Vintage American Road Racing Cars: 1950-1970

Book Description
Harold Pace and Mark Brinker. The 1950s and 1960s were the boom times for road racing in America. In this fertile soil, dozens of American racing car manufacturers sprouted up, supplying fields of post-war thrill seekers with race cars. Names like Shelby American, Huffaker, Devin, Miller, Kurtis, Old Yaller, Chaparral, Cunningham, Scarab, Eagle, and many others made a name for themselves on American race tracks and even overseas. Hundreds of "specials" were produced as well, often modified versions of such classic cars as Corvette, Porsche, and MG. Part hot rod, part sports car, all of these cars were built with a heaping helping of good old American know-how and a pure passion for racing that was unique to the era. This book takes an in-depth look at more than 50 race car manufacturers and more than 100 racing specials. Many of these have never before been covered in book form. Vintage American Road Racing Cars takes an encyclopedic approach, providing vintage and modern photography, specifications, and a narrative history for each car or manufacturer. Knockout photos of period-appropriate memorabilia, tools, etc., add to the nostalgic feel of this high-quality book. Vintage racing is gaining in popularity every year. According to Victory Lane magazine, vintage races are attended by about 1.5 million people in the U.S. each year. Around 5,500 people own a vintage race car in the U.S., but, including crew and workers, about 22,000 Americans participate in vintage racing at some level. Another 20,000 participants live in Europe and Asia. "This is a marvelous glimpse back into a long gone period of racing when car builders were free to build racing cars with only minimum class rules as guidance, long before racing became rule bound and the racing car designs were totally specified by the racing organization. As expected in a work of this immense magnitude, there are some cars left out and a very few incorrect descriptions, leaving room for a second edition, which we expect since this is bound to be a best seller. This one could be the racing book of the year!" - Victory Lane, January 2005


About the Author
Harold Pace's writing and photography has appeared in such magazines as Automobile Quarterly, Class & Sportscar, Excellence, Sports Car International, Vintage Racecar Journal, and others. He lives in Weatherford, Texas. Mark Brinker is a vintage race car enthusiast who has raced at the Monterey Historics. He is a doctor with three published medical textbooks and 70+ published scientific papers. He hails from Houston, Texas.


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Although most of the cars that competed in American road racing were built in Europe, an underground movement sprang up of ￯﾿ﾽspecial builders￯﾿ﾽ who constructed their racers in home garages and small-town machine shops. Some were so homely and slow that only the builders could love them. Others trounced every Ferrari in sight and are now on the wish lists of wealthy collectors the world over. Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950￯﾿ﾽ1970 is the first book devoted exclusively to American road racing cars of all types and sizes. Hundreds of race cars built in America have never before been mentioned in print, and this book chronicles those and other cars with vintage and modern photography, specifications, memorabilia, and the stories and characters behind each car.


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