascot Raceway in East L.A. which became Legion Ascot and finally Southern Ascot in Southgate. Then, Los Angeles Speedway was built in 1957 on the site of a former landfill just south of Gardena. The promoter got into financial difficulties and it became New Ascot Stadium and eventually just Ascot.

 

Everyone raced there, sprint cars, stock cars, midgets, buggies and motorcycles. Ninety Indy 500 drivers raced there—names like A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Parnelli Jones were regulars. It was said that “if you haven’t raced Ascot, you haven’t raced.” Read the book to see why it closed in 1990.

 

Written in scrapbook style, decade by decade, packed with newspaper and magazine articles, B&W photos, and stories from those who were there.

Soft cover, 396 pp. Comes with a DVD of all the photos and newspaper/magazine articles in the book plus an assortment of videos.




S-1770
 Price: $34.95


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Ray Evernham: Trophies and Scars

by Ray Evernham with Joe Garner

foreword by Jeff Gordon

Trophies and Scars is Ray Evernham's personal account of his extraordinary career, including his time as crew chief for NASCAR phenom Jeff Gordon and more.

Co-authored by six-time New York Times bestselling author Joe Garner, Trophies and Scars takes readers back to Ray's gritty days driving in New Jersey and through his incredible partnership with Jeff Gordon, which led to one of the most dominant runs in NASCAR history.

It is also a window into some of the deeply painful challenges Evernham experienced on the track and off, and the rich rewards that overcoming those challenges brought.

Hard cover, 400 pages.


 



S-1769
 Price: $59.00


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LYNN PAXTON: My Way

by Don Robinson

Lynn Paxton has lived and loved the life of an auto racer. Possessed of a wicked sense humor and fun-loving personality, he is an amazing storyteller and racing historian.

After a successful career, winning over 245 feature races in late models, Midgets and Sprint Cars, he stopped racing in 1983 and became the driving force behind the creation of one of the finest automotive museums in the world - the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing.

Drawn from personal interviews and family scrapbooks, many of Paxton’s stories and numerous quotes are shared here, brought to life through 200 color photos. Paxton shares his views on racing and other racers, all told with this signature wit.

Hard cover, 282 pages




S-1765
Price: $32.00

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The First Lady of Dirt: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Racing Pioneer Cheryl Glass

by Bill Poehler

The incredible, little-known story of the first successful Black woman in the sport of auto racing in the United States. Early in her career, Cheryl Glass looked like a lock to become the first Black woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500. From racing quarter-midgets cars at ten, to Indy Lights in her twenties, Cheryl was on her way towards a winning career in auto racing.

Bill Poehler (author of the highly reviewed The Brown Bullet: Rajo Jack's Drive to Integrate Auto Racing) tells Cheryl’s full story for the first time. He recounts how Cheryl rapidly became the first successful Black woman in the sport, yet frequently encountered racist and sexist taunts from other drivers and fans throughout her career. While appearing to have it all—talent, ambition, looks—she faced many challenges on and off the track and her life soon spun out of control.

Featuring exclusive interviews with Cheryl’s mother, friends, and competitors, The First Lady of Dirt takes you behind the scenes and in the driver’s seat of Cheryl’s life. Poehler, an amateur racer himself, places the reader at the track, smelling the dirt and fumes, hearing the roaring engines and crashing metal, and feeling Cheryl’s joy and pain. It’s the inspiring story of a racing pioneer and a tragic tale of the pressures that are often hidden from public view until it’s too late.

Hard cover, 240 pages.



S-1766
Price: $28.95


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Surviving to Drive:
A Year Inside Formula 1

by Guenther Steiner

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner brings readers inside his Formula 1 team for the entirety of the 2022 season, giving an unobstructed view of what really takes place behind the scenes.

Through this unique lens, Steiner guides readers on the thrilling rollercoaster of life at the heart of high-stakes motor racing. Packed full of twists and turns, from pre-season preparations to hiring and firing drivers, from the design, launch, and testing of a car to the race calendar itself,

Surviving to Drive is the first time that an Formula 1 team has allowed an acting team principal to tell the full story of a whole season. Uncompromising and searingly honest, told in Steiner's inimitable style, this is a fascinating and hugely entertaining account of the realities of running a Formula 1 team.

Hard cover, 304 pages.

 

 



S-1768
Price: $20.95

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Trophy Girl

a Novel

by Marlis Manley

(Note: the author is the stepdaughter of Frankie Lies, a hot-shot Kansas-based dirt-tracker who raced Jalopies, Modifieds, and Supers in the 1950s and ’60s, and competed in a Grand National race at Trenton in 1958. Manley’s descriptions of dirt racing in that period are spot on.)

It's summer 1957, and when fourteen-year-old Sandy Turner goes missing—along with one of her late mother's hidden scrapbooks—Aunt Maggie can think of only one place the girl might be.

Frank Haggard, the race-car driver in those yellowing news clippings, assumes the girl claiming to be his daughter is a fan acting on a dare, until Maggie tracks them down.

Memories of his annulled marriage to Maggie's sister flood over him, and the timing couldn't be worse. With the first-ever National Championship for stock cars a week away, the last thing he needs is a child-custody battle with Maggie-as determined as she is beautiful. When the car he's planned to pilot is turned over to a younger driver, Frank and Maggie make the riskiest deal of their lives: her savings for a race car, but if Frank wins, he gives up his daughter.

Soft cover, 328 pages.



S-1767
 Price: $24.95


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All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells
the Rest of the Story

by Geoff Bodine with Dominic Aragon

This autobiography, written in collaboration with Dominic Aragon, takes a closer look at Bodine’s life, from growing up in New York to aspirations of competing in the Daytona 500, his life as a professional race car driver, his deep faith and more.

Bodine competed in NASCAR’s top division from 1979 to 2011. During that span, Bodine raced for legendary car owners, competed for championships, won the sport’s biggest race, had a fierce rivalry with the late Dale Earnhardt, competed as an owner-driver following the death of Alan Kulwicki, and survived a fiery crash in a NASCAR Truck Series race at Daytona.

The foreword is written by Rick Hendrick, the legendary owner of Hendrick Motorsports, who selected Bodine to be his first driver.

Bodine has also been a leader in many safety items and products used in racing today.

He was led by God and by his love of being an American to design, build, and furnish at no cost to the American athletes Olympic bobsleds called the Bo-Dyn bobsleds.

Soft cover, 328 pages.



S-1762
Price: $34.95

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Drag Racing’s Rebels:
How the AHRA Changed Quarter-Mile Competition

by Doug Boyce

foreword by Don Garlits

When the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) was formed in 1951 by Wally Parks, the reasoning for the formation was to “create order from chaos” by instituting safety rules and performance standards that helped legitimize the sport of drag racing. Some organization was certainly necessary. A postwar boom in automotive enthusiasm was reaching new heights, and Hot Rod magazine and the NHRA were right in the thick of it.

The NHRA hosted its first drag racing event in 1953, and in 1955, the organization staged its first national event, which was simply called “The Nationals.” The AHRA formed in 1956 as an alternative to the NHRA, where the drivers voted on the rules (rather than sanctioning bodies and tracks), and their influence on the sport was felt almost immediately.

When the NHRA denied the use of nitromethane in 1957, the AHRA approved it. When the NHRA banned aircraft-pow­ered dragsters in 1961, the AHRA welcomed them. When the NHRA said no to the emerging Funny Car in 1965, the AHRA said yes. When fans and racers screamed for a heads-up Super Stock category in 1968, the AHRA delivered. The AHRA was called a rebel association. Some say that it was more of an association that got things done—to the delight of fans and racers. The AHRA was on equal ground with the NHRA by the 1970s, drawing enormous crowds and racer entries.

In this fascinating history, veteran author Doug Boyce tells the story of the AHRA: the rise, the competition, the events, and the eventual downfall of the organization. After AHRA President Jim Tice passed away in 1982, internal fighting for control of the association resulted in its doom. Get the whole story here, and add this wonderful volume to your drag racing library. 

Soft cover, 192 pages, 437 B&W and color photos. 



S-1760
Price: $39.95

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In Stock Now! 

ED PINK: THE OLD MASTER

The Remarkable Life and Times of Racing’s Most Versatile Engine Builder

by Ed Pink with Bones Bourcier

Ed Pink’s gift for designing and building engines made him a motorsports icon. His handiwork has powered, among others, drag-racing superstars Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen, Indy Car legends Al Unser and Tom Sneva, sports car heroes Bob Wollek and Brian Redman, and USAC champions Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne.

But this is not a technical book. Pink began his long-awaited autobiography with one goal: that it would be more about people than engines.

Mission accomplished, yet again, for auto racing’s Old Master.

Hard cover, 276 pp, 253 color and B&W photos. 

 

 

 

 



S-1761
Price: $34.95

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THE PFROMMER OFFY
A History of An Iconic Sprint Car

by Alan F. Gross
Through a 15-year search to uncover and verify the provenance of a Sprint Car that was ultimately revealed to be the famous Pfrommer Offy, owner Alan Gross has documented every owner and driver from 1954 to thepresent:

Thirty drivers, including 15 Indianapolis 500 veterans and 8 National Sprint Car HoF inductees, including Tommy Hinnershitz, who won the 1959 USAC Eastern Championship in the car.

Now meticulously restored to its 1960 livery, it proudly wears #1, denoting the 1959 championship.

Soft cover, 156 pp., 200+ color/B&W photos/illustrations.



S-1463UC
 Price: $24.95

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Back in Print!

FAST MEMORIES
Springfield Speedway 1947-1987

by Joyce Standridge and Terry Young

For 40 years, between the first thaw and the final frost, thousands converged at the corner of Clear Lake and Dirksen Parkway in Springfield, IL, to bask in the throaty roar of racing engines.

 "Little Springfield" became legendary as the toughest, fastest bullring imaginable. This is a comprehensive photo journey through the years.

Soft cover, 148 pp., 431 B&W photos.



S-1757UC
Price: $36.95

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Roland "The Hawaiian" Leong
Drag Racing's Iconic Owner & Tuner

by Lou Hart

Foreword by Don Prudhomme

From racing the family Oldsmobile in 1960 to winning the Winternationals in 1964, read about the meteoric rise of drag racing’s greatest owner and tuner in the first-ever book about "The Hawaiian" Roland Leong. 

Soft cover, 176 pp., 311 color/B&W photos.

 













V-1758UC
Price: $29.95

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DVD

THE ROADSTER ERA (And Before)
AT INDIANAPOLIS 1930s-1964

A unique compilation of rare B&W news film footage of the Indy 500 from the 1930s-1964.

Over two hours of news-making events at the Speedway, most footage never seen before. Highlights from the days of the 1930s two-man cars to the end of the roadster era in the mid-1960s.


The heroes, the cars, the wrecks, the fires, in the News of the Day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



S-983
 Price: $19.95

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ECHOES OF THUNDER IN THE HILLS
Photographic Memories of 1960s Auto Racing in Southeastern Ohio and Adjoining West Virginia

by Tony Martin

Covers the history of auto racing along the Ohio Valley from 1958-1972.

The book is printed on good stock, enhancing the more than 200 original photographs shot by two of the era/area's prominent racing photographers.

The story of the evolution from the old coupes and sedans to today's sprint cars is conveyed largely through the many photos and photo captions. 

Soft cover, 262 pp.










S-1759
Price: $44.95


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THE LAST COWBOY
The Life and Times of Billy Pauch

by Buffy Swanson

foreword by Ray Evernham

As calculating as a rattlesnake, Billy the Kid rarely lets down his guard. And while he never really learned how to sugar up to a potential sponsor, he sure could sweet-talk a race car.

 He’s won hundreds of races at dozens of tracks dotting seven states, in Modifieds, Sprints – winged and wingless – on dirt and asphalt. And he did it his way. Racing where and when he pleased, answering to no one. Taking down victories with bravado and deadly aim.

This is the Billy Pauch you never met… the highs and the lows, the attitude, the anger, the injuries. Why he’s so successful and why he refused to conform. How he did it, why he did it, and who he really is. This is the last cowboy.

Soft cover, 278 pp., 253 photos.



S-1550
Price: $16.00

JUST REPRINTED!

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Just Call Me Rags:
Rags Carter’s Racing Life

by Alan Carter Jr.

Alan “Rags” Carter was a standout dirt-track driver who raced up and down the East Coast from the late 1940s into the ’80s. Originally from the Miami, Florida, area, he came north to race at the famed dirt tracks in central Pennsylvania and beyond – Reading, Nazareth, Kutztown, Middletown. He won consistently for car owners like Dick Meals, Tony Ferraiulo, Ray Everett, and most famously for Harold Cope in the #1 coupes and sedans.

Carter is credited with 45 Modified wins at the Nazareth half-mile, where he won the Modified championship in 1965 and ’66; 33 features at Middletown; 6 at Reading; and at least 100 across Florida. Among other honors, he was inducted into the DIRT and EMPA Halls of Fame.

Rags’s son, Alan Jr., has compiled a loving memoir of traveling with his dad, constantly on the road, as with so many racing families in those days, sharing the joys and disappointments of a hardscrabble life they wouldn’t have traded for any trophy.

Soft cover, 96 pages, 67 B&W photos.




S-1752
Price: $32.00

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Racers in the Sun, Volume One:
The Story of Florida's Sprint Car Legends


by Richard Golardi

 

This book is a collective biography, with 13 individual biographies and the story of one iconic Florida race track. It covers both pavement sprint car racing and the historic Little 500, through the stories of some of the famed drivers in those arenas.

 

Two authorized biographies of National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees are included for Pete Folse and Frank Riddle.

There are six biographies of Little 500 Hall of Fame inductees: Wayne Reutimann, Dave Scarborough, Robert Smith, Jack Nowling, George Rudolph, and Frank Riddle. Additional biographies for Ralph Liguori, Johnny Hicks, Pancho Alvarez, Cush Revette, Larry Brazil, and Dick Byerly are included.

Tampa's auto racing history is told through the life story of Tampa racing legend Johnny Hicks and the other subjects, with the story of Golden Gate Speedway added to increase the excitement level of the rip-roaring, pedal-to-the-floor, all-out NASCAR, Indy car, and sprint car racing stories that are told by award-winning journalist and author Richard Golardi, who interviewed 92 people and gathered more than 95 hours of recorded interviews and spent five years writing the book. 

 

Soft cover, 569 pages, B&W photos.




S-1751
Price: $39.95

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Vintage Speed Parts: The Equipment That Fueled the Industry

by Tony Thacker

When most people think of speed parts, they rewind a few decades and think back to the Ford flatheads that were so prevalent in the 1940s and 1950s. However, the speed-parts industry actually began way back in the Model T era. As soon as vehicles were mass produced, manufac­turers were looking for ways to make them faster. Manufac­turers, such as Roof, Rajo, Winfield, Miller, Frontenac, and Holley, made speed parts for 4-cylinder Model T engines and accomplished speeds of up to 100 mph!

In Vintage Speed Parts: The Equipment That Fueled the Industry, veteran hot rod historian Tony Thacker looks at the history of hot rodding through the eyes of speed-equipment manufacturers. Covered chronologically, the book begins with the early 4-cylinder engines. In 1932, Henry Ford introduced the flathead V-8, which was slow to be adopted as the engine of choice in racing until the parts industry caught up. Once it did, the flathead, although interrupted by the war, was the engine to run until the automobile manufacturers introduced overhead-valve V-8 engines in the late 1940s.

Chrysler’s early-1950s Hemi and Chevrolet’s small-block V-8 in 1955 spelled the end for the flattie. Both mills dominated well into the 1970s, and the speed industry was there to support all platforms in spades. During that period, every auto manufacturer made a V-8 worthy of modification, and the speed industry boomed. Eventually, the speed-equipment manufacturers grew to the point of becoming corporate entities, as mergers and acquisi­tions became the much less interesting story.

Parts covered include special cylinder heads, magnetos, camshaft and valvetrain upgrades, downdraft carburetors, headers, multiple-carburetor setups, and even superchargers. Everyone figured out how to make engines more powerful, upgrading with the type of parts that were being produced decades later, even to today. Join in the fun of reviewing the history of speed through this tale of vintage speed parts. 

Soft cover, 192 pages, 455 B&W & color photos.



S-1750
Price: $95.00

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The Green Flag: Just a Bloke’s Story

by Barry Green with Gordon Kirby

Barry Green’s new memoir covers his life growing up in Australia and his early racing efforts aboard his own Formula Fords in Australia and Formula 3 cars in Europe. Barry and his wife, Jeanne, then moved to the United States, where he went on to become a very successful Can-Am and Indy car team manager and owner.

Over 23 years, from 1980-2002, Barry’s cars won six Can-Am races and 47 Indy car races, including two (and some say three) Indy 500s.

He worked with some great drivers, including Teo Fabi, Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr., Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy, as well as brilliant designers like Adrian Newey and Tony Cicale, and a long list of tremendously skilled and motivated mechanics and crewmen. Barry tells his story with the generous help of these great drivers, engineers and crewmen.

The Green Flag is a high-quality coffee-table book, 288 pages with 190 color and B&W photographs and a complete list of Barry’s race teams’ statistics.



S-1745
 Price: $29.95


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STILL RACING!

by Ken Schrader with Joyce Standridge

Ken Schrader is still winning races 52 years into his driving career. Nearly two decades after the release of his popular first book, the NASCAR and short-track icon shares many new tales of his exploits through 48 states and Canada.

Racing’s finest and funniest ambassador takes readers along on and off the track as only he can.

Soft cover, 276 pages, 275 color
and B&W photos.








S
-1746
 Price: $29.95

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LAZZARO: The Man and His Machines

by Ron Moshier

Winning wasn’t all Lou Lazzaro did. It was how he managed to keep winning - on dirt and pavement - that made him one of the Northeast's most revered and respected stock car drivers of all time.

Seen by some as an underdog because his home-grown race cars rarely looked like the pick of the litter, “That there Louie” did it his way. Racing against time and money, he kept his legion fans shaking their heads in disbelief, as he rebounded from financial woes and serious illness to win again and again.

With “The Monk” and “The Incomparable Lou Lazzaro” and finally, “The Legend” at the wheel,
“LAZZARO: The Man and His Machines” takes you on a revealing, roller-coaster ride down memory lane that shows how his winning ways worked, and why he will never be forgotten.

Soft cover, 180 pp., 160 color/B&W photos.



S-1747
Price: $27.95

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The Last Lap: The Mysterious Demise of
Pete Kreis at the Indianapolis 500

by William Walker

The Last Lap is a gripping inquest into the fast life and mysterious death of racing driver Pete Kreis, infamously killed in practice at the celebrated 1934 Indianapolis 500. In a compelling narrative that reads like a novel, author William Walker’s lifelong obsession with Kreis's mysterious demise has created a rich storyline that takes readers back to the glamorous and dangerous times that marked the beginning of automotive competition.

Much more than a motor racing story, The Last Lap is the tale of a boy who rises from the obscurity of back country Tennessee roads to compete in the world’s fastest and most celebrated races, and the parallel tragic collapse of a rich and powerful Southern family.

Piloting a front-drive race car in practice, Kreis crashed into the wall of Turn One, rode along the top of the retaining wall for seventy-five feet, and careened down an embankment at the south end of the oval. As the car smashed into a tree in the backyard of a nearby house, both men were killed. The next year, an impromptu “coroner’s jury” of Indy drivers and Speedway experts held an intense review of the accident, and they concluded that Kreis’s demise was “the strangest death in all racing history.”

Lifelong racing fan and acclaimed historical author, Walker's (Betrayal at Little Gibraltar) search to solve the mystery surrounding Kreis’s death has spanned three-quarters of a century and too many miles to count. Walker's fascination with the mysterious crash is driven by more than a love of racing–Kreis is a distant cousin. The dynamic, nonfiction narrative is the result of a decades long quest in search of the truth—the real story of Pete Kreis, his colorful racing career, and his tragic death.

Soft cover, 312 pages



S-1749
 Price: $38.95

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REBELS WITHOUT APPLAUSE
Southern Modified and Late Model Racing 1938-1949

by Greg Fielden

REBELS WITHOUT APPLAUSE is the latest work of Greg Fielden, among the country’s most esteemed racing historians. He brings alive the pivotal, formative years before and just after World War II, starring a band of rowdies barnstorming across the South, inside and out of their primitive race cars - and the pokey.

Fielden's detailed research provides race-by-race recaps, along with box scores and money winnings for each race. For the first time, the real records, drama and often darkness of the era leading up the formation of NASCAR are brought colorfully to life.

Informal but highly informative, the book is 204 pages with 250 B&W and color photos. Soft cover, 8 1/2x11.”  






S-1748
 Price: $25.00

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The Ghost Racetracks of Portland, Oregon

by Bob Kehoe and Ralph Hunt

The Portland Speedway, dating back to 1924, stood as the anchor for automobile racing in Portland, Oregon, principally from 1936 until its demise in 2001.

Two more racing venues - Jantzen Beach Arena and, for a few years, the horse racing track at Portland Meadows - were added. These facilities were located within a one-mile radius of the Speedway. Northwest racing history was made at these speedways, much to the delight of millions of fans, who all had their local heroes.

This book is the first volume in a series that the authors hope will preserve the rich history of racing in Portland.

Soft cover, 492 pp. B&W photos.





S-1744
 Price: $50.00

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NASCAR 75 Years

by Al Pearce, Mike Hembree,
Kelly Crandall and Jimmy Creed

Explore the thrilling illustrated story of NASCAR stock car racing in America with this stunning celebration, filled with evocative photography, legendary drivers, and a decade-by-decade history. NASCAR 75 Years captures the greatest moments throughout the decades: from the beaches of Daytona to the jaw-clenching competition, the mind-bending technology, the triumphs, the teamwork, and the high-speed thrills. Large-format photography from throughout NASCAR history brings it all to life alongside narratives written by a roster of veteran NASCAR reporters and historians.

Follow NASCAR’s growth from a small, innovative family business to a leader in sports entertainment, witnessed each week by millions in person and on national television. The authors show the evolution of the vehicles—from modified family sedans to 700-horsepower race-built behemoths, all the way through the “Next Gen” cars that debuted in 2022 - and celebrate the drivers who have piloted them around tracks like Daytona, Talladega, Darlington, Las Vegas, and more - legendary heroes with names including Flock, Weatherly, Petty, Allison, Yarborough, Earnhardt, Waltrip, Gordon, Stewart, Johnson, Busch, all battling wheel to wheel, week after week, across the United States.

Hard cover with jacket, 224 pages, heavily illustrated with B&W and color photos.



S-1743
Price: $59.95

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SAMMY!  50+ Years of Winning

By Sammy Swindell
with Bones Bourcier and Bob Mays

Foreword by Dick Berggren

Sammy Swindell, is among the most successful and most interesting drivers in the history of American automobile racing. From his start as a teenager at local tracks until an age at which most athletes are no longer willing or able to compete successfully, Sammy has been a winner.

You may be surprised to learn how well Sammy did in the few Indy Car drives he had. You'll also find out how he feels about his time in NASCAR and how close he came to driving for Dale Earnhardt. Also obvious is the importance of the mechanical edge he gained by working on and living with the cars he has raced.

A big part of Sammy's secret is no secret at all: He'll beat a competitor because, in his words, "I'll work harder."

This is the story of how a man conquered his world.

Hard cover, coffee-table book, 352 pages, 336 photos - 243 color, 93 B&W.



S-1741
Price: $29.95


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The Newport Nightmare:
Living the Dream

by Jimmy Owens
with Dave Argabright

Jimmy Owens rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most accomplished and respected racing drivers of his generation. After a stellar tenure in open-wheel Modified competition, Owens embarked on a sensational career in dirt late model racing and ultimately became a four-time national champion. This is the inside story of a great racer, and an intimate glimpse of his triumphs and tears.

In his memoir, Owens pulls back the curtain to share the highs and lows of his eventful career, providing readers with a rare behind-the-scenes look at a racing life and beyond. Along the way you'll experience the events and places that led Owens to become one of the most beloved racers in dirt late model competition.

This is a story of living the dream. And more. 

Hard cover, 280 pages, 116 color & B&W photos.



S-1687SC
Price: $24.95

Back in Print in Soft Cover!

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Hello, I’m Paul Page: “It’s Race Day
in Indianapolis”

by Paul Page and J.R. Elrod

Live from the broadcast booth, Paul Page captured the excitement of 27 Indy 500 races, first as the Voice of the Indy 500 for the radio broadcast and then as chief announcer for the ABC telecast. From his first race as a pit reporter to his semi-retirement in 2016, generations of fans have witnessed the Greatest Spectacle in Racing as told by Paul Page. In a life uniquely shaped by the Indy 500, Page fell in love with racing and the Speedway as a teenager, and it became his obsession. After receiving his first press pass in 1965, Page became a fixture in Gasoline Alley, and a trusted friend and confidante to generations of drivers, mechanics and owners. Despite multiple setbacks, he used every opportunity to learn the trade of broadcast journalism and the sport of motor racing.

In a career that spanned ABC, NBC, CBS, and ESPN, Page wore a headset for every imaginable race and contest: from Indy cars to drag racers, from the Olympics to the America s Cup, and from the X-Games to Nathan s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Page weaves the history, tradition, and lore of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as he traces across six decades. He introduces the great personalities of the Speedway with many candid moments. He tells great stories from broadcast booths around the world, and slices of life as a young reporter in Indianapolis. 

Soft cover, 316 pages 35 B&W photos



S-1739
Price: $39.95

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Hemi Under Glass: Bob Riggle and
His Wheel-Standing Mopars

by Mark Fletcher and
Richard Truesdell

While the established stock and modified brackets are long-recognized as the heart and soul of drag racing, it was the wheel-standers that more often than not put butts in the bleachers. In that category, some of the most well-known names included Bill "Maverick" Golden's Little Red Wagon, Bill Shrewsberry's L.A. Dart and Chuck Poole’s Chuck Wagon. Most memorable of all was the Hurst Hemi Under Glass Plymouth Barracuda campaigned by Bob Riggle.

Riggle started his career in the early 1960s as a car builder and mechanic for Hurst-Campbell and eventually rose to pilot the Hemi Under Glass. When he left Hurst in 1969, the Hemi Under Glass franchise transferred with Riggle. He continued for six more years as the owner/driver of a succession of Hemi Under Glass renditions. In the 1990s he resurrected the concept of the original car―making four different versions (1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969)―and continued to thrill drag racing fans with his wheel-standing antics.

This is Bob Riggle’s story. Mark Fletcher and Richard Truesdell, co-authors of the 2012 book Hurst Equipped, say the story was easy to tell―given their unprecedented access not only to Bob but also to his vast archive of photos that reflect his ongoing popularity. Many of the photos in this book are seen in print for the very first time.

Soft cover, 176 pages, full of color and B&W photos.



S-1740
Price: $36.95

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MOPAR FACTORY DRAG CARS:
Dodge & Plymouth's Quarter-Mile
Domination 1962–1972

by Steve Holmes

Stock-based drag racing throughout the 1960s demanded that the cars competing on the track be genuine production models and that they could be purchased by anyone. The strict regulations dictated total commitment from the manufacturers if they were to be successful. No one was more committed than Chrysler. Chrysler attacked Stock (Super Stock) drag racing in the 1960s with the same fervor as it did the NASCAR Grand National, which itself spawned the reintroduction of the Hemi engine. Its engineers designed and produced a new factory Super Stock turnkey race car most years throughout the decade and enjoyed absolute success on the track, forever cementing its legendary performance status.

The introduction of Pro Stock in 1970 brought with it exciting heads-up racing with the expectation of producing multiple winners from a variety of brands. Instead, it resulted in total Mopar supremacy, as Hemi-powered Chrysler cars won 12 of the 15 national races throughout the first two years, prompting the NHRA to introduce weight breaks to scupper the Chrysler domination. The new 1972 regulations favored small-block-powered compact cars and were the first major step toward Pro Stock spiraling away from its roots and into the tube-frame silhouette formula seen today.

Racing historian Steve Holmes delves into this fascinating period, capturing the careers of the Ramchargers, Melrose Missile, Bud Faubel, Dick Landy, Sox & Martin, Herb McCandless, Don Grotheer, Motown Missile, and countless others, providing a blow-by-blow account of Chrysler’s factory drag car programs and the incredible cars it produced to trounce its rivals during the most epic era in Stock drag racing history.

Soft cover, 176 pages, 304 color & 102 B &W photos. S-1740 $36.95



S-1555
Price: $34.95

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MATCH RACE MAYHEM
Drag Racing's Grudges, Rivalries, and Big-Money Showdowns

by Doug Boyce

The history of match racing through the cars, the drivers, the events, the classes, the rivalries, and everything else that was fun about match racing during the golden era.

It’s all here, complemented by wonderful vintage photography provided by fans and professionals in attendance.

Soft cover, 176 pp., 297 B&W and color photos.

 

 

 

 





V-1738
Price: $24.95

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The Encore in ’54 – Indianapolis 1954
(Bill Vukovich Winning)

All the excitement from the month of May 1954 at Indianapolis. Practice, qualifying and the race, won for the second time in a row by the great Bill Vukovich, the year before he lost his life trying for his third victory in the 500.

 B&W and Color, approx. 58 minutes with 5 minutes of bonus footage of cars that missed the race.
















-
Vintage Reproduction Racing Posters
New items added. 26 posters in all.
Full Page HERE


1970s Smokey Yunick Portrait

A251970s
Price: $ 24.95


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1960s Volunteer 500 Bristol 1964

A221960s
Price: $ 24.95


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1970s Evel Knievel Wembley Stadium

A231970s
Price: $ 24.95

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S-1735
 Price: $32.00

Back in Print!

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ALAN KULWICKI NASCAR CHAMPION:
Against All Odds

by Fr. Dale Grubba

Alan Kulwicki won the Winston Cup Championship in 1992 but died only months later in an airplane crash in Tennessee at age 38. This is the true-to-life story of how Alan Kulwicki, from his start in Wisconsin short tracks, moved up to take a NASCAR championship

Fr. Dale Grubba followed and documented Kulwicki’s entire career.

Includes a chronological listing of all the races in Alan Kulwicki’s career, plus new information about the Kulwicki Driver Development Program to help up-and-coming young racers.

Soft cover, 552 pp., 100+ B&W photos.













S-1719
Price: $19.95


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READ A REVIEW

DON’T MENTION RACING 
Unless You Have An Hour To Spare
(100 Stories, 60 Years, 1 Driver)

by Roger Allan French

Exceptional storytellers know how to grab readers and ensure they want to hear the rest of the story. Roger French not only shares 100 of his best stories about his racing career, but also sheds light on what he experienced along the way: laugh-out-loud moments along with sobering tales of near-misses for French and his competitors.

From his earliest days in rough-and-tough stock cars, then on to SCCA Formula Vee racing, GT3, go-karts and more, he raced from New England to Europe and back.

Even longtime racers and fans will learn about racing as only an insider, a former chief instructor, flagger and rescue marshal can share. 

Soft cover, 300 pages.

 




S-1731SC
Price: $22.95


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SHELBY AMERICAN
The Renegades Who Built the Cars,
Won the Races, and Lived the Legend

by Preston Lerner
 
The story of Shelby American, the iconic company that in less than a decade created a legacy that will be revered as long as cars still roar around racetracks.

This entertaining book delves into the personalities and explosive hijinks that made Shelby American such a vibrant place to work.

Always standing above it all was Carroll Shelby himself. Dynamic, charismatic, mercurial, mercenary, and a little bit dangerous, he had to fight Ford bean-counters as fiercely as he dueled with Enzo Ferrari. But for a few magical years, Shelby managed to beat both of them at their own games. 

Soft
cover, 320 pages.







S-1714
Price: $29.95

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Quarter-Mile Mustangs:
The History of Ford's Pony Car
at the Dragstrip 1964-1/2 - 1978

by Doug Boyce


Blast down the quarter mile in the first two generations of Ford's legendary pony car across all drag racing classes in Quarter-Mile Mustangs! Since first becoming a mass-market success in mid-1964, the Ford Mustang has made millions of passes down the quarter mile on sanctioned dragstrips. With styling flared toward the youth, aftermarket parts manufacturers saw an enormous opportunity to produce go-fast components to aid in propelling Ford's pony car down the 1320. The success of these cars was immediate.

In the hands of successful and seasoned pros, such as Gas Ronda, Bill Lawton, and Dick Brannan, Ford unleashed the devastatingly potent 1965 A/FX Mustang fastback, which was built by Blue Oval stalwarts Holman & Moody with the 427 SOHC (Cammer) engine that unleashed havoc on mother Mopar. From those very first factory drag cars through the fabled 1968-1/2 Cobra Jets, drag racing historian Doug Boyce highlights the many successes of pioneers, such as "Dyno" Don Nicholson, Les Ritchey, Phil Bonner, Hubert Platt, and Al Joniec. However, it's not just all doorslammers. As A/FX transitioned into Funny Car, a whole new chapter in Mustang drag racing was written with Mickey Thompson taking the reins and steering Mustangs to success throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The muscle-car-era Mustangs joined the Mustang II and soldiered on the best they could as ever-changing rules hampered Ford's new pony body, with drivers Bob Glidden and Nicholson trying to squeeze every bit of performance out of the Mustang II.

Soft cover, 144 pages, 241 color & 111 B&W photos.



S-1737
 Price: $48.00

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One More Lap: Jimmie Johnson and the #48

by Robert Sullivan, Ivan Shaw, et al.

Celebrating the astonishing career and life of American race car driver and consecutive NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, through photographs taken throughout his career. His historic seven NASCAR Cup Series championship titles are shared with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the most of all time. In the storied history of NASCAR auto racing, Johnson is one of the most accomplished and decorated professional athletes of his era and the only race car driver ever to be named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year.

Johnson began exploring his passion for art and photography by hiring photographers such as Andrew Moore and Pari Dukovic to record behind the scenes at many of his races. With a foreword from sports legend Michael Jordan, this volume captures photographs from Johnson’s early life and the beginning of his illustrious career and features exhilarating racing snapshots by renowned photographers Sebastian Kim and Peggy Sirota, as well as images taken by Johnson himself.

Hard cover, 272-page photo book.



V-1734
Price: $29.95

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1982 INDIANAPOLIS 500
"LEGENDS OF THE 500" &
"RUN FOR THE BRICKS"

Includes two professionally produced films: “Legends of the 500” by Championship Racefilms, narrated by Paul Page for Goodyear, has the most complete qualifying and race coverage.

“Run For The Bricks” by Car & Track Productions, narrated by George Plimpton, is told from the perspective of the Red Roof Inns #19 March Cosworth team and rookie driver, Bobby Rahal.

Each film shows different footage highlighting the 1982 Indy 500 and the story of the month leading up to the spectacular classic on Memorial Day.

Color. 51 min. total.

 

 

 

 



V-1733
Price: $29.95

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1969 & 1970 GRAND NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Features the popular muscle cars of 1969 and ’70, on the tracks and in competition with some of the greatest drivers of the period.

1969 introduced the popular Ford Talladega and winged Dodge Daytona; by 1970, the new Plymouth Superbirds swept onto the racing scene, becoming part of the winged car era.

Includes color highlights of 12 different races, a segment on 1970 NASCAR Champion Bobby Isaac, and rare footage of the first NASCAR win for a Plymouth Superbird: Ramo Stott’s victory in the 1970 ARCA 300 at Daytona.

76 min.

 

 

 

 

 



S-1736
Price: $28.95

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Survival of the Fastest
Weed, Speed, and the 1980s Drug Scandal that Shocked the Sports World

by Randy Lanier with A.J. Baime

As a kid, Randy Lanier dreamed of achieving four-wheel glory at the Indianapolis 500, but knew he’d never be able to afford the most expensive sport on earth. That all changed when he bought a speedboat and began smuggling pot from the Bahamas. Fueled by what would become a historically massive smuggling operation, he started racing cars and became an overnight sensation.

For Randy and his teammates, money was no object, and bigger hauls meant faster cars. At every event they attended, they were behind the wheel of the best machinery, flaunting their secret in front of huge crowds and live television cameras. But no matter how fast they drove, they couldn’t outrun the law. As Randy came ever closer to reaching his dream of high-speed glory, one of the biggest drug scandals ever to hit the professional sports world was about to unfold.

Set in the 1980s Florida of 
Miami Vice, this is the unbelievable, unforgettable, unparalleled story of an ordinary guy whose attempts to become famous doing the thing he wanted most - become a world-class race car driver- devolved into a you-can't-make-this-up tale of one of the biggest crime rings and drug scandals of the 1980s. Now, with the help of New York Times bestselling author A.J. Baime, Randy tells the whole truth for the first time ever, a gripping narrative unlike any other, a sports story for the ages, and a shocking true crime epic.

 Hard cover, 336 pp.



S-1726
Price: $39.95

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BUTCH "THE CALIFORNIA FLASH" LEAL

by Bob McClurg

Check out the first ever biography on the popular drag racer, Butch “The California Flash” Leal.

Born and raised in central California, Larry “Butch” Leal was obsessed with cars from a very early age. What began with field cars turned into hard work and new Chevrolets. This took place when the golden era of drag racing was in its infancy, and Leal joined with enthusiasm. He performed well at the track with his early Chevys and had an impressive number of wins before he was out of high school. His success brought him plenty of attention and collaboration with other big names in the sport.

In 1963, GM pulled out of drag racing on an official basis. As a result, Butch (at age 19) teamed up with Mickey Thompson and joined the Ford camp, securing a ride with the factory team and its new Thunderbolts for 1964. After his success that season, including winning the Super Stock (S/S) class at the 1964 NHRA US Nationals in Indianapolis, Chrysler came calling, and Butch signed on to race the new altered-wheelbase cars in match races for 1965, as the NHRA did not have a class for these new “funny” looking cars. While Leal dabbled again with Ford and Chevrolet later, his relationship with Chrysler lasted well into the following decades, running both Funny Cars and Super Stockers.

Penned by talented automotive historian Bob McClurg, who was there for it all, and featuring full collaboration with the book’s subject, Butch “The California Flash” Leal covers the span of his fascinating career during arguably the most interesting era in drag racing history.

Butch was an 11-time NHRA champion and 4-time recipient of Car Craft magazine’s All-Star Driver of the Year award in a career that spanned the 1960s through the 1990s.

It’s all here: the events, great vintage photography, and the stories from one of the best storytellers the NHRA has ever known.  

Soft cover, 160 pages, 275 color/B&W photos.



S-1730
Original Price: $90.00
Special: $40.00


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KING OF THE BOARDS:
The Life and Times of Jimmy Murphy

by Gary D. Doyle (2002)

Beginning as a riding mechanic and young colleague for the Duesenberg Brothers and racing greats Eddie O’Donnell and Tommy Milton, Jimmy Murphy rapidly rose to become one of the greatest drivers of the 1920s. He drove championship Duesenberg and Miller cars, winning on America’s high-banked board track speedways at Indianapolis and at the French Grand Prix.

His brilliant but all-too-brief career spanned the period from September 1919 to his tragic death in a 1924 September 100-mile dirt track race at Syracuse, New York. Author Gary Doyle’s highly readable and extensively illustrated book provides an excellent analysis of Murphy’s life, the significance of his accomplishments and the high drama of championship racing in the era of the roaring twenties.

Hard cover, 336 pages, heavily illustrated with B&W and color photos.



S-1729
Original Price: $80.00
Special: $30.00


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SUNSHINE, SPEED, AND A SURPRISE:
The 1959 Grand Prix of the United States

by Joel E. Finn  (2006)

This is a story of speed, challenge and champions. In the decade after WW ll, in an America gone patriotic and car crazy, racing promoter Alec Ulmann created an unlikely sports car race circuit on an airfield near Sebring, a sleepy town in central Florida. Within a few years, tens of thousands of fans made the trek to the events he organized there.

However, it was after years of negotiation and effort that Ulmann scored motor racing’s biggest prize: his circuit in Sebring would host the first Formula 1 Grand Prix race to be staged in America. Better still, it would be at the end of the racing season when the 1959 FIA World Drivers Championship would be decided in what turned out to be a surprising finish.

Hardcover, 216 pages, lavishly illustrated with 330 black & white photographs. 

 



S-1728
Original Price: $70.00
Special: $50.00


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CARIBBEAN CAPERS: The Cuban Grand Prix Races of 1957, 1958, and 1960

by Joel E. Finn  (2010)

The three Cuban Grand Prix races brought the excitement of the world’s best sports cars to one of the world’s most glamorous playgrounds. This is a compelling story, filled with unexpected twists and maneuverings.

Author Joel Finn, who was one of the timing officials at the races in 1958, has gathered a riveting account from original correspondence and interviews with participants as well as rare records from the organizers.

Includes more than 500 images of memorabilia and historic photographs of the cars, drivers and events—many never before published—as well as meticulously compiled charts of the race entries and race results ensure that this will remain the authoritative account of the events in Cuba during the Golden Age of sports car racing.

Hard cover, 260 pages.




S-1724
Price: $17.95


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THE FIFTY GREATEST DRIVERS OF
STAFFORD MOTOR SPEEDWAY 
 

by Phil Smith

From its dirt beginnings to its lightning-fast asphalt, by the 1980s Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway had become the epicenter of NASCAR Modified racing in the Northeast.

 

The Arute family, which has owned and guided the destiny of the facility for the past 50-plus years, commissioned their 1000s of loyal fans to name their favorite drivers.

 

The result is this book of photos and biographies of the “Fifty Greatest Drivers,” listed in alphabetical order from Tommy Baldwin to Satch Worley, and compiled by motorsports journalist Phil Smith.  

 

Soft cover, 166 pages.










S-1715
 Price: $39.95

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SEA TO SHINING SEA
Racing From the Wild West to Daytona

by Ken Clapp with Bones Bourcier

A West Coast racing history and memoir, rolled into one engaging and illuminating package.

Ken Clapp has been a wide-eyed young spectator, a teenaged crewman, a tireless promoter, NASCAR’s Vice-President of Western Operations, eyewitness to some of the sport’s biggest moments, and friend to many key figures throughout the decades of his racing life.

Clapp’s story is told by one of the best motorsports writers in the U.S., Bones Bourcier.

Hard cover, 420 pages, 165 color and B&W photos.

 

 



S-1727SC
 Price: $18.95

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SWERVE OR DIE
Life at My Speed in the First Family
of NASCAR Racing


by Kyle Petty with Ellis Henican

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.

Soft cover, 288 pp., color/B&W photos.



S-1718
Price: $23.95

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BONNEVILLE'S WOMEN OF
LAND SPEED RACING

by Louise Ann Noeth

At Bonneville, record holders must first earn the right to present themselves on the starting line. This requires passing rigorous safety and technical checks for driver, rider, and speed machine. Gender is inconsequential.

Through the years, more than 200 women have made the cut and donned fireproof clothing and helmets. Dozens have set land speed records—35 in excess of 200 miles per hour, six above 300 miles per hour, and one deaf female racer who roared past 500 miles per hour. Equally impressive are the women who helped propel the helmeted ones into glory. Few know how many women are skilled fabricators, mechanics, crew chiefs, and all-round land speed racing experts, all working out on a brutal, merciless, and barren sodium-soaked playa. Without question, land speed racing has more women actively participating and setting records than any other segment of motorsports in the world. 

Author “LandSpeed” Louise Ann Noeth raced jet dragsters, helped capture the 458mph world wheel-driven record, and guided the Breedlove and Fossett teams. Here she has collected images of some of the notable women in her sport.

Soft Cover, 96 pp., 149 color/B&W images.



S-1717
 Price: $35.00

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50 First Victories

by Al Pearce and Mike Hembree

Did you know that Richard Petty's first win was overturned due to a protest . . . by his dad? That Ned Jarrett won his first race in a car he bought with a bad check, banking on the winnings to pay it off? That Mario Andretti defied team orders to bag his first NASCAR win? That Tiny Lund nabbed his first NASCAR victory because he rescued a fellow driver from a fiery wreck?

All this and more comes to light in 50 First Victorieswhich chronicles the journey of NASCAR’s best as they drive their way to that landmark first victory. You’ll read about Richard Petty at Charlotte, Dale Earnhardt Sr. at Bristol, Jimmie Johnson at Fontana, Chase Elliott at Watkins Glen, and more. Journalists Al Pearce and Mike Hembree have been along for the ride for much of NASCAR's long history. With a combined 90 years of coverage of one of America's grassroots sports, they bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the stories of these fast-and-furious heroes, drivers who ran to the ragged edge - and often past it - in pursuit of the checkered flag. Here are all the sport's stars - Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon, David Pearson, Jimmie Johnson, Junior Johnson - and the inside stories of their success.  

Hard cover, 244 pp.



S-1716
Price: $60.00


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Boost!

Roger Bailey’s Extraordinary
Motor Racing Career

by Gordon Kirby

Perhaps nobody in the history of automobile racing enjoyed a career of wider reach and diversity than Roger Bailey.

Over the course of 52 years (1959–2012) Bailey competed as a mechanic, engine builder, crew chief, sanctioning body technical inspector and finally, co-founder and administrator of the Indy Lights series.

Bailey’s career came to its culmination in 1986 when he co-founded the American Racing Series with Pat Patrick. In 1991, the ARS became the Indy Lights series with Bailey at the helm of the category through its heydays until his retirement in 2012.

Hard cover, 208 pages



S-1713

Price: $42.95

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Early Funny Cars: 1964-1975
A History of Tech Evolution from Altered Wheelbase to Match Race Flip Tops

by Lou Hart


Blast through the evolving early years of Funny Car drag racing when doorslammers morphed into flip-top rail monsters. The era features historic mounts from Arnie "the Farmer" Beswick, Al "the Flying Dutchman" Vanderwoude, "Jungle" Jim Liberman, Don "the Snake" Prudhomme, and many more. The metamorphosis wasn't ever a cut and dry plan. As drag racers pushed the envelope for more speed, a series of innovations quickly evolved and refined the genre.

Funny Cars cut their teeth in the A/Factory Experimental (A/FX) and Experimental Stock (X/S) classes in 1964 with the 2-percent Mopars that looked funny with their axles moved forward. However, it was Jack Chrisman’s supercharged, nitro-fueled 427 Supercharged Factory Experimental (S/FX) Comet Caliente that trailblazed the class on which the NHRA turned its back and the AHRA fully accepted. Showmanship became the draw in the dawn of Funny Car, with half-track burnouts and flame-throwing headers that packed fans five deep at the fence.

By 1969, the NHRA had no choice but to create a class for these nitro-breathing, flip-top-sporting rail bruisers, indoctrinating the Funny Car (F/C) class at the Winternationals with 40 cars vying for 16 places in the field.

Soft cover, 192 pages, 450+ B&W and color photos.



S-1712
Price: $39.95

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Shirley Shahan: The Drag-On Lady

by Patrick Foster

Meet drag racing legend and pioneer Shirley Shahan, the Drag-On Lady!  As the first woman to win an NHRA national event when she was named Top Stock Eliminator at the 1966 Winternationals, Shahan blazed a trail for women in drag racing. During the golden era of drag racing, it was rare to find diversity in the sport. Shahan is what’s commonly known as a living legend.

In a career that spanned the 1950s and into the early 1970s, Shahan drove 1956 and 1958 Chevys and was one of the lucky few who was able to purchase one of the rare 1963 Chevrolet RPO Z11 Super Stockers. Later, when she was driving for Plymouth and Dodge, Shahan made the name Drag-On Lady both famous and feared. She then moved to American Motors and raced very successfully with the new SS/AMX.

From 1958 to 1972, Shahan set records and won numerous awards. She was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, Super Stock Magazine Hall of Fame, and Mopar Hall of Fame, and she was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Bakersfield racetrack. In addition, Shirley won the Top Stock category at the very first March Meet at the legendary Famoso Raceway track near Bakersfield, California, which made her the first person (male or female) to do so. In 1966, she was the named one of Hot Rod magazine’s Top 10 Drivers.

She raced against the best drivers during the golden age of drag racing and more often than not blew off the doors of her opponents. She had a fierce passion for winning, and in this book, you’ll feel what it was like to be behind the wheel as she steers you through her illustrious career.

Soft cover, 175 pages, heavily illustrated with B&W and color photos.



S-1711
Price: $16.95

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Thirty Days in May:
The Day-by-Day Drama of
the 1970 Indy 500

by Hal Higdon

Thirty days! From the moment the drivers entered in the 1970 Indianapolis 500 rolled their cars onto the track for practice until the command “Gentlemen, start your engines,” they faced 30 days of intense action to capture one of the 33 starting positions.

Award-winning sportswriter Hal Higdon was there to report on the action: hovering in the pits next to the racers in their cars, wandering into Gasoline Alley to tell their stories, absorbing all the excitement the month of May brings to Indianapolis.

Here is the tale, day by day, of those 30 crucial days—the drivers with fast cars and slow cars, the drivers with rich sponsors and those with little money, the drivers with talent and those who need good luck to place high or even qualify.

The list of competitors in 1970 was formidable, and included Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue, A.J. Foyt, and the Unser brothers. Add the owners: Roger Penske and Andy Granatelli.

This is the story of the 1970 Indy 500, but the scenes are repeated on the turns of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway year after year.

Soft cover, 154 pages, S-1711 $16.95

(a reprint of the original edition,
published in 1972)



S-1710
 Price: $60.00

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READ A REVIEW
Dirt Tracks to Glory: The Early Days
of Stock Car Racing As Told by the Participants


by Sylvia Wilkinson

More than forty years ago, Sylvia Wilkinson took her note pad, a tape recorder and an open mind to the dirt bull rings and backwoods of garages in the American South in the hopes of capturing the reflections of the people who made NASCAR stock car racing happen. What she encountered were the folksy origins, colorful characters and rough beginnings of today's billion-dollar sport.

In this all-new, beautifully designed and illustrated edition of Dirt Tracks to Glory we return to the very personal and often hilarious inside stories of sharp-witted people who became legends in the early days of NASCAR. Bill France Sr, Humpy Wheeler, Curtis Turner, "Little Joe" Weatherly, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, the Flock Brothers, Banjo Matthews, Smokey Yunick and a host of others emerge from these pages with their personal reflections and wry commentary on the way it was in the days of "haulin' shine", bangin' fenders and out-smartin' the other hot-shoes on Saturday nights.


Author Wilkinson says: "This book was told to me by and about the people who went with stock car racing from its beginnings...It is not an encyclopedia of stock car racing biographies, but a series of individual remembrances and perspectives of one special revelation of the American dream - from Dirt tracks to Glory!"

Hard cover with dust jacket, 208 pages, 100+ B&W photos.



S-1708
Price: $15.95


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Knockin' Doorz Down:
A Story of Breaking Through the
Darkness and Finding Redemption

by Carlos Vieira 

The inspirational story of one man’s heroic struggle against inner demons that nearly destroy him, though he ultimately recovers and finds a unique pathway to redemption and inner peace. In this cautionary tale, we see how the isolation of addiction affects every aspect of Vieira’s existence.

Here are the binges, the excesses, the relapses, the rehabs, the nights in jail, and the multiple resolutions to recover. At age thirty-four, he finally stops, once and for all.

In addition to helping to operate the largest producer of organic and conventional sweet potatoes in the U.S., Vieira is a competitive race car driver and the owner of the number 51 car, competing in various race series throughout the West Coast. 

Soft cover, 200 pp. 

 

 



S-1707
Price: $24.95


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5-10-32: McBride - Parker - Anvelink

by Joe Verdegan

Author Joe Verdegan tells the stories of three of the best wheelmen to emerge from the northeastern Wisconsin dirt-track scene. M.J. McBride. Pete Parker. Terry Anvelink. A trio of late model drivers with three distinct personalities.

These three dominated action at Shawano Speedway from 1980-2000, winning all but two track titles. The three scooped up hundreds of feature wins and multiple track championships along the way.

 Verdegan interviews nearly 100 drivers and former car owners who raced against these three legends - and even beat them on occasion.

S-1707 Soft cover, 160 pp.

 

 

 

 

 



S-1706
Price: $44.95

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Ken Miles: the Shelby American Years

by Dave Friedman


Ken Miles is one of the most famous sports car racers in history, and his time at Shelby American was the pinnacle of his career. Ride shotgun with Ken Miles through the twists and turns of Sebring, Laguna Seca, Riverside, and Le Mans as seen through the lens of Shelby American photographer Dave Friedman.

The hiring of Ken Miles by Carroll Shelby in February 1963 initiated arguably the greatest pairing of driver/owner partnerships in the history of motorsports. Not only did Shelby hire Competition Manager Ken Miles as an accomplished road racer, but Miles also brought professionalism, innovation, and a keen ability to surround himself with budding talented individuals.

The list of race cars that Ken piloted at Shelby American is nearly unrivaled: the Shelby 289 Cobra, 390 Cobra, 427 Cobra, King Cobra, Shelby Daytona, Mustang GT350R, and Ford GT. Ken dominated the 1964 United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) racing season by winning 8 of 10 races to secure the Manufacturers' Championship. However, it was at Le Mans where Ken Miles became a worldwide household name.

The robbery that was the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans is laid out in excruciatingly accurate detail as Ford royalty Carroll Shelby, Carroll Smith, Homer Perry, Leo Beebe, Charlie Agapiou, Bob Negstad, Carroll Smith, and Peter Miles recall the race and the tragedy that followed two months later.

Soft cover, 240 pp., 308 b/w & 45 color photos.



S-1697
Price: $65.00

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RICK MEARS: THANKS
The Story of Rick Mears and
the Mears Gang

by Gordon Kirby

 Foreword by Roger Penske

Rick Mears retired in 1992 at age 41 while still at the height of his powers, with a record of four Indy 500 victories, three CART Indy Car World Series championships, 29 individual race victories and 40 pole positions.

Mears is also recognized as one of the fairest, most ethical drivers; his behavior on the track was impeccable, the standard by which all others were judged.

Hard cover w/dust cover, 265 pp., 200+ photos.

 




S-1705
Price: $19.95

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Johnny Rutherford
The Story of an Indy Champ
 

By Hal Higdon

Johnny Rutherford was one of the most exciting drivers in big-time auto racing of the 1970s. In these action-filled pages, author Hal Higdon tells how Rutherford grew into a racing great.

Starting out driving Sprints and Midgets in the Midwest, Johnny moved on to stock-car racing - that hair-raising sport in which you shove the pedal to the floor and hold it there all the way around the track.

Higdon follows Johnny's career on to Daytona and finally the Indy 500. This is the fascinating true story of how a young man made it to the top in the most dangerous sport of all.

(This is a reissue of a book originally published in 1980.) 

Soft cover, 104 pp.

 

 

 



S-1672
Price: $39.95

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HERE


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500 on (the INDY) 500:
Tales, Facts and Figures on
"The Greatest Race in the World"

by Rick Shaffer

Foreword by Helio Castroneves
Four-Time Indy 500 Winner

  • Why is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.5 miles around instead of five miles?
  • Who was an Indy race winner before Ray Harroun?
  • What driver had to take a streetcar home to inform his parents he had just won the Indy 500?
  • How was the starting lineup determined in the years before the cars were qualified?
  • Have there always been 33 starters?

Whether the distant past or modern times serves as a lure for "The Greatest Race in the World," there are literally hundreds of fascinating, true Indy 500 tales, facts and figures.

One of the race's most-respected journalists, Rick Shaffer, has gathered 500 of the most interesting anecdotes to come out of the intersection of 16th Street and Georgetown Road.

500 on (the Indy) 500 chronicles the famous from Chevrolet to Andretti, the obscure from William Borque (item #10, the track's first driver fatality) to Simon Pagenaud (#496), winner 105 years after the last Frenchman to do so.

The ultimate race chronology, this book is for the curious, the scholar, the passing fan or the diehard. The depth of research is sure to entertain and illuminate aspects of the Indy 500 new to even many Indy devotees.

Hard cover, 200 color and B&W images, 280 pages.



S-1660
Price: $29.95

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THE SOUL OF A MODIFIED:
Lenny Boehler’s Ole Blue


by Lew Boyd
Operating out of an old farm near Cape Cod, Lenny Boehler, an understated personality with overstated aptitude and a twinkle in his eye, seemed to communicate with his race car as effectively as with people. And curiously, "Ole Blue" seemed to respond. Together they motored a million miles on a treacherous road, compiling hundreds of victories at speedways up and down the East Coast over four decades. And, though surviving on massively less resource than their competition, they consistently returned with championship laurels.

When Lenny died, he never left. His presence still envelopes the garage and chicken coop where Ole Blue has been housed for the last 65 seasons. Now a senior citizen itself, Ole Blue, still run by Lenny’s family and crew, is one of the most enduring and beloved sights in all of motorsports. 

Soft cover, 216 pages, 200 B&W and color photos.



S-1702
Price: $60.00

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SAVAGE ANGEL
Death and Rebirth at the Indianapolis 500

by Ted Woerner

Swede Savage blew into the American racing scene in the late 1960s like his native Santa Ana winds. At the 1973 Indy 500 the young driver was a serious threat to win until a unexplained loss of control on lap 59 produced one of the most violent crashes in the race’s history, which ultimately proved fatal.

A pregnant Sheryl Savage witnessed her husband’s wreck from the grandstand. The daughter born three months later would suffer effects from the same trauma Sheryl endured.

A long overdue, in-depth look at the remarkable career of Swede Savage, but also what happens to family when a racer perishes as a result of his profession.

Hard cover, 224 pp., 175 color/B&W photos.



S-1704
Price: $34.95

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Al Unser Jr.: A Checkered Past

As told to Jade Gurss

Winning came naturally to Al Unser Jr. Born into a racing family, he had a gift for finding the fast line on the track. By the time he was nine years old, he could draw the quickest way through the corner on paper and intuitively apply his sketch while on the go-kart track. By his teen years, the innate sense for the fast way made him unstoppably quick when he was racing through the woods on a snowmobile, on a dirt track, in a sprint car, or on a race course.

As his career progressed from the kart track victories to following in the footsteps of his famed uncle, Bobby, and father, Al, the wins grew in stature from junior titles to the very top echelon of his sport. Two Indy 500 victories. A pair of IndyCar championships.  In addition, Unser was not just a winning driver―he also possessed a boisterous and lovable personality. The fans and the press adored him.

Al Unser Jr. was on top of the world.

A Checkered Past tells that story - but it doesn’t stop there.

His gifts as a driver and his easy affability were the public persona. Behind the scenes, his appetite for drugs and alcohol were destroying his private life. Spurred on by his spiraling substance abuse problem, his marriage turned volatile. When he retired as a driver, the trouble amplified. Domestic violence arrests. Multiple DUIs. Repeated visits to rehab centers. Divorce. Financial ruin. A dark dive into depression and isolation that led to a suicide attempt.

Unser's battle to climb out of that cave is one of the great stories in motorsports. A Checkered Past is an unblinking look at how even our most celebrated sports heroes struggle with human frailty.

 Hard cover, 304 pp., 55 photos. 



S-1703
Price: $40.00


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SAM’S SCRAPBOOK
My Motorsports Memories


by Sam Posey with John Posey

Sam Posey raced a huge variety of sports cars, saloons and open-wheel machines in numerous racing arenas - Can-Am, USRRC, Trans-Am, IMSA, Indy, NASCAR, Formula 5000 and Formula 1 - against rivals and friends such as George Follmer, Parnelli Jones, Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Dan Gurney, David Hobbs and Brian Redman.

Sam’s Scrapbook
gives a first-hand account of a romantic era in racing, through pictures no one has seen and stories no one has heard. Running alongside the images, Posey's commentary is fascinating and thoughtful, and in turns both amusing and emotional.

This is an unusual and engaging memoir by one of America’s best-loved racing heroes and will appeal to all motorsports enthusiasts.

Hard cover, 160 pp. 250 B&W photos.