Essential reading for anyone interested in life behind-the-scenes at Formula One.
Formula One Grand Prix mechanic Steve Matchett takes the reader on a compelling journey through his life in the pit-lane, from his beginnings as a young apprentice, through his time at Ferrari and BMW to his later success with Benetton.
He gives eye-witness views of the great drivers, including Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. He also talks of key Benetton personalities, and explains how the team was transformed into a strong, competitive organisation, winning three World Championships. His determination and frustration in trying – and eventually succeeding – to break into the high-pressure world of Formula One leaps off the page.
“Foreword by Tony Stewart
The autobiography of one of Sprint Car racing’s most popular and talented racers. Written with award-winning motorsports journalist Bones Bourcier, The People’s Champ charts the course of Darland’s racing life, from Quarter-Midgets and local Sprint Cars through his remarkable professional career, including championships in all three of USAC’s national divisions – Silver Crown, Sprint Cars, and Midgets.
No mere chronological rehashing of a great driver’s climb, Darland discusses the rivalries that helped shape his career, the code of conduct he races by, the magic of his sport’s biggest events, and the joys and stresses of being a husband and father in a sport that requires frequent travel and intense focus. The book is illuminated with reflections from “eyewitnesses” who have seen Darland through the prisms of their own personal and professional relationships, whether as car owner, mechanic, rival driver, or family member. Darland’s story is illustrated by dozens of photographs, many previously unpublished.”
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.
This beautifully designed and extensively illustrated book provides the ultimate history of the legendary series, celebrating the drivers, crew chiefs, pit crews, owners, and tracks, from the earliest days on Florida’s beaches right through to today’s superspeedways, short tracks, and road courses. Compiled by authors with a passion for motorsport, NASCAR 75 Years is a volume no fan can be without.
SAVAGE ANGEL author, Ted Woerner, was an 11-year old Swede Savage “super fan” sitting in the turn 4 grandstand at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 12, 1973. He watched and cheered as his hero broke the track record in time trials for the Indianapolis 500.
When race day finally came around more than two weeks later, he was sitting in his 6th grade classroom on a Wednesday afternoon in suburban Chicago. He listened to the rain-delayed race through a wired earplug connected to a transistor radio that he had brought to school that day. His excitement when Swede took the lead of the race turned to shock as he heard the news over the live radio broadcast that his hero had just been involved in a horrific crash only an hour into the race. He struggled to hide his emotions from his teacher. Swede Savage would die from complications from his injuries thirty-three days later.
“Soon after Swede’s death, I read that his wife was at the race, that she was pregnant, and that she witnessed his crash from the grandstand behind the pits,” recalls Ted. “I became immediately concerned about the well being of Swede’s wife and new baby, who by the time I read this book had already been born. I just couldn’t imagine how a child could enter the world under such circumstances.”
Through an improbable turn of events, Ted would finally meet Swede’s posthumous child, Angela Savage, as a grown adult over forty years later. A sacred friendship was formed between them, forged in the crucible of the same fiery tragedy. Now, several years after they first began the arduous and painful task of chronicling Swede’s life story and Angela’s complex and tumultuous life that followed, their book, SAVAGE ANGEL, is complete.
The book is a long overdue biography of Swede Savage. We finally get to know the man behind the windscreen as he pursued his childhood dream to win the Indianapolis 500. But the story doesn’t end with his death. It goes on to describe what it was like to be in the immediate family of a man whose lifetime passion was the world’s most dangerous profession. We feel their raw emotions as his final days unfolded in an Indianapolis hospital’s intensive care unit and learn how they attempted to go on with their lives after suffering such an immense and unexpected loss.
Through recent medical studies, it is now known that the baby girl born to Swede’s widow, Angela Savage, likely suffered transgenerational PTSD in her mother’s womb. Sheryl Savage not only witnessed her husband’s horrific crash from the grandstand, but also endured unimaginable stress as Swede struggled for life for another month thereafter. The book goes on to explain how the complex mental health issues, addictions, alcoholism, and general instability in Angela’s life, now appear to have been genetically hard-wired into her as a result of a statistically nearly impossible confluence of rare disorders and life experiences rarely found in a single person.
After being understandably vacant from the sport of auto racing her entire life, Angela Savage decided to accept an invitation from a small group of her father’s fans to come to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in her life, forty-one years after the death of her father there. With additional support provided by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the trip was a life-changing experience. At Indy, she was showered with unconditional love. The embrace she felt from “the racing family,” and her unimaginably brave confrontation of the place where her father’s life ended, would change her life forever.
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.
His rise to fame followed a relentless pursuit of his dream, overcoming many obstacles along the way: dropping out of college, the suicide of his mentor, and recovering from a harrowing helicopter crash. No matter the setback, 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.
The 1970s witnessed the rebirth of the British kit car. It may have been the decade that taste forgot, but it was also a period where nothing was off limits. Would sir or madam like their car with three wheels or six? How about a windscreen that handily doubles as a door? Perchance something more along the lines of an Edwardian ‘horseless carriage’ with no doors at all? Alternatively, maybe a sports car with a roof at waist level, or even a trike made of timber? How about endless permutations of all of these things and more? Excess All Areas – British Kit Cars of the 1970s is a bountifully-illustrated celebration of homemade cars at their best – and worst.
Author Richard Heseltine is a journalist, author and biographer. A former staff member on Classic & Sports Car and Motor Sport, he has written extensively for Octane, Magneto, Classic Cars, Auto Italia, Autosport and Absolute Lotus. Richard has authored books on subjects as diverse as the British specialist sports car industry and coachbuilt Ferraris. He became a published novelist in 2019 with the release of Life Near The Edge.
“It’s a book as much about lost car culture as it is about the cars themselves” Classic Cars magazine
“My personal book of the year… a fact laden gem” Steve Hole, TKC
“This is a great fun book… right up our street in creativity, ingenuity or just plain wackiness” Jeroen Booij, Maximum Mini
Fabled automobile designer Louis Coatalen emerges from this new biographical portrait as a man of French charm and wit—but also as one determined to obtain success by any means necessary. In Louis Coatalen: Engineering Impresario of Humber, Sunbeam, Talbot, Darracq, readers witness Coatalen’s perseverance and certain lack of scruples, as well as his ability to recognize a good idea and recruit talented individuals to aid in his visions. These characteristics, combined with undeniable leadership skills, have made him a major figure in British motoring history.
Historian Oliver Heal provides new research into Coatalen’s family and his ties across the automobile design world. He shows Coatalen’s motor racing successes, as well as his failures: his birth in Brittany, his training as an engineer in France, his rise in the British motor industry, and his accomplishments at Humber and Sunbeam, important pre-World War I carmakers. Heal also tells Coatalen’s personal racing story about how his teams were the first British car to win a Grand Prix, later breaking the World Land Speed Records on five occasions. Eventually returning to France, Coatalen helped build up Lockheed Hydraulic Brake Company and devoted much time and money to developing a powerful, though ultimately unsuccessful, diesel airplane engine. Coatalen’s complicated private life—involving four wives, drug addiction, and questionable investments—are also examined for the first time. Accompanied by 250 illustrations, including many previously unpublished photographs, this new biography provides a roaring picture of a British car-making legend.
Jack Warner was the son of an Alaskan bush plane pilot. He shot out his TV when he was ten. Uncle Kenny taught him to make Old Fashioneds in the 5th grade.Jack learned to fly at twelve, braving storms, crash landings and wild animals to save lives. After crashing on a snowy glacier, he rebuilt the broken landing gear with bailing wire and duct tape.As an Air Force fighter pilot, he witnessed U.S. pilots being shot down over North Vietnam out of reach of our rescue helicopters. After scamming general’s jeeps and golf carts to get suspension parts, he built a bush plane. He rescued a downed pilot but the second one was killed. Urged to continue by a U.S. soldier who escaped from a Vietcong prison camp, he kept going. After rescuing 21 pilots, he earned the moniker, “Black Jack” Warner. After retiring from the Air Force, he headed for the good ‘ol USA. On the way home, a high stakes poker game in Hawaii changed his life. As a new private pilot, he flew celebrities, delivered priceless jewels and one of a kind collector cars. Jack piloted a TV news airplane but ended up crashing into the station’s helicopter.Warner bought “mothballed” planes and brought them back to life to start an air cargo business. Jack’s staff of “moles” went dumpster diving to get valuable intel info on competitors. Guerilla tactics like these helped him become the largest cargo carrier in the world.Jack once volunteered to fly a water dropping airplane, saving the lives of eight firefighters. But, he was the most proud of rescuing five Americans from Iraq, right under Saddam Hussein’s nose.His career of a never ending trampoline of ups and downs kept his life anything but boring.
When Valerie Pirie interviewed for her first real secretarial job after college, she did not expect to end up working for Stirling Moss. Regarded as the greatest driver who was never crowned world champion, he would become not only her new boss, but a lifelong friend. Here, in this playful and moving memoir, she opens up about the man behind the steering wheel.
With a joie de vivre and unparalleled pluck, Pirie details the highs and lows of her many years working and occasionally living at very close quarters with a true pioneer of Formula One, recounting anecdotes from the track, the office and nights out in the West End of London with one of the best-known names in motor racing. Whether at Goodwood, Le Mans or the Nürburgring, Pirie was often there beside Moss to witness the wins, losses and technical malfunctions and, of course, his career-ending crash in 1962.
If she wasn’t at his bedside in the hospital, managing his never-ending building works or on one occasion transporting his spare pair of dentures to France, Pirie was accompanying Moss wherever he needed her most. Never just colleagues, the pair were true companions, and this book brings to light the story of their enduring friendship from the classic post-war era of motor racing through to today.
The legendary Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve died on 8 May 1982 on the Zolder track in Belgium. Villeneuve had spent six years in Grand Prix racing with Ferrari, winning six races and widespread acclaim for his performances. Although he never obtained a world title, he won hearts all over the world. Wow Gilles! covers the “reckless” life of Gilles Villeneuve through the photographs of Ercole Colombo and texts by Giorgio Terruzzi. The voices of these two exceptional narrators (both were eyewitnesses to the Canadian race driver’s over-the-top life) guide us along a journey that begins in 1977 and ends in 1982. From his F1 debut to his tragic accident in Belgium, this spectacular photo album allows readers to relive the romanticism of the sport that characterized those years, of which Villeneuve was a key player.
On May 30, 1958, thousands of racing fans poured into the infield at dawn to claim the best seats of the Indianapolis 500, unaware that they were going to witness one of the most notorious wrecks in racing history. Seconds after the green flag, a game of chicken spiraled out of control into a fiery 16-car pile-up that claimed the life of 29-year-old Indiana native and rising star Pat O’Connor. The other drivers escaped death, but the tragic 1958 Indy 500 seemed to leave its mark on them: the surviving drivers were hounded by accidents and terrible crashes, and most would die at tracks around the country. But the tragedy also prompted new regulations and safety precautions like roll bars that would ultimately save hundreds of lives. In The Curse of Indy 500: 1958’s Tragic Legacy, veteran sportswriter Stan Sutton profiles the ill-fated race and the careers of the drivers involved, highlighting their lives in the dangerous world of auto racing.
Documents the friendship between Steve McQueen and his Le Mans co-star Siegfried Rauch
•Includes photos of Rauch’s family album, as well as original photos of the film set and of rare documents
•Features interviews with contemporary witnesses
Steve McQueen: actor, filmmaker, racing driver – and friend. Siegfried Rauch, who plays McQueen’s unyielding rival in the film classic Le Mans, was a close friend of the actor in real life. Rauch takes us through this book and, for the first time, tells us how it was: what McQueen was like, the time he ate sauerkraut at the Rauch’s, or played with their children – and how he became their godfather. Rauch shows a different, private side to the ‘king of cool’.
The other stars of Le Mans have their say as well: the real racing drivers. Herbert Linge reminisces about the Porsche 908 – which belonged to McQueen – that Linge drove as a dolly during the race. Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood tell about their victory in the Porsche 917 – the first Porsche overall victory at the Sarthe. Stuntman Dr. Erich Glavitza, who also prepared the cars, explains what happened in 1970 during the shooting in ‘Solar Village’, and David Piper, who lost a leg during the production.
This unique book offers completely new insights into the filming of what has become a cult classic.
Magnus Walker is one of life’s originals. Serial entrepreneur, fashion designer, TV presenter, motivational speaker, and one of the world’s most prolific Porsche collectors, the dreadlocked, tattooed hoarder of individual creativity is a very modern incarnation of idiosyncratic success. Raised in the grim, urban decay of Thatcher’s Britain, Magnus Walker left school with just two O levels and drifted for several years before buying a one-way ticket to America. Now, 30 years and three successful businesses later, by following his instincts, rejecting convention, and pursuing his passions, Magnus has succeeded against all the odds. Here, for the first time, is the full story of his journey from a Northern steel town to the bright lights of Hollywood, from a boy with little hope to an anti-establishment hero. Along the way we’ll witness his potent combination of inspiration and graft, discover his motivations and his ambitions, and come to understand his philosophy and the keys to his success. Inspiring and exhilarating, Urban Outlaw is a compelling tale of succeeding through pure instinct and determination by a man who was brave enough to follow his own path.
TRANS WORLD AIRLINES – A Book of Memories is a history of TWA offered in a different and most unique format… through the eyewitness experiences of its flight crews and ground workers, as well as friends of the company who share their reminiscences.
TWA was a pioneer and an important domestic and international airline that played prominently in developing commercial aviation. This book introduces the founders of the airline and some of the early pilots, flight attendants and mechanics who set the standard. We also glimpse inside to the legendary and colorful Howard Hughes, who shaped the airline and campaigned for the Lockheed Constellation. We also learn about Carl Icahn and his controversial leadership of the airline.
Jon Proctor, who devoted twenty-seven years of his professional life to TWA, contributed several stories, including a description of TWA’s famous Royal Ambassador Service and the Grand Canyon crash. Jon has also contributed many of the beautiful photographs of TWA aircraft that grace the pages of this book.
Another TWA veteran, George Hamlin, also contributed many images, as well as stories about the iconic Flight Center at New York International Airport. Other contributions detail many of the VIPs who traveled on TWA, including White House press charters for Presidents Johnson and Nixon; plus Hollywood celebrities, and legendary figures such as Bing Crosby and David Letterman.
These are stories from the heart, from employees who dedicated their entire professional careers to the airline, involved personally with the incredible achievements that made TWA the carrier it was. The people of TWA, numbering in the tens of thousands, literally spanned the globe over the years. We invite readers to enjoy these stories, which revisit an era that will never be replicated.
The complete yet never told story of James Dean’s passion for professional racing, his cars and races, within the context of his life, the many celebrities he befriended and his stunning Hollywood success before his tragic death at 24. The book also details his fatal accident almost “frame-by-frame”, based on police reports, witness testimonies and the author’s own analysis. Published during the 50th year anniversary of his death.
A fully up-to-date publication, heavily illustrated with both photographs and drawings, detailing the complete procedures needed to handle a steam locomotive. It is often said that steam locomotives appear to be living machines, casting a spell over spectators young and old, from lifelong steam enthusiasts to those witnessing live steam for the first time. This extensively illustrated manual provides a fascinating practical insight into the hard work, knowledge and skills required to safely drive a steam loco. The unique Haynes Manual approach, marrying the engaging text with step-by-step photographs and fascinating illustrations, puts the reader firmly on the footplate to experience the raw power and energy of a steam locomotive in action.
On a bright October morning in 1904, thousands of people flocked to Nassau County on rural Long Island to witness the first international motor sports competition in America: the newly created Vanderbilt Cup. By 1906, the number of spectators multiplied to a quarter million and America s place in motor racing history was assured. In 1908, the Vanderbilt Cup was joined by a second international competition, the International Grand Prize, the first grand prix held outside France. By 1913, the Indianapolis 500 would supplant the Vanderbilt Cup and Grand Prize as America’s preeminent race, forever turning mainstream America’s attention away from road racing and toward the oval tracks then proliferating around the country. Concentrating on the years between 1904 and 1916 and featuring a wealth of photographs, this book examines the early and relatively unknown history of American motor racing. Beginning with an overview of motor racing history, it covers the French origins of the sport and the first international competitions such as the annual Gordon Bennett Cup and the ill-fated Paris to Madrid race. The primary focus is on America’s first three races of international stature: the Vanderbilt Cup, the International Grand Prize and the Indianapolis 500. Compiled in great part from contemporary sources such as newspaper accounts and automotive journals, the book covers not only these races, but also the ways in which each spurred development of the American automobile industry, making it at last a true competitor for that of Europe.
In My Forty Years with Ford, Charles Sorensen -sometimes known as “Henry Ford’s man,” sometimes as “Cast-iron Charlie”-tells his own story, and it is as challenging as it is historic. He emerges as a man who was not only one of the great production geniuses of the world but also a man who called the plays as he saw them. He was the only man who was able to stay with Ford for almost the full history of his empire, yet he never hesitated to go against Ford when he felt the interests of the company demanded it. When labor difficulties mounted and Edsel’s fatal illness was upon him, Sorensen sided with Edsel against Henry Ford and Harry Bennett, and he insisted that Henry Ford II be brought in to direct the company despite the aging founder’s determination that no one but he hold the presidential reins.
First published in 1956, My Forty Years with Ford has now been reissued in paperback for the first time. The Ford story has often been discussed in print but has rarely been articulated by someone who was there. Here Sorensen provides an eyewitness account of the birth of the Model T, the early conflicts with the Dodge brothers, the revolutionary announcement of the five-dollar day, and Sorensen’s development of the moving assembly line-a concept that changed our world. Although Sorensen conceived, designed, and built the giant Willow Run plant in nineteen months and then proceeded to turn out eight thousand giant bombers, his life’s major work was to make possible the vision of Henry Ford and to postpone the personal misfortune with which it ended. My Forty Years with Ford is both a personal history of a business empire and a revelation that moves with excitement and the power of tragedy.
