Topic: What's on your bookshelf?

Just read for the first time Mark Donohue's autobiography The Unfair Advantage and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RDN1E3MQL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Considering that this book was published while Donohue was still with us, re-released in 2000 and I just stumbled across it a week ago, I began to ponder what other terrific auto-related titles I have missed.  The first automotive related book I ever purchased was this forum's oft referenced How to Make Your Car Handle.  I also have a few of Carrol Smith's books, a copy of Going Faster by Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant on High Performance Driving and Smokey Yunick's rambling memoir Best Damn Garage In Town:  My Life and Adventures in eBook format (fantastic, if under-edited, by the way).

So what am I missing?  Reading Donohue's book has me interested in Penske and the Trans-Am series in particular.

Again, I ask, what's on your bookshelf?

10x loser (Arse-Freeze '11 - Vodden '15) 1x WINNER! Arse-Freeze '14 in the Watermelon Volvo Wagon
Swedish Knievel Skycycle('90 Volvo 740 Wagon)

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--40P0WVOI--/18ay2wnmnci8vjpg.jpg

If you can get a copy of Mickey Thompson's 1963 memoir (the going rate for a trashed paperback is about $150), the stuff about racing in the first two years of the Carrera Panamericana is some of the best car-related reading out there.

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

Cannonball! by Brock Yates

This is the true story of the Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash
by the guy who started it all.   It is a must-read!

"I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!"
IOE winner in the Super Snipe -- Buttonwillow 2012
IOE winner in Super Snipe v2.0 -- Buttonwillow 2016
"Every Super Snipe in Lemons has won an IOE!"

4 (edited by zebrabeefj40 2014-05-06 06:48 AM)

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

Go Like Hell: Ford Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A.J. Baime

http://www.amazon.com/Go-Like-Hell-Ferr … B004H8GM26

Great read about racing at Le Mans back in the day.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein  was also a great read about racing.  Though a work of fiction the racing descriptions were pretty close to life and on some of the same tracks we race too.  Pretty sure if you do a search of the forum there is another thread dedicated to this book.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Racing-Ra … 0061537969

Nick
Focke Ewe racing -> Muttonheads! Racing -> Torque Junkies
86ish VW GTI...now with TDI Powah!

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

The Last Open Road by Burt "BS" Levy is a good piece of fiction
about a young New Jersy gas station mechanic coming of age against
the backdrop of the wild and dangerous era of open-road sports car
racing in the early 1950s.

Levy's later books, Montezuma's Ferrari, The Fabulous Trashwagon,
and Toby's Ghost continue the story but, in my opinion, decline in
quality.

"I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!"
IOE winner in the Super Snipe -- Buttonwillow 2012
IOE winner in Super Snipe v2.0 -- Buttonwillow 2016
"Every Super Snipe in Lemons has won an IOE!"

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

Judge Phil: Just ordered a used copy of Challenger!  Thanks.

CowDriver:  I have read Cannonball!  It is a great read.

Zebrabeefj40:  Go Like Hell: Ford Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans has been ordered as well.  Thank you.  I somehow convinced my entire family to read The Art of Racing in the Rain--they all loved it.  Great recommendation.

Keep them coming!

10x loser (Arse-Freeze '11 - Vodden '15) 1x WINNER! Arse-Freeze '14 in the Watermelon Volvo Wagon
Swedish Knievel Skycycle('90 Volvo 740 Wagon)

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

RX-7: The Mazda RX-7: Mazda's Legendary Sports Car by Jack K. Yamaguchi

http://edrcreations.com/images/RX7/yamaguchi_book.jpg

Dangerous Banned Technology (NOLA 09), Judges Choice (Houston 2010), Organizers Choice (NOLA 2010), Most Heroic Fix (Dallas 2010), $100 from Jay's Pocket (Dallas 2010), Dangerous Homemade Technology (NOLA 2010), Ununhexium Legends of Lemons Status,  Index of Effluency (Dallas 2011), Most Heroic Fix - (Houston 2011), Index of Effluency (TWS - 2012), Organizers Choice (Dallas 2013)

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

Lady Chatterly's lover

Silent But Deadly Racing-  Ricky Bobby's Laughing Clown Malt Liquor Thunderbird , Datsun 510, 87 Mustang (The Race Team Formerly Known as Prince), 72 Pinto Squire waggy, Parnelli Jones 67 Galaxie, Turbo Coupe Surf wagon.(The Surfin Bird), Squatting Dogs In Tracksuits,  Space Pants!  Roy Fuckin Kent and The tribute to a tribute to a tribute THUNDERBIRD/ SUNDAHBADOH!

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

CowDriver wrote:

The Last Open Road by Burt "BS" Levy is a good piece of fiction
about a young New Jersy gas station mechanic coming of age against
the backdrop of the wild and dangerous era of open-road sports car
racing in the early 1950s.

Levy's later books, Montezuma's Ferrari, The Fabulous Trashwagon,
and Toby's Ghost continue the story but, in my opinion, decline in
quality.

Thanks for recommending these a few weeks ago in a prior post. I just finished up the third one and they're really entertaining books. His style gets kind of old (the repeating the same stuff about Sally Enderle every time, for example, as if we don't remember from the first time), but the content itself is spot on. I just recommended them to Spank. Really entertaining.

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

Delorean's "On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors" is a good read. Even after you take the grains of salt necessary when listening to the Delorean version of events, it still does a good job of predicting GM's downfall, 30 years before it actually happened.

Nader's "Unsafe At Any Speed" is also very interesting. Only a small section of the book has anything to do with the Corvair, but that's all anyone seems to know about it.

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

The Sandman vol. 6, Fables & Reflections and Grassroots Motorsports, May 2014.

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

How To Play With Your Food by Penn & Teller....

45+x Loser.....You'd think I would learn......
5x I.O.E  Winner   1 Heroic Fix Winner   1 Org Choice Winner
2x  I Got Screwed Winner    2x Class C Winner
(Still a Class B driver in a Class A car)

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

Maximum Boost - Designing, Testing, and Installing Turbocharger Systems by Corky Bell

Well written, thorough, and an entertaining read.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WDFpv9S9L.jpg

Dangerous Banned Technology (NOLA 09), Judges Choice (Houston 2010), Organizers Choice (NOLA 2010), Most Heroic Fix (Dallas 2010), $100 from Jay's Pocket (Dallas 2010), Dangerous Homemade Technology (NOLA 2010), Ununhexium Legends of Lemons Status,  Index of Effluency (Dallas 2011), Most Heroic Fix - (Houston 2011), Index of Effluency (TWS - 2012), Organizers Choice (Dallas 2013)

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

I've got to buy the Mark Donahue and Smokey Yunich books.

I'd second the recommendations for The Art of Racing in the Rain, Cannonball!, and The Last Open Road.  All great books.

But the absolute greatest automotive book ever written is Stand On It, by Stroker Ace.  Don't let the lame movie interpretation fool you, that was just the typical Burt Reynolds movie massacre of a great book.  Coincidentally, he did the same thing with the Cannonball story.

bs

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

This one is pretty good

http://www.daveargabright.com/v/vspfiles/photos/005-1-2.jpg

1990 RX7 "Mazdarita"  1964 Sunbeam Imp (IOE 2013 Sears Pointless) 2002 Jaguar x-type (Winner C-Class 2021 Sears Pointless)
Gone bye-bye
1994 Jaguar XJ12 (Winner C-Class 2013 Sears Pointless)  1980 Rover SD1 (I Got Screwed 2014 Return of Lemonites)

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51c013M7%2BPL.jpg

I'm so tempted to try this, but given my track record with cooking, anything more complicated than the Bento Boxster* recipe would result in my car catching on fire.

*Recipe: acquire Boxster, grab take-out. The others are more detailed than this, haha.

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

About 3/4 through this.  Terrific read.  I knew about the "push rod" motors at Indy but never realized the feat of engineering that it took to get them to the track.  I would have liked a bit more technical discussion but understand how that might have limited the audience for the book.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510adrq9jQL.jpg

10x loser (Arse-Freeze '11 - Vodden '15) 1x WINNER! Arse-Freeze '14 in the Watermelon Volvo Wagon
Swedish Knievel Skycycle('90 Volvo 740 Wagon)

18 (edited by CPT_Trans_Continental 2015-02-19 12:24 PM)

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

This one is where I get all my driving skills from.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20708720/Corvair_drivers_manual_small.jpg

'18 PNW-Organizer's Choice '17 PNW-IOE '15 PNW-Judge's Choice '14 PNW-Heroic Fix
Jagvair 2.0 Build   Jagvair YouTube  Jagvair Facebook

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

I've got a copy of Ross Bentley's Speed Secrets on the nightstand.  Definitely a good read.

Pucker Factor Racing - Gator-O-Rama, Feb '11, Yee-Haw It's Lemons Texas!, Oct '11
Scuderia Ignorante - Yee-Haw, It's Lemons Texas, Feb '12 (As seen in Car & Driver), Gator-O-Rama, Sept '13

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

gump wrote:

About 3/4 through this.  Terrific read.  I knew about the "push rod" motors at Indy but never realized the feat of engineering that it took to get them to the track.  I would have liked a bit more technical discussion but understand how that might have limited the audience for the book.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510adrq9jQL.jpg

+1. Incredible story. Amazing that even Penske would go to this extent to win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/2775/1441/1600/750158/zen_and_the_art.jpg

The Roto-Racer '89 Merkur:  If it ain't rusting, It ain't racing.

'14 Real Hoopties of NJ: Judges Choice

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

I'm reading Carroll Smith at the moment. Great technical read.

I love automotive journalism though. Clarkson's articles are a fun read. PJ O'Rourke's compendium Driving Like Crazy is great.

Planet Express
"IOE" "C Win" 4834.701 Race Miles and counting
Toyocedes
"Least Southern Pickup Truck" "IOE" "C win" "C win (again?)"

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71QC0N5NMXL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.gif

This book is very interesting. Shows you why Honda went to hell so fast in the early 1990s.

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

Blood Sweat & Gears
About Herb Adams privateering a 7 year old Pontiac Lemans
in Trans-Am racing back in the early 70's

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51g8y9l1%2BmL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

'ported, relieved, with bored-out arm rests, and oversize seat covers.

Re: What's on your bookshelf?

Judge Phil wrote:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71QC0N5NMXL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.gif

This book is very interesting. Shows you why Honda went to hell so fast in the early 1990s.

Didn't know about this one... Always felt Honda lost their way then too - didn't realize others felt the same.

"Don't mess with Lexas!" LS400. We survived another one! See website link for build details.
Maker of the "unofficial Lemons fish!" - If you ask nice, I'll likely give you one at the track.