Runways and Racers focuses on sports car races held at military installations throughout America in the early 1950s. It was a marriage of convenience for the Sports Car Club of America and the Strategic Air Command, with both parties gaining advantages from the arrangement. The thorn in the side turned out to be a Congressman whose own aspirations exceeded his standing, but who found himself in a position to be able to influence the outcome of events ...
Two teen-agers back in early day France probably started it all by "borrowing" their Dad's "horseless carriages" and seeing which could go fastest. That was when highly respected doctors were certain that you would die if you moved faster than sixty miles an hour. The human body simply couldn't survive at that speed. Now, racers routinely go two hundred miles an hour, and drag racers go more than three hundred miles an hour in only a thousand feet. Auto racing is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is daring, dangerous, and exciting, and the winners often become millionaires. This book aimed at young adults is full of stories about racing as it describes the progress from the two kids to modern racing. The author has participated as a driver, photographer and journalist for many years, and has written a number of books on the subject.
Road racing has long-storied roots in North America that reach from coast to coast and to Canada. Some of the greatest drivers to ever compete raced wickedly fast machines, staged epic duels on winding strips of asphalt, and created history. This history left an enduring legacy that is revealed and celebrated in Lost Road Courses. Road racer and road racing expert Martin Rudow retraces road racing's glorious past and visits the defunct classic road courses across the United States and Canada. Many road courses were built in the 1950s and 1960s, the golden age of American road racing. These classic road courses built and hosted famous races for Trans-Am, Can-Am, IndyCar, Formula 1, and sports car racing, but did not survive the times. They fell victim to changing times, poor business decisions, urban sprawl, safety standards, and increasing real estate prices. Rudow recounts the breathtaking races and fascinating history of more than 16 tracks from around North America. Riverside International Raceway, Bridgehampton Race Circuit, Ontario Motor Speedway, Continental Divide Raceway, and many others were once major race venues that have since closed. The great race teams, legendary drivers, classic race series that visited the tracks, and cars that turned laps are brought into full focus. The exploits of Chaparral, McLaren, Bud Moore, Lotus, Penske, and other race teams as well as racing greats Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, Jim Hall, A. J. Foyt, Al Unser, Jim Clark, and Dan Gurney are covered. Rudow also digs beneath the surface to reveal the story behind the story. The visionaries and businessmen who saw potential and risked capital to build these palaces of speed come back to life. He also recognizes the unsung heroes and regional racers who competed, staffed, and took on various roles at these tracks. In the pages of this book, a nostalgic tour of these famous races at these vintage road circuits unfolds. Many period photos illustrate the racing action and the tracks themselves in their former glory, and modern color shows the tracks as they currently stand. If you're a fan of classic sports car, Can-Am, Trans-Am, IndyCar, Formula 1, as well as classic and unique tracks of yesteryear, this book is a must-have.
A unique, nostalgic look at the airfields used by the Eighth in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Conceived in war, the airfields experienced their moments of glory and, when the war ended, were left empty and derelict to die. The few which remain virtually intact have only survived because some private or public concern has formed a practical use for them, although not always as airfields. Some of the more remote airfields still dot the countryside the same as when the last plane left their runways and the last truck departed through the main gate. They are bleak, windswept and moldering but they retain the atmosphere of the fine, high endeavors of the people who inhabited them and the aura of ineffable sadness that hangs over memorials to fighting men. For such they are.
This book charts the progress of what became classic events, the Silverstone 6-hour and 1000km races, year-by-year from 1976, through the era of the Group C cars, up to the end of the eighties, with previously unpublished accounts and photographs of each event.
