It’s time order those books for the motor heads on your Christmas shopping list, or just for you to expand your own motorsports library. We’re lucky to have so many RRDC members putting fingers to keyboard to recount their days of derring-do, plus all the splendid authors doing the same about our members – some still with us, some not. Each of the following should be a must read/own:
BRIAN REDMAN: DARING DRIVERS, DEADLY TRACKS
Brian Redman’s compelling tale of an era-past has gone viral, in an ink-and-paper sense, having won the Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year award. The second printing is now sold out in Europe and a third doesn’t arrive until January. By Howden Ganley’s count, it is on track to be the best selling motor sports book ever. Fortunately there’s still a way to obtain a copy signed by Brian before Christmas, because he has a supply. Click here for the link to Brian’s Web site:
Gordon Cruickshank of Motor Sport wrote: “This is not just a driver autobiography, but a comprehensive and thoughtful picture of an era, and of the racing driver’s mind-set… It is very moving when discussing how to cope with the death of friends, yet also full of the fun and enjoyment of the times… an attractive and very readable work.”
CARROLL SHELBY: A COLLECTION OF MY FAVORITE RACING PHOTOS
Carroll Shelby and his longtime friend Art Evans collaborated to produce a fascinating picture book of Shelby’s life from cradle to grave, almost. Following Shelby’s passing in 2012, Evans tackled the yet incomplete project. The result is 250+ high quality pages of rare images from Shelby’s life and career, both as a race driver and as a manufacturer of iconic competition and high performance vehicles.
This is the third book that Evans did with or about Shelby: “Shelby: the Race Driver” (1963) and “The Shelby American Story” (2010).
Art says that for a limited time – he is after all 82 – he will send you autographed copies of all three of his books for $40 apiece (check only, no credit cards). He’ll ship to you or whomever you designate and will sign books however you request. Send orders to Art Evans, 800 S. Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, CA 90277 or you may also email him.
CAN-AM 50th ANNIVERSARY
Can-Am 50th Anniversary offers a heavily illustrated look back at what is arguably the greatest race series ever. Photographer Pete Biro followed the series throughout its glory era from 1966-74, his images appearing in Road & Track, Car and Driver and Sports Illustrated. Many of the book’s images are unpublished or long out of circulation. Biro brings his unique perspective and his close relationship with the drivers, team owners and constructors to bear on the captions while former Autoweek motorsports editor George Levy provides text reflecting the thrill of Can-Am racing. And who better to pen the foreword that the recognized guru of Can-Am and RRDC member Pete Lyons. Order from Amazon.
FITZ – MY LIFE AT THE WHEEL
John Fitzpatrick takes the reader on a personal journey through his life as a champion racer with poignant recollections of the challenges experienced and the unbridled determination and endurance that he demonstrated to succeed in a sport that sees victories scored in inches not in rhetoric. This fascinating autobiography is available at Michael Keyser’s The Speed Merchants.
It includes 131 black-and-white and 236 color photographs, many never before published, with 13 chapters of thrilling, yet heart-warming accounts of the life of a man with a purpose – to be the best. He now happily reflects back on those days, in retirement at his home in the south of Spain with wife Sandra.
CUBA’S CAR CULTURE
Tom Cotter (aka Mr. Barnfind) and Bill Warner (aka Mr. Amelia Island Concours) have collaborated on the story of Cuba’s encasement in an automotive cocoon for the past five-plus decades. According to Motorbooks, the story begins with “Cuba’s pre-Castro car and racing history and brings us up to today’s lost collector cars, street racing, and the challenges of keeping decades-old cars on the road.” The hardcover edition is available through both Motorbooks and Amazon.
PENSKE’S MAESTRO: KARL KAINHOFER AND THE HISTORY OF 
PENSKE RACING
Says Roger Penske of Karl Kainhofer: “Karl built a culture around him of quality at the highest level and provided the inspiration for what Team Penske is today.” That culture is what Gordon Kirby has captured. Penske’s mechanic in his early racing days, Kainhofer was Team Penske’s first hire, setting the tone and standard for five decades of excellence. Available from Racemaker Press.
AUGIE PABST: BEHIND THE WHEEL
Augie Pabst is an American racing treasure – a gentleman racer from the 1950s and ‘60s who competed and won at the highest levels of the sport, both here and overseas. Pabst drove for the top U.S. teams: Meister Bräuser, Cunningham and Mecom. His racing life is captured by his longtime friend and compatriot Bob Birmingham. Available only from Dalton Watson Fine Books.
THE ART OF RACE CAR DESIGN
For his expertise in vehicle design, Bob Riley has been tagged “genius”. His radical center hub mounted suspension resulted in A.J. Foyt’s landmark fourth victory at the Indianapolis 500 in 1977. Since then, Riley has worked and continues to work with the sport’s great drivers at the biggest events. His engineering helped Dale Earnhardt finally win the Daytona 500. This look inside the mind of an engineering master was penned by veteran journalist Jonathan Ingram and is available at Amazon.
PETE LYONS 2017 CAN-AM CALENDAR
There are calendars you keep on your desk for scheduling your appointments and for doodling while talking on the phone. There are other calendars that you hang on the wall to enhance the ambience of the surroundings. RRDC members will surely spice up the décor with a calendar from the Pete Lyons collection. The 2017 Can-Am version features 24 of Pete’s images from the 1967 Can-Am season when Bruce McLaren and Dennis Hulme ruled. Order yours now.
JOHN FITCH ARCHIVES GO TO IMRRC AT WATKINS GLEN
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (Oct. 27, 2016) – The remarkable life of racer and engineer John Cooper Fitch is reflected in the myriad of items that recently were presented to the International Motor Racing Research Center.
The gift from Fitch’s sons, John, Christopher and Stephen Fitch, significantly enlarges the John Fitch Collection created at the Racing Research Center in 1999, when papers were donated relating to his career as a safety designer and consultant, with particular emphasis on the Fitch Inertial Barrier and the displaceable guardrail.
A charter member of the Road Racing Drivers Club, Fitch passed away on Oct. 31, 2012 at age 95. Read more about this priceless gift.
PETER BROCK TO BE HONORED BY SIMEONE FOUNDATION
The “Spirit of Competition” is the theme of the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum and this year RRDC’s Peter Brock is the honoree at the Foundation’s annual gala fund raising dinner on Nov. 16, 2016. The event begins at 6:00 pm and will consist of a dinner with open bar and an award presentation by Dr. Frederick Simeone. Tickets are $150 per person, $275 for a pair of 2 tickets and $1000 for a table of 8 people. Click here to read more about the Simeone Foundation, Peter Brock and to purchase your tickets.
