Book Description
A look at the life of one of the brightest young stars on both the NASCAR and the Indy Racing League. In fact, he is the only driver who rides in both. As he proved during the early stages of his career, it was only a matter of time before his name became one of the most recognized in the world of racing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Tony Stewart in a nutshell

This book covers Tony's stellar racing career to this point.It has some interesting facts and lots of cool B & W pictures (including one of him hugging "friend" Jeff Gordon *LOL*).A must own for any Stewart fan!

very good reading!
Who finished fourth in the 1999 Winston Cup Championship and as a rookie? Tony Stewart that's who.In this Racing Superstar Series book you'll follow along as only after 25 starts Tony Stewart capture his firstcheckered flag.

As with the other books in the series, this one is also avery quick read. Like the others the book gives a look into the short butpromising career of one of the brightest and most talented rookies ontour.

As a part of Joe Gibbs Racing, Tony Stewart amassed over $2.6millions in winnings in his first year and the future looks even brighter.Pick up a copy and take a look into the life of the new millennium ofracing superstars. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

way to go KEN SPARLING!
a great book about MICHAEL SCHUMACHER. especially good for kids,or even other people , who are interested in racing, but don't know about it verymuch. this book can explain all about it. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (4)

one of the greatest
I've seen Chris Amon race a few times in the sixties. In formula 2 in Zolder (where I was born) and in formula 1 in Franchorchamps. He was a nice chap (he still is, I suppose)and readily spent a couple of minutes with a 15-year old who spoke lousy English. Posing for a few pictures was no problem either. 40-odd years later, I still have the (black&white) snapshots.
I always considered him to be one of the best drivers ever. Victories and/or world titles never tell the complete story. Michael Schumacher is a mediocre, because very unsportsmanlike, driver with an impressive roll of honour. Amon was a great driver and, most of all, a real human being, not a walking advertising column.

Go, Chris!
A big fan of Chris Amon, I tried to follow his career and watched some of the Formula One races where he was comfortably leading (Jarama 1968, Montjuich 1969) and must have won. The way I felt witnessing his car breaking down those times, I cannot even imagine how he must have felt! I also watched some other of his rides during those years in Spain, France and Britain. And I unfortunately missed his masterful driving pieces at Monza, Spa and, very especially, Clermont-Ferrand. After all, not much F1 on TV then, and no time and money to get to every Grand Prix there was.

And here I found, a few months ago, his biography written by no less than Eoin Young. Besides attending a race live, the other best way of knowing what was going on, and getting fine entertainment out of the reading, was to get a copy of Autocar, (not easy to find here in Spain) and read one of Eoin's articles. Of course, I couldn't miss this book!

I really felt transported to the "good old times", and enjoyed enormously the reading. It was much better than attending the missing races, and knowing first-hand about Chris personality, ups and downs, were both gratifying and touching. I especially savoured the italian anecdotes of his Ferrari times: His lunches in the company of the great Enzo Ferrari, were really something, not to mention the return trips with the Old Man at the wheel of the 2+2 Berlinetta. And the situation during the '67 Le Mans 24-hour, in the middle of the night, trying to replace a punctured wheel of his P4, can make you laugh to tears.

I believe this book is a must for anyone interested in the history of motorsport. Thanks to Eoin for such great reading moments.

Forza Amon!
"Forza Amon" is the first full length biography of this legendary unlucky driver, and is a ripping good yarn.Previous writings about Amon were usually hindered by the fact that Amon was considered to be part of a trio - Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme were other New Zealand drivers participating in Formula One at more or less the same time as Chris, and there are a number of "Trio at the top" titles which deal with all three New Zealanders. "Forza Amon" is written by a fellow New Zealander, Eoin Young, who used to work for the McLaren Racing Team in the 1960's, and later on as a motorsport journalist.Young and Amon both knew each other back in the early McLaren days when Chris was an up and comer in the game.

The tale begins with a young Kiwi on a farm in Bulls, New Zealand, the same young Kiwi who would taste the ultimate success at Le Mans in 1966, and who would go on to lead the famous and illustrious Ferrari team in their F1 efforts.During a Formula One career spanning 13 seasons from 1963 to 1976, Amon would famously lead 183 laps in Formula One Championship races, failing to finish first even once (he did win a couple of non-championship F1 events, including the 1971 Argentine F1 race).

Yound writes of Amon's early motorsport endeavours in small town NZ in the 50's, before debutting with Reg Parnell's outfit in 1963, having made the trip to Europe.The glory days with Ferrari, March, and Matra are covered.The distasterous Amon F1 car is discussed, as is the shambolic 1973 effort with Tecno, before Amon stepped into the 3rd Tyrell for the penultimate race of the season.Chris's F1 career winds down with Ensign, the little outfit for which Chris finished 5th in one race.

The book benefits from what appears to considerable input from Chris himself - it is obvious that Young spent a lot of time down on the family farm in Bulls, coaxing these stories out of Chris over a beer (or dozen).Young also draws upon contempory writings particularly those of Motorsport and Denis Jenkinson.There are a number of photographs, colour and black & white in 4 inserts throughout the book."Forza Amon!" is fast, easy, and enjoyable reading especially for those who dislike the sanitized Formula One of today.

What a joy ride!
Back in the olden days-well, the seventies-when there was no such thing as F1 racing on teevee, one had to rely on periodicals to stay current! Really, magazines! One quickly discovered the good magazines were:"Autosport","Motorsport" and "Competition Press" and that guys like Denis Jenkinson, Pete Lyons and Eoin Young were the guys you wanted to read. Sure there were others but these were my big three. Anyway, imagine my delight on finding a biography of the eternally unlucky Kiwi written by the eternally entertaining one! I only saw Amon in action twice, both times near the end of his career (Long Beach and Anderstorp 1976) but had known of him for years longer and like I said: Eoin Young's prose is of the best! The book is wonderfully evocative of a better time in the world of autoracing, or so it would seem; the drivers, anyway, were personalities and not corporate paper dolls, the circuits varied and challenging and the cars needful of drivers, real drivers!
If for nothing more than chapter three, "High times: the Ditton Road Flyers and 'Big Ed'"this book is well worth the money and the time it takes to read. I was laughing so hard it was a wonder the nice men with the butterfly nets didn't come and take me to the laughing academy.
The rest of the book is likewise engaging, informative and sometimes the incidents described are tragic, so that it's a relief to find that our hero hadn't gone home to Bulls, New Zealand to become a bitter recluse forever damning the (bad) old days.
I will certainly be keeping an eye open for future offerings from Mister Young, as long as he keeps writing 'em, I'll keep reading 'em. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

This is the best book ever written on motorsports
Lauda hits the sweet spot with this book.You are taken behind the scenes of Formula 1 from an insider's insider.You learn what it is like to drive for "The Old Man" Enzo Ferrari and Mclaren's Ron Dennis.What Ifound fascinating was how Lauda applied his cold non-emotional approach toracing to his life in general.In days where superstar athletes are out 3months for a hamstring injury, Lauda was back racing after receiving"the last rights" from his near fatal crash at the Nurburgring. If you love racing, you will love this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

enzo ferrari
this is the most comprehensive book on the subject that i have read. it is a cross-section of the history, and growth of his dynamic company. a must read for anyone interested in ferrari, and formula one racing.

Not for the faint at heart
This book goes into viewing not only the glamorous part of the commendattore's life, but mostly the darker side.
Mr Yates takes a very interesting position, he gives the impression that dislikes italians and praises germans, english and americans in the auto industry, and that this book was written to expose the "dark-side" of Ferrari.
The linking of Enzo Ferrari to the Mafia and to the Fascist governments seems a little far fetched.

All in all I believe this book was written to discredit Ferrari and all the history and triumph behind them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Dale Earnhardt
The biography of Dale Earnhardt is the best book I ever read.Ever since I heard about his death I realized who he really is.This book teaches me many facts about Dale Earnhardt's life of being a stock car racer.Not only does it teach me about Dale Earnhardt, it also teaches me about his competitors and how they lost to the champion.Like all biography, this book has information about his life as a child, like where he grew up, how his childhood was and.It also teaches you about his racing career, tells you about all of the championships he won, and how his family was with him racing.Believe it or not, thanks to this book I have a new person to be a fan of, this book told me about his two sons who also race.Another thing is that this book helps me under stand the racing that he did, like what the flags were, penalties, etc.All in all this biography of Dale Earnhardt teaches me about the legendary Dale Earnhardt and then some.
By, Andrew

My 11 year old son who hates to read liked this book!
My 6th grade son hates to read but loves Nascar.This was one book he had fun reading.The 60 pages are full of interesting info and good photos.He wrote a good book report about it. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (6)

5 stars for what it is, not for what it's not
Yes, it's too little a book to cover so much time but I'd rather have what have what Jo's written than not have it at all.It's not the best racing book I've read but I'm very glad to have it.Jo could've written a 5 volume set of books this size (but the problem would likely be recollection, not lack of subject matter) and the complaints would be "there's too much detail" and "we need a condensed version"... that's this book.

Jo's career in a nutshell
As some others had suggested, contents in this book could easily be elaborated much to the readers' satisfaction.But it was a nice to get a closer glimpse on the players in the sport beyond the media .. and nice to know this nice guy can ride his Harley to the sunset .. a Harley given to him from Coulthard and Hakkinen's own pocket.

Well told insider's view of F1 racing
This is a fun look inside Formula One over a 40 year period.It's properly titled memoirs rather than autobiography.Ramirez is generous and amusing in his tales about almost everyone in the book.The only things holding it back from 5 stars is that I would have liked more on how his own job evolved over time and maybe some introspection, especially on the level of fatalities in Ramirez's first 20 years in racing compared to the much safer next 20 years.

Ramirez's focus is on personalities, anecdotes and memorable events.I don't think anyone else could deal honestly with the Prost-Senna conflicts from up so close and sympathetically with both sides.Even the biggest names here come across as regular people -- but I think it's a reflection of the author's personality that he enjoyed his life in racing and written a book that carries that enjoyment with it.

Disappointed
I bought the book before Mr Cook's review came out. I just finished it and my thoughts are similar to his.

I was disappointed. The book covers a long span of time and I thought it lacked too many details of the inner workings of Formula 1, both from a technical and people/team chemistry point of view. He spent many pages on the Prost/Senna era and gave alot of inside details on the relations between the two. I wish the rest of the book was more of the same. I get the impression that he was either protecting people, particularly in the recent era, or else he was constrained by the publisher as to how many pages the book had to be.

I read John Horsman's " Racing in the Rain", a similar racing biography and chronology of the Ford GT and Porsche sports car era of the 60s and 70s earlier this year, and that book was miles ahead of this one. I couldn't put it down, while Ramirez' would sit for days between readings.

Good behind the scenes book, but..........
Bottom line is, Jo Ramirez's 40+ years in racing needs more than one book to adequately tell the stories he has experienced.In this 340 page book, he averages covering an entire racing year in the span of about eight pages or fewer.This is an author who worked for Dan Gurney with Indy cars, Trans-Am, and Can-Am cars; worked with Jackie Stewart and Francios Cevert at Tyrrell during the championship and tragic 1973 F1 season; worked with the legendary Wyer Gulf Porsche 917 team; managed the Shadow, Fittipaldi, ATS, and Theodore mid-level F1 teams; and then spends 18 years at the top with Team McLaren!And all this is "crammed" into 340 pages!Honestly, I enjoyed the book.It is good reading for any road racing fan, but it comes across more as an "overview," although in my opinion through no intended fault of Jo Ramirez.He just has way too many good stories needing to be told in much more detail for just one book.It is still enjoyable and worth buying, but wouldn't it be nice to have two sequels: "Memoirs: Stories From The Early Years" and "Memoirs: Stories From the McLaren Years?" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Nascar before Madison Avenue
A friend bought me a copy of this book and caused me to lose the better part of a day's sleep because I didn't want to put it down.It's not only a biography of one of America's icons, but a glimpse into an America that has been bulldozed under, leaving us all poorer.Richard's stories, even those about his childhood and his stint as poppa Lee's crewchief absolutely make the book, but the racing memories are fantastic also.

DOWNHOME KING
IF YOU'RE A NASCAR FAN OR BETTER YET A RICHARD PETTY FAN, THIS IS A MUST-READ BOOK.IT CONTAINS MOST OF THE HISTORY OF THIS NASCAR LEGEND. IT'S CONTENTS LEADS YOU THROUGH HIS CHILDHOOD ON INTO HIS ADULT RACINGLIFE.HE SHARES HIS FAMILY AND RACING ASPIRATIONS WITH US AND LEAVES YOUWANTING FOR MORE.THIS BOOK OFFERS YOU HUMOR AND HEARTFELT EMOTIONS THATENTICE YOU TO FOLLOW ALONG WITH HIM IN HIS EXCITING CAREER OF BECOMING A LEGEND IN NASCAR RACING. ... Read more