Archive for Items Categorized 'Biography/ Autobiography', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Wild About Racing: My Lotus Years with Clark and Chapman

by Derek Wild

Having cobbled together his own derelict Lotus 7 while still an apprentice, Wild took his first mechanic job with Lotus to get cheap spare parts. Right place, right time—Lotus was on a roll, and he forged a life-long career in motorsports. 

Derek Warwick: Never Look Back

The Racing Life of Britain’s Double Champion 

by Derek Warwick with David Tremayne

Those two world championships were 20 years apart, which right there tells you something about keeping your eyes on the ball—also essential for navigating business (check) and health (check) challenges.

Rising Ground and No Room to Turn, A Biography 

by Vivien Eyers

When you design, build, and fly your own aircraft—especially if they were never certified—you’ll have some stories to tell. While the protagonist really had no inclination to do that he left enough material behind for his sister to give it a whirl.

The Last Enemy

by Richard Hillary

After being shot down in the Battle of Britain this Spitfire pilot endured pioneering plastic surgery to rebuild his face and hands. While recovering, he wrote this memoir, then returned to flying again. Two months later was shot down again, at 23. This time he died.

As a Matter of Fact, I Am Parnelli Jones

by Parnelli Jones with Bones Bourcier

Told by the protagonist as much as by his peers this memoir paints a rich picture of the people, cars, and venues in American racing of the 1960s and ‘70s in a sometimes feisty and always engaging manner.

Sea Flight: The Wartime Memoirs of a Fleet Air Arm Pilot

by Hugh Popham

The first published memoir by a British WW II fighter pilot. Not a story of fly-boy derring-do but quiet reflection.

Lynn Paxton—My Way

by Don Robinson

Paxton often says he’ll be addicted to racing until he dies, and this biography makes his passion abundantly clear. He’s won more than most but can’t be bothered to keep count, because he has an even greater passion: family.

The First Lady of Dirt

The Triumphs and Tragedy of Racing Pioneer Cheryl Glass

by Bill Poehler

It’s no surprise that public figures keep their struggles private. In the case of a female driver you can image what those are. Also, she was also not only black but the first black female pro driver. And hardships followed her all her life, until it ended in suicide.

Hello, I’m Paul Page: “It’s Race Day in Indianapolis”

by Paul Page & J.R. Elrod

Could auto racing reporting be Emmy-worthy? You bet—Page did it twice! He probably could have brought excitement to reading the telephone directory out loud. From the X Games to hot dog eating contests, this memoir covers six decades in the broadcast booth.

Fay Taylour, ‘The World’s Wonder Girl’ – A Life at Speed

by Stephen M. Cullen

An Irish motorcyclist travels the world as an itinerant racer, becomes a car salesperson in Hollywood and discovers that quintessential American grass roots activity, midget car racing on dirt tracks. Not unusual enough? There’s more.

Sir Joseph Whitworth

by Norman Atkinson

You know the name even if you don’t think you do. The British Standard Whitworth system codified an accepted standard for screw threads. He did many more things, in his field and as a man—and he deserves to be better known!

The Fastest Woman on Wheels, The Life of Paula Murphy

by Erik Arneson

Skates–sailboat–horse: if it moves, let’s see if it can move faster. She came to motorsports only in her thirties and then almost by accident, but it stuck and she was good with anything she drove. But she almost missed this biography, dying just a few months later.

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