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 story line 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.
In May 1935, twenty-two-year-old Max Reisch and nineteen-year-old Helmuth Hahmann set out in a small motor car to find a land route from India to China. Their journey across Asia took them from Haifa to Tokyo.
In this lively account, the author regales us with one story after another, struck with wonder or struggling against disaster in countries which deeply concern us today: Iraq with its oilfields, ancient Iran in the throes of modernization, proud Afghanistan, and British India with its stunning variety of civilization.
Before the building of the Burma Road, driving from India to southern China meant sinking over the axles in mud on forest tracks and crossing torrents on rickety ferryboats. It also meant encounters with strange and fascinating peoples and places.
Originally written by Max Reisch in German, this brand new English translation of An Incredible Journey by Alison Falls captures all the excitement of the journey, and features fascinating historical photos of the journey from the Reisch archives.
Many people remember Don Edmunds as the premier builder of open wheel race cars during the 1960s, 1970s, and into the early 1980s, but the Don Edmunds story isn’t just about iconic midgets and sprint cars. Don was a true innovator, whose cars combined art and performance and were always at the forefront of open cockpit safety and design, but few readers realize Don Edmunds touched so many parts of the racing world and beyond. Author, Paul Weisel, Jr., has partnered with Don to tell the Edmunds story in a new 182-page book, complete with more than 200 photos, titled, ‘The Saga of Rotten Red – The Don Edmunds Story’.
From his childhood in Anaheim, CA, his teenage years as a part of the southern California roadster scene, including appearances at El Mirage and Bonneville, his first oval track exposure racing jalopies with the California Jalopy Assn., to his graduation to the midgets of the United Racing Assn., the book chronicles Edmunds’ journey toward his greatest racing triumph, qualifying for the 1957 Indianapolis ‘500’ and subsequently being named ‘Rookie of the Year’ at Indy. Along the way Don learned the ropes from car owner, Doug Caruthers, paid attention to tips by drivers, Billy Cantrell, Edgar Elder, and others, worked with Eddie Kuzma, fabricating race cars for Indy and the championship trail, and had his moniker of ‘Red’ transformed forever to ‘Rotten Red’, a tag he has always embraced. Even today, Don signs all his e-mails with ‘RR’. Don types the letters with a grin and all his friends smile when they read to the end of the message.
After Indianapolis 1959 Don retired from driving championship cars and returned to Anaheim to enjoy married life and to pursue his plans to eventually open his own race car shop. Stints with Bill Devin, Bill Stroppe, and Bill Thomas culminated with Don’s design and fabrication of the prototype of the Cheetah sports car and gave Don the practical experience he needed to open Don Edmunds’ Autoresearch in 1964.
Three separate shots at Indianapolis as a car builder and literally hundreds of midgets, sprint cars, supermodifieds, and super vees later, Don Edmunds replaced Frank Kurtis as the country’s most prolific designer and builder of open wheel race cars. Don Edmunds was on the cutting edge of open wheel race car design and later enjoyed a superb career driving supermodifieds, including a junket to compete with cars of his own design in South Africa. In 1991, Don Edmunds was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and in 1994, the National Midget Hall of Fame, two awards he holds in the highest regard.
Away from the track Autoresearch designed and built Evel Knievel’s X-1 Skycycle, the prototype vehicle the stuntman would use to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. Don also became involved in the restoration of several significant 1930-era race cars and used his ‘retirement’ to produce dozens of stunning scale model race cars. Author Paul Weisel takes the reader on all of Edmunds’ adventures and provides insight into the thought process of one of the true ‘dreamers of the day’.
After building his first race cars out of southern Louisiana junkyards, Bob Riley quickly established himself as a leading light, if not genius, when it came to race car design. His first major suspension design helped Henry Ford II make good on his vendetta to beat Enzo Ferrari at Le Mans. Riley’s first radical Indy car designs with its ingenious center hub mounted suspension resulted in A.J. Foyt’s landmark fourth victory at the Indianapolis 500 in 1977. Since then, Riley has continued to be at the heart of the world of motorsports, working with its most famous drivers at the biggest events, including the Daytona 500, where his engineering helped Dale Earnhardt finally win NASCAR’s marquee event.
Americans love the “genius” angle like everyone else. They love winners. Sports stars are overtaking Hollywood these days in popularity. Racing readers are a small but predictable group and suspect the generation familiar with Bob’s exploits at Indy would be keen on a book like this. They’re the same age group pumping up the vintage magazine market and the collectible car market.
