Product Description
Many have called him the greatest dirt-track Sprint car driver of all time. This exciting biography of Tommy Hinnershitz, by veteran writer Gary Ludwig, is a superb account of the life and times of this racecar driver who became an auto-racing legend. This beautifully printed hardcover book is a fascinating history of the Sprint car, telling how it evolved, beginning during the first few years of the 1900s, to become the true American race car. You'll read about the drivers, mechanics, owners, and promoters who spent their American ingenuity and willpower to invent, innovate, and engineer the development of the automobile through high speed rough and tough competition. You'll learn about the early champions, including Ted Horn, Joie Chitwood, Jimmy Bryan, Johnny Thomson, and many more, who were Hinnershitz's rivals during his career that began in 1928 and spanned five decades. Racing and winning on the dusty dirt horsetracks at state and county fairs across America earned him a chance to race in the Indianapolis 500.He was there at the beginning, one of a handful of daredevil athletes, the champions who invented the broadslide; going in low and coming off high, or vice versa. After leading the way, setting the pace, and developing the syle, Hinnershitz set himself apart from all the others; he went in high and stayed there.This history of his life and amazing career includes over 20 pages of photographs and his complete race by race career statistics. This first ediion book is a treasured collector's item for thousands of Hinnershitz's fans.For the modern race fan this book serves as a catalyst for a better understanding of the men who had to overcome awesome obstacles to achieve success during the early years of auto-racing. Hinnershitz raced during an era without safety equipment or concerns. It was before seat belts, roll-bars and cages. He and his contemporaries seemed to embrace a greater lack of fear, adopting the adage that tragedy can't happen to them, only to the "other guy." Because of this lack of safety equipment and much less sophisticated racecars, many drivers died young. Tommy Hinnershitz was there through it all, and he was one of those that survived. He was a true pioneer of American auto-racing. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, and honored by numerous other organizations. ... Read more

Product Description
The history of the Mercedes provides the thread for this book that narrates the early history of automobile racing from the beginnings in 1895 until the First World War in 1915 when racing temporarily ceased. The book focuses on the races themselves, the drivers and mechanics, the engineers in the background and the technical progress of the cars. Automobile racing had its origins in Paris, and French marques and the Automobile Club de France were dominating the scene. But in 1901 a foreign troublemaker emerged, the Mercedes. This German machine was to play a leading role, its career and evolution becoming an image of the whole period. The individuals who built and drove these early racers laid the foundation of a new industry, conceived the modern, high-performance engine, and gave magic to a series of races, which drew ever more spectators and thrilled entire nations.

This richly illustrated history answers many questions from this time in automotive history. Early chapters discuss the marketing of the original Daimler engine in France, the position and influence of Emil Jellinek and Wilhelm Maybach, and the great town-to-town and Gordon Bennett races. Later chapters focus on the French Grand Prix, the great crisis of 1909, the voiturette movement, the Mercedes and Benz successes in America, including the record attempts of the Blitzen Benz, and the role of Ernest Henry in the development of the revolutionary Peugeot. Final chapters describe the career of the 4.5-litre Mercedes and its impact on future designs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nice Book - strange words
This is a nicely produce volume with numerous photographs that are very evocative of the period. The content is good with a great deal of unique historical information and background on the personalities. I found the text, however, to be difficult to read, due to the unusual use of the english language. I feel this valuable work would be much improved through more detailed editing. Nevertheless, I feel this volume remains essential reading to any student of early motoring history. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Pairing over 175 images with a historical survey of the great drivers and times of these speedways
SS Collins & Gavin D. Ireland's SPEEDWAY: AUTO RACING'S GHOST TRACKS provides a fine history and survey of forgotten speedways and covers tracks around the world, pairing over 175 images with a historical survey of the great drivers and times of these speedways. Any library strong in race car history will find this a winning discussion.

Disappointing
This book is a follow up to the fantastic book Autodrome. Autodrome described some of the retired racing circuits in Europe with a combination of history and photography.

In this new volume of stories and photographs of former auto racing tracks, coverage spans both North America and Europe. In fact, some of the circuits described in Speeday are duplicates of those in Autodrome. Some of the new tracks covered in Speedway include Chicago, Augusta, Middle Georgia, and North Wilkesboro. Returnees include Avus, Brooklands, Monza, and Montlhéry.

While Autodrome was quite enjoyable, Speedway is a bit of a letdown. Both the photography and track selection for the North America circuits are somewhat poor. Furthermore, rounding out the book with a bunch of the same tracks (albeit with some new photos) from Autodrome seems like a cheap trick. Surely the authors could have found more worth tracks to include like Marlboro Motor Raceway, Riverside, and others?

If you already have Autodrome, then I'd say skip this volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Priceless reviews of drivers that have come and gone.
Though it took me a few months to have this book sent to me, it was well worth the wait. I found it informative and very correct. I am using the book for research and it has proven to be an extremelly important tool.Reading the history of the drivers from and era gone, it is interesting tonote how close these drivers profiles match racing drivers of the decadethat we are now in. I keep this book onmy priority shelf. ... Read more

Product Description
As soon as there were automobiles, there was racing. The first recorded race, an over road event from Paris to Rouen, France, was organized by the French newspaper Le Petit Journal in 1894. Seeing an opportunity for a similar event, Hermann H. Kohlsaat—publisher of the Chicago Times-Herald—sponsored what was hailed as the "Race of the Century," a 54-mile race from Chicago’s Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois, and back. Frank Duryea won in a time of 10 hours and 23 minutes, of which 7 hours and 53 minutes were actually spent on the road.

Race cars and competition have progressed continuously since thattime, and today’s 200 mph races bear little resemblance to the eventDuryea won. This work traces American auto racing through the 20thcentury, covering its significant milestones, developments andpersonalities. Subjects included are: Bill Elliott, dirt track racing,board track racing, Henry Ford, Grand Prix races, Dale Earnhardt, theVanderbilt Cup, Bill France, Gordon Bennett, the Indianapolis MotorSpeedway, the Mercer, the Stutz, Duesenberg, Frank Lockhart, dragracing, the Trans Am, Paul Newman, vintage racing, land speed records,Al Unser, Wilbur Shaw, the Corvette, the Cobra, Richard Petty, NASCAR,Can Am, Mickey Thompson, Roger Penske, Mario Andretti, Jeff Gordon,and Formula One. Through interviews with participants and trackrecords, this text shows where, when and how racing changed. Itdescribes the growth of each different form of auto racing as well asthe people and technologies that made it ever faster. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

SpeedReaders.info Review
This book delivers more than its subtitle promises! Not only is this book an excellent source of period photography, it also contains a thorough textual treatment in the form of extensive photo captions as well as contextual narrative. That said, the book does keep a narrow focus on the car-specific aspects of the story, which, considering that the history of Germany's Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrow cars of that era is utterly inseparable from the political context of the time, is a useful qualifier to keep in mind. Put another way, the story of Nazi Germany, Hitler's fascination with cars in general and motorsport in particular, state subsidies, the propaganda value of victorious racing efforts, political pressure exerted on manufacturers, or cronyism are referenced where they materially affect the competition history of the cars but the book neither dwells on these matters nor attempts to unravel the many, often unholy, alliances.

That Pritchard has a mind for details is evident already in his Author's Notes in which he explains his reasons for using a specific nomenclature in listing the cars, and the predicament posed to photo identification (and there are some questionable cases) by, often, race numbers being changed between practice and race. Early on he also addresses the merits of the "official" story of how the cars came to be silver, not white. (Spoiler alert: the issue remains unresolved--and this finding is as state-of-the-art as it gets because Daimler-Chrysler held a symposium on just that subject in 2007, the year before this book was published.)

It boggles the mind that 70 years after the fact never before seen photos should still be lurking in archives but they do. Most importantly, this book shows, likely for the first time, a selection of 13 COLOR photos by that grand photographer Louis Klemantaski, a rarity for the time and especially this photographer.

Closing chapters contain brief bios of varying length of each marque's drivers accompanied by a period photo, and remarks about the post-1945 years that address specials, the post-1950 resumption of German racing efforts, and DKW passenger cars. Appended are Silver Arrows survivors by chassis no. and whereabouts, detailed specs, a VERY useful description of the 1906-51 GP formulae (the latter year mistakenly called "1946" in the Table of Contents). Bibliography; Index divided by vehicles/teams, people, and races.

Full review at <[...]>. Copyright 2010, Sabu Advani

Phenomenal Photographs
I recently got a copy via a British Amazon source,and I am well pleased.
I am impressed with the wealth of "new" photos,which complement the other available works on the Siberpfeile,both in and out of print.
Especially welcome is the converage of the seldom seen 1936 version of the Mercedes W25,and the composite Typ C-D Auto Union from the 1938 season.All the better known versions are covered in depth as well.
Only flaw,and I find it irritating in such a beautiful book,are a number of caption errors,misidentifing cars,times,and places.
There are a couple of fantastic shots of a Mercedes chassis,but they are of the W 154,not the W125 as noted.I also found the authors repeated comments on Neubauers waistline size to be a distraction.Hey,he WAS the forefather of the modern racing team concept,let's see something more positive about him!
The book is still quite hard to put down,and draws the enthusiast back to it again and again,just to absorb this wonderful record.
My wish is that the author/editors will offer errata sheets with corrected captioning;this will turn a good book into a great one to stand beside Chris Nixon's works on the greatest era of motorsport ever known.

Superb companion to Chris Nixon's Silver Arrows
Hard to believe the author could dig up unpublished photos after 70 years - but he did, including some excellent VINTAGE COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS by Louis Klementaski.Well-chosen selection of both well-known photos as well as unpublished pieces.Utilized both the Mercedes and Audi archives, as well as LAT and all are beautifully reproduced.Light on text but has lengthy, detailed captions - the perfect companion to Chris Nixon's Racing the Silver Arrows - Anthony Pritchard has done a stand-up job and this is reinforced by Octane magazine choosing this as Book of the Month.

Silver Arrows photographic history
I am not a particular fan of open-wheel and single-seat racing, finding it womewhat less relevant to the automobile than the sports-racing cars although this is certainly arbitrary as even the latter are not really representative of the family sedan.
Notwithstanding, I cannot get enough of this book.It is lavishly illustrated with a huge number of photos, even some rare period color photos.Not only does the book reflect a hugely significant era in motor-racing history, but also many views of a Europe which no longer exists, destroyed by the very sponsors of the racing marques featured in this book.
Ferrari may be the rapier of racing, and certaily Bugatti is the ballerina, but no one with even the slightest bit of benzene in his or her soul can avoid appreciating these magnificent pieces of engineering excess from Mercedes Benz and Auto Union.This is a book that will keep your focus for months with its wealth of detail, amazing photos, and outstanding text.Highly recommended, a must have for every racing enthusiast and sure to become a classic. ... Read more

Product Description
Real Road Racing tells the tale of the Santa Monica RoadRaces. These annual races were held between 1909 and 1919 on theactual city streets (ok, they were dirt roads) of SantaMonica. Drivers such as Barney Oldfield, Ralph DePalma, Earl Cooper,and Terrible Teddy Tetzlaff raced along Ocean Avenue to WilshireBoulevard, then over to San Vicente and back to Ocean.

This is thefirst book dedicated to these events and contains race details,descriptions, and over 150 astounding vintage photographs andmaps.

Extensive use of contemporary news reports highlight the textand add a degree of color that would be otherwiseunattainable. Remember, in the teens, there were no radios ortelevision to assist in reporting. Written language was thus morecolorful and descriptive. The authors have made great use of thisthroughout the work.

Modern Santa Monica residents may well shudderat the thought of speeding racers attracting crowds of nearly 100,000people to their town. But through the success of these races, SantaMonica was able to stave off annexation into the big nastyconglomeration that has become Los Angeles. Real Road Racingchronicles the growth of Santa Monica, auto racing as a sport, and thepolitical aspects of the speed game that many attribute only to themodern era.

To describe this as a softcover book does the work agross injustice. Artist Neil Nissing has taken an old 1913 racephotograph and colorized it. He then added multiple design elements tohelp set the period of these events. The cover is indeed flexible, butit has edge flaps for all peripheral text, and is fullylaminated. There are 153 photographs, numerous maps, and 140 pages. ... Read more

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Automobile racing, the world's fastest sport, began almost as soon as the first cars were built. It developed and thrived in the Province of Alberta, far removed from the world power centres of racing. In The Speediest Land Traveller, former race driver Dick McDonell spins a story of the heroes and geniuses who built and raced cars against the best on the planet, and of the developers, politicians, promoters and wheeler-dealers who gave them places to learn their craft.

At times hilarious and others tragic, The Speediest Land Traveller paints a memorable portrait of an exciting sport and the century of change in which it grew. This is must-have book for anyone with an interest in auto racing or Alberta history. ... Read more

Product Description
- Foreword by A.J. Foyt, Indy 500 winner and IRL teamowner - Preface by Mari Hulman George, Chair person, IndianapolisMotor Speedway

With his signature Texas flag painted on his helmet, Johnny "J.R."Rutherford captured the hearts of racing fans all over the worldduring his stellar three-decade career.A versatile driver, he isworld renowned for his record-breaking successes in theultra-competitive world of Indy and Sprint cars.

In Lone Star J.R., Johnny himself takes us on an exciting drivethrough his life and gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the racingworld.Born in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1938, John Sherman RutherfordIII did his duty in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years beforebeginning his legendary racing career in Texas.After overcoming aserious accident in 1966, in which he suffered two broken arms, hebegan to achieve his greatest success.J.R. relives his historicIndianapolis 500 wins (in 1974, 1976, and 1980) and explains theallure and excitement of racing in this personal look back at hisstoried racing career.

A true sportsman, always generous with his time, this racing legendhas become one of the greatest ambassadors the sport has ever known.In Lone Star J.R., the man himself explains how and why he has come tobe one of the sport's most celebrated legends.

Book size is 6" x 9", with 60 B&W photographs throughout book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Lone Star JR, Johnny Rutherford
Good discription of his life and times. Equally as good as most autobiographies of his counterparts.

A Winner!
Overall, I liked this book. The story of JR's early racing days and his travels with Jim McElreath as they followed the IMCA circuit was good reading. In addition, the details of his 1966 Eldora crash and recovery as well as his experience driving the Smokey Yunick NASCAR Chevy in 1963 was very interesting. I would have liked more technical detail on what happened to his race cars to cause poor finishes at Indy in 1973, 1982, etc.

Lone Star J.R.
If you are a fan of Johnny Rutherford and racing in general, this is thebook for you.The book gives insight from inside the racing world.It isa highly detailed account of Johnny's personal life and his racing career. I found his personal struggle to become a big time driver very interesting,as he started at a relatively late age for his era.It was alsointeresting for me to read his explanation of the many changes in racingand what was expected of a driver from his first race until his retirement. The candid comments and numerous photographs, make the reader fell like hehas had a personal converstaion with J.R. himself. I believe almost anyonewill enjoy this book.

Lone Star J.R.
If you are a fan of Johnny Rutherford and racing in general, this is thebook for you.The book gives insight from inside the racing world.It isa highly detailed account of Johnny's personal life and his racing career. I found his personal struggle to become a big time driver very interesting,as he started at a relatively late age for his era.It was alsointeresting for me to read his explanation of the many changes in racingand what was expected of a driver from his first race until his retirement. The candid comments and numerous photographs, make the reader fell like hehas had a personal converstaion with J.R. himself. I believe almost anyonewill enjoy this book.

Lone Star J.R.
If you are a fan of Johnny Rutherford and racing in general, this is thebook for you.The book gives insight from inside the racing world.It isa highly detailed account of Johnny's personal life and his racing career. I found his personal struggle to become a big time driver very interesting,as he started at a relatively late age for his era.It was alsointeresting to me to read his explanation of the many changes in racing andwhat was expected of a driver from his first race until his retirement. The candid comments and numerous photographs, make you fell like you've hada personal converstaion with J.R. himself. I believe almost anyone willenjoy this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Career biographies of Mario Andretti, James Hunt, A. J. Foyt, Niki Lauda, Bobby Allison, and Al and Bobby Unser. ... Read more

Product Description
Prior to World War I, auto racing featured expensive machines and teams financed by auto factories. The teams toured the country, and most of the races were held in large cities, so the vast majority of Americans never saw a race. All this changed after World War I, though, and in the 1920s and 1930s there were approximately 1,000 dirt tracks in the United States and Canada. The dirt tracks offered small-time racing—little prize money and minimal publicity—but people loved it.

This pictorial history documents dirt track racing, with what is today called sprint cars, around the United States from 1919 to 1941. Information on dirt track racing in Canada during this time is also provided. Regionally divided chapters detail the drivers, tracks, and specific races of each area of the country. Some of the drivers went on to win fame and fortune while others faded into obscurity. Tracks included well known facilities as well as out-of-the-way sites few people had ever heard of. The cars ranged from state of the art machines to the more common home built specials based on Model T or Model A Ford parts. Taken together, the drivers, tracks, and races of this era were instrumental in making auto racing the popular sport it is today. ... Read more

Product Description
Before NASCAR dominated auto racing world, some of thebest action was at short tracks in Wisconsin and northernIllinois. Father Dale Grubba, longtime racing fan and spiritualadviser to some of the nation's top racers, chronicles those earlyyears that shaped today's stars. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Why is the Catholic Church paying for this?!
After convincing his superiors at the Diocese of Madison (Wis.) that he is God's "Minister to NASCAR" (the author's own phrase), Fr. Grubba seems to have been given free rein to wander the country taking pictures of race car drivers and indulging in his favorite hobby. This, while Catholic Church continues to close parishes and shutter churches due to a shortage of available priests. Amazing!

It's beyond me as to why the Church would tolerate this (and why the people of the Madison Diocese would want to foot the bill for it).

The book provides a fine example of how the Catholic Church has completely lost sight of its mission and--yet again!--failed to control the behavior of its priests.

the golden age of wisconsin auto racing
IF you're a big racing fan of the Wisconsin's history of stock car racing,
this bood is for you.Many chapters devoted to the historic drivers... such
as Dick Trickle, Jimmy Back, Marv Marzofka, Tommy Reffner and more.
Plus some chapters go year by year of it's history... these chapters are
quick outlines and some brief short stories of the bigger races held those years.
Lots of pictures of drivers and their cars.A hard to put down book for
the race fan ... Enjoy the RACES !!!Don D. ... Read more

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Discusses the origins and evolution of automobile racing, as well as important events and key personalities in the history of this competitive pastime. ... Read more

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This action packed book--with forward from Jeff Gordon-- makes the perfect gift for auto racing and sports fans with profiles and stories of faith and courage from today's top NASCAR drivers and hall of fame heroes including Dale Jarrett, Bobby Lebonte, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Petty, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Readers will be encouraged to walk each day with a deeper sense of appreciation and renewal of God's grace and mercy in everyday life. ... Read more

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Biographical sketches of three American racing car drivers: Rodger Ward, Lee Petty, and Don Garlits. ... Read more

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Biographies of three winners of the Indy 500: Ralph De Palma, Johnnie Parsons, and A. J. Foyt. ... Read more