Racing Books

For those outside the loop of racing, NASCAR garners a great deal of attention. Lost in all the attention paid to that series is a great style of racing collectively known as "open wheel" or "Champ Car." The series has evolved over the years but one thing has always remained. The races are fast, exciting and very competitive. How exciting? Put 800+ horsepower in a 1,600lb car that stands at knee level and enjoy the fun! If you are a fan - new or old - this series from Autocourse is a must-have. Autocourse started doing yearbooks 40+ years ago for the Formula One Grand Prix series and they have grown to include Champ Cars. They offer a tremendous amount of detail about the teams, drivers, cars, technical advances, etc. They also showcase the support series and the up-and-coming drivers in them. Each race is covered in detail with all qualifying times and finishing spots as well as highlights of the event itself. Photography is 100% incredible. That's another point. I enjoy doing my own photography and sometimes it's easy to lose track of things, especially if you don't get the film developed for a while. This book offers tremendous resource materials for someone maintaining photo albums of the events themselves. Basically, if you have a question about this style of racing, you'll find it in this book. On another note, this edition specifically covers arguably one of the greatest Indy 500 finishes of all time.

The Autocourse book series is the best coverage of indy car racing, without having to buy a ticket to the race. Each book has extensive team coverage, and the added technical aspects that each book includes is incredible. The 1995 book is the last issue, before the C.A.R.T./I.R.L split. This book includes what many consider the last great year of American based racing with all of its top drivers. This year was also the last before the Target race team dynasty started. Great information for any race fan

This is an excellent resource. Nowhere else have I been able to find just the information I want; printed in logical order. I'm building a web site about my truck, and the BPD is my bible for determining just the right gear combinations to maximize my performance with the Gear Vendors gearsplitter I've installed. I don't have a lot of money for R&D, and this book has given me just the right info I need. Thank you!

I am an enthusiast and I love the car crafting hobby. For years I have been saving all of my back issues of various magazines for formulas, tips, and tricks used in building many of my cars. After purchasing this book I was able to get rid of them. It is one of the most informative pieces of literature I have ever seen. Forget those pamphlets that tell you to buy a bunch of bolt-ons, this is real world horsepower.

the author had a gift for "Painting with words." I found this to be a wonderful, touching true story of one woman's relation to the sea, her husband, and the world around her. So very different from the typical "cruising the world" stories.

Written by a survivor of a traumatic and life-threatening sexual assault, Migael Scherer's Back Under Sail: Recovering The Spirit Of Adventure is about restoring a passion for experiencing life after having to endure unspeakable atrocity. Blending the challenges of learning to work with a skilled racing crew with the sometimes painful recovery from physical and emotional trauma, Back Under Sail is a powerful and life-affirming personal testimony. (...)

Excellent trip down memory lane. A window into the past and all the threads that lead to the present. A great representation of the perseverance, failures, and successes that lead to a career most could only dream of.

Particularly interesting are the relationships he developed along the way. His personal friendships,and the fun that resulted, as only he could tell it. The chances he had to take to develop his career. Especially humerous are the incidents with law enforcement officers mistaking him for a fan able to get past Security.

Barney possesses the same ability to paint pictures in print as he does when broadcasting.

I throughly enjoyed this book. Barney gives several humorous tales from his years as an MRN broadcaster as well as close calls while on the job. This book is a great read and a must for any race fan. I just hope we can get him to stay on the radio a few more years. THERE IS NO ONE LIKE BARNEY HALL!!!!

Very informative and a good read. They should make a movie based on this book.

Now in a significantly revised and expanded new edition which features forty pages of black-and-white photographs, William F. Nolan's Barney Oldfield: The Life And Times Of America's Legendary Speed King is an exciting and ambitious biography of the nigh-legendary pioneer race car driver. It was Barney Oldfield who was the first man in history to travel 131 miles per hour! Written with enthusiasm, vigor, and respect for this great and daunting figure in American race care history, Barney Oldfield is enthusiastically recommended reading for automotive history enthusiasts and race car history buffs.

Great book....covers everything for horse and rider and from beginner to experienced person........good buy.....

Barrel racing is one of the equestrian sports which lends to an exciting competition both for spectator and competitor, but few books cover barrel racing. Instructor and champion racer Marlene McRae has developed an entire program for the barrel racer and shares her arena tips for this audience; from selecting a champion barrel-racing horse to using equipment, beginning barrel racing patterns, and competing. A 'must' for all equestrian sports enthusiasts, Barrel Racing 101is as entertaining as it is informative and highly recommended for school and community library Sports & Athletics collections.

This book covers it all! From selecting certain barrel racing pedigrees, ground work with colts, first rides, beginning barrel work, problems, tack selection and much more. This book contains hundreds of beautiful color photos and is nice enough to be a "coffee table" book (that's where mine is). Ed and Martha even take the time to answer your questions if you e-mail them, first-class all the way...

I have been training and riding barrel horses for 24 years and feel that this is the best barrel racing book I have ever come across. It is a great tool for all levels of barrel racers- from beginner to experienced. I found the chapters regarding barrel horse bloodlines and solving common problems very interesting. This book is easy to read and comprehend and has magnificent pictures to visually display the content. Worth the money!

I'm originally from Alabama and have to admit that I've been to my share of Talladega races! I bought these books for the kids, but I ended up reading them as well. I feel like I'm right there at the track, sitting in the stands, feeling the excitement, the roar of the crowd, the smell of burning rubber ... The kids absolutely love the action packed adventure. Reading along with the kids gives me the opportunity to open a much needed dialogue with them about the many different worldly and spiritual topics discussed in the books. When I know the kids are reading books by this author, I know they're in good hands! Check out this author's Red Rock Mysteries series as well.

All I really wanted to do was read a few chapters of Blind Spot by Chris Fabry so I'd be able to describe the book to the kids I'm giving copies to because they love NASCAR.

Something went awry. I kept reading (29 chapters the first evening) trying to find a point where there wasn't much action, so that I could put the book down quietly and go about my business. That point never came, so I stopped reading until the following evening when I finished it. I enjoyed every character, event, twist and turn.

Now, either my reading level fits perfectly into the range of the target audience (young adults), the writing is far beyond the intended reader, or the story is crafted so that people of all ages can enjoy it. I'm not, as they say, "the brightest bulb on the string," but I think Blind Spot offers enough excitement, character development and escape for young and old, although it's best for the kids.

I expect I'll have to explain a couple of acronyms (MANS and MRN, for example) to my family that they might not already know, but Chris Fabry has done a fine job of inducting us into the world of NASCAR and those who long to race...and win.

The final chapter should have been titled "Buy the Next Book," because that's what you'll want to do when you finish volume one in what promises to be another successful series from a man who is a master of morality plays, Chris Fabry.

I used to read this book over and over to my son, now a freshman at Yale. It is full of wry wit and splendid imagination. I often thought someone could make a fortune merchandising all the bear characters as stuffed animals.

Blue Bear's Race is one of my 3 1/2 year-old's favorite stories. We've been reading it for a year. She enjoys the excitement as the bears fly in the air and land on their respective hat and nose, resulting in a trip to a hospital. You'll find child-pleasing tidbits like "Put out that cigarette!" and the surgeon's cold paws. The artwork is as clever as the story-telling, drawn at imaginative angles such as a view over a car passing in the rain through the window at the two bears arguing inside. A pleasure for the parent, too, with its wry humor. I think of the first part as a story of consequences for irresponsible behavior, and the second part as a "prodigal son" type story as the bear friends and bear medical people nurse the injured bears back to health. I also liked the opportunity to give her a child's-eye view of a hospital and its workings.

for all cycling fanatics who want to read portions of bob's racing diary. fyi, this book is not to be confused with anything john wilcockson has written :)

Words cannot capture the drama, the funniness, the insanity, the rambling rants, the verisimilitude of the live race descriptions, and that certain 'je-ne-sais-quoi' of Bob Roll's cycling book. It is a peculiar and interesting place, that region or landscape where the demented mind of Bob Roll inhabits and calls itself home. I am sure I don't want to live there, but a visit is well worth the price of admission.
Yes, he is the real deal. Rode the Tour de France with Lemond. The Giro with Andy Hampsten. Helped Andy win the Giro d'Italia in probably the most epic stage ever of any Grand Tour when Hampsten claims the lead of the race in a freak snowstorm over the tallest mountains in Italy, aided by his trusty leftenant-one certain Bob Roll-who brought warm drink and clothing up to his leader to assist him win the stage and the Giro. (Many riders crawled off their bikes, weeping in pain and the knowledge they would never even finish the stage, much less the race. ) Not so Mr. Roll-- in helping his teammate win, Mr. Roll of course suffered hypothermia, frostbite, and literally had to have his heart jumped when the freezing temperatures plummeted his pulse to a mere 20 or 30 beats per minute.
Oh yeah, he was also the person Lance Armstrong called when, during his comeback post-cancer, Lance wanted a good training partner and colleague to go to Boone, North Carolina to exorcise his demons and return to the bike. Hundreds of cycling miles in N.C. and laughter and tall tales at night, courtesy of Mr. Roll...
We all know what happened next.
But to those of us who want to know more about Sancho Panza (Bob Roll) than Don Quixote (Greg, Andy, or Lance) please consider this. True heroics often hide themselves in others' glory. His demented humor belies a fine intellect and a warped and twisted view of life that makes sanity appear disgusting, I want to know this man. For now, the best I can do is read his book and follow his peregrinations across the desert of media cycling hype.
Don't expect to do anything but laugh and cry when you read this piece of culture clash, as if you were at a cocktail party with Hunter Thompson meets Bernard Hinault. You'll wish you too had gotten lost in a New Mexico snowstorm and had the wit to tell it as yet one more brush with the eternal masquerading as sheer chance. As if.
Roll on. Ride like the wind signor!!!