Racing Books

The Unauthorized NASCAR Fan Guide '99 is a great resource for any NASCAR fan. This book contains enough information and statistics to keep even the die-hard fans happy. The history of NASCAR is separated into logical periods, and it's a real joy to read about how the crowds grew, corporate America joined, and the drivers slowly turned from moonshine runners to product spokesmen.

If you're a long-time fan, this book will provide you with more than enough information to challenge anyone to a NASCAR trivia bet. If you're a new fan of stock car racing, chapter 21, How to Watch a NASCAR Race, will be well worth the price of the book.

The Unauthorized NASCAR Fan Guide '99 is a must-have book for any NASCAR fan. For less than twenty bucks, this book should be on every fan's bookshelf.

This book is a must have for any Nascar fan, particularly if you're a number nut like me. The top 50 in points for every season since '49, race winners also since '49 and every spot in every race since '72. That's just for starters. Too much to write here. Great book, I'll be ordering the '00 edition as well.

Americans traveling abroad who yearn for a bit of news from home can always turn to the International Herald Tribune. Now and again the reader of the IHT gets lucky and there is a short essay by Samuel Abt on some aspect of bicycle racing. Abt's essays are always interesting and always well written. He has a gift for summing up a situation in a few short words, probably a requirement for a newspaper columnist who is given just a small part of the editorial page.

My favorite Abt bon mot remains this sentence describing the way a supremely fit and somewhat arrogant Laurent Fignon was treating a sub-par Bernard Hinault in the 1984 Tour de France, "If you couldn't kick a man when he was down, when could you kick him?" That was the race in a single sentence.

"Up the Road" is a collection of Abt's essays and each is a pleasure to read. I preferred his book on the 1984 Tour, "Breakaway", where he was able to write at length about the race and display his very substantial knowledge of cycling. But I'll take my Abt where I can get it. This is a fun book and I really recommend it.
- Bill McGann, Author of The Story of the Tour de France

If you know Samuel Abt's work, you'll know what to expect from this book: a collection of short but beautiful and insightful essays on European racing, all previously published in the International Herald Tribune. Abt's knowledge of Grand Tour racing is vast and his expatriate (American) perspective is unique. He is the undisputed king of the cycling essay.

This collection spans the period from the arrival of the Anglos (the "Foreign Legion") in the early 1980s to Lance Armstrong's seventh Tour de France win in 2005. Don't expect comprehensive coverage, though: the essays are about this and that and, despite Greg LeMond's name in the subtitle, not many of them are about LeMond. The book is garnished with a few Graham Watson photographs.

Much as I treasure Abt's essays-even having read most of these before-I still yearn for the longer thematic work he could set himself to: a history of the Anglos in the European peleton, maybe, or the LeMond racing biography that's never been written. He chides Richard Virenque for meticulously amassing mountain points and little else; surely he's not going to retire with only the black-and-white jersey for essays.

Quick and secure transaction. I am sorry that I reviewed too late. Thank you.

The old saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words," is indeed appropriate to describe this wonderful book depicting the Vanderbilt Cup Race, scheduled to be contested for 300 miles on Columbus Day, October 12, 1936.

This photographic record of the event is filled with unique shots of the cars and participants at rest and at speed to totally familiarize the reader with a race format pitting the best of the Europeans against the top Americans.

Unfortunately, this dream of the Roosevelt Raceway management to create such a competition failed miserably due to the vast differences in the racing cars fielded by these two groups of Champions.

The Europeans instituted a "750 kg formula" in 1934 to limit speeds, but, in effect, the exact opposite results were realized. The cars regulated to a weight of 1,650 pounds void of the driver, liquids and tires were presumed to be limited to two or three liter engines in order to fit this size chassis package and thereby reduce top speeds and overall pe

The book picks up with Jacques after he finishes up his Indy car responsibilities and prepares to drive for Williams in F1. It then traces a chronological "race by race" summary of 1996 from Australia to Japan. You learn not only what happened during the races in detail from the driver's perspective but also what is expected of an F1 driver before, during and in between races. The book is well written and provides tons of details both about Jacques personally and F1 in general. A must for JV fans!

This book is a must read for Formula One fans. Gerald Donaldson has done a great job in putting together the 1st Formula One season of Jacques Villeneuve. It a fasinating look into what a driver must do to prepare for a race, and win.

A bad day at the track is missing Wagering to Win:Best Bets for Fun at the Track. There has been times when a Senior Moment is the frontrunner and the best book for determining the selection of wager and required amount is tough to compute. For a newcomer or a seasoned veteran of the horses this book allows a fast determination of the action necessary for success.

To be able to determine the selected cost, writing it on a slip, the mutuel machine concuring with your wager waiting for the announcer to say "and they are off" will make you day.

Buy the book....your horses or greyhounds will be more enjoyable.

This is THE best guide that I have ever come across in regards to wagering on horses and greyhounds. It is a must have book for any novice gambler, explaining every type of wager, defining track terms, and providing a guide of tracks of North America.

While the book is a must have for beginners, even most veteran gamblers would find this book quite beneficial. Mr. Andersen begins his book with the most basic of wagering information and progresses into more exotic wagers which would provide much needeed insight to all but the most seasoned gamblers.

There is an entire section devoted to wagering tables. I have found this to be quite indispensible while at the track trying to calculate how much a particular exotic bet will cost. I never go out to the track without this "tool".

The only complaint that I had with this book initially, was that I thought it was a greyhound handicapping book. It covers horses as well as greyhounds and definately is NOT a handicapping book. With that stated, I was very pleasantly surprised at all the wonderful information contained in this book and am happy to have made this particular "mistake". I would definately recommend this book to wagerers at any level.

Too often War Admiral is overshadowed by Seabiscuit, his rival in the "Great Match Race". But he was himself a fantastic racehorse. This book is fascinating. I enjoyed reading War Admiral's background story and the photos are great too.

the book was a great read for anyone who is into horse racing like me-wish I could of got to see this great race horse in my lifetime...

This book was one of the five i used in my presentation, although it gave me the best and the most information. I recommend it to anyone that's intersted in cars at all!!

A book to have it!! A lot of information about how they work every single day. Very easy to read.

A little to perfect, for me. However i really recomend it!! Have fun, get closer to the racing sport in formula 1.

Thanks, :)

33 of NASCAR's key people share their personal faith and most memorable moments in their lives. Even though this is an older book being published in 1997, it still holds the interest of a NASCAR fan today.
If you are a NASCAR collector, you will want this book to read and shelf.

I'm surprised the NASCAR (and, to a lesser extent, the Indy car folks) haven't gommed onto this little book. It features one-of-a-kind interviews with top NASCAR drivers, crew chiefs, crews -- even owners -- talking about something that's usually intensely private: their religious beliefs. If you follow NASCAR, you've GOT to be interested in what Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, and the gang think. Some of these guys -- particularly in the crew -- have never been interviewed before. Also, each interviewee talks about their most memorable moment in the sport. I stumbled upon "Wheels of Thunder" in a religious book store, but it ought to be at all of the tracks.

By Michael F. Hollander
Managing Editor
Racing Information Systems
An absolutely amazing treatise showing maps, places dates of all the more than 100 auto racing tracks in Los Angeles County and some around the Southern California area. If you're a racing fan on a tourist trip in L.A., this book is the start for a tour of the city unlike anything you'll find in the tour guides. You absolutely must have this book and you'll know things that most of the natives won't. There are also historical photos. Mr. Osmer did this book as his Thesis and the work is absolutely accurate.

An absolutely amazing treatise showing maps, places dates of all the more than 100 auto racing tracks in Los Angeles County and some around the Southern California area. If you're a racing fan on a tourist trip in L.A., this book is the start for a tour of the city unlike anything you'll find in the tour guides. You absolutely must have this book and you'll know things that most of the natives won't. There are also historical photos. Mr. Osmer did this book as his Thesis and the work is absolutely accurate.

If you are interested in understanding the mechanics of greyhound racing and aspire to winning then I would strongly encourage you to buy this book. It was written in the 1970's, is mainly concerned with British racing and is somewhat out of date. These factors aside, it is a beautifully written book and contains some excellent theory on the selection of winners.

[...]

If you are in any way interested in betting on greyhound racing then this book is a must read. It is by far the best book of it's kind. The book was written in the 1970's and as such is a little outdated in the tracks and types of racing surfaces mentioned. (This outdated information is, however, interesting from an historical point of view).

On the plus side, the authors insight into greyhound racing is beyond parallel and I would implore you to get a copy if you can. I know that this book is in limited supply so if you get the opportunity take it.

As with most books on betting none ever seem to be truly complete but the author has addressed many important issues.

I also recommend Greyhound Racing To Win by Victor Knight (another English book) and Winners Guide to Greyhound Racing by Prof Jones