Sunday Driver: The Writer Meets the Road -- At 175 MPH

If you love Yates, you won't be disappointed. A sort of early 70's Plimptonian view of the American road racing scene. Culminates with a chapter long account of the famous Dan Gurney/Brock Yates Cannonball Baker run in a Ferrari Daytona....cleverly disguised as a race car. Must read stuff. The account of a State Trooper asking how fast will that thing go? after a lengthy high speed chase... followed by Gurney asking.. well how fast will it go? once back on the road.... 172 was the answer... which prompted Gurney to quip afterwards that they never went over 175 the whole time... If you have a drop of motor oil in your veins, this is you're kind of book. Get it, read it...you'll enjoy it.

Not only because the pages kept coming at almost the same pace as the author (sounds clichéd, but it really was a very fast paced book and seemed I read it in no-time!), but also because I had a real blast learning the details on every car he jumped in. Mainly, it tells the story of how a motoring journalist that could barely drive at the beggining of the book, took some proper driving lessons at a racetrack, did some amateur races, and how he eventually struggled to race in the very competitive TransAm series in a top private team. He never quite cuts it as a racer, but just being there as a co-pilot is a real joy to read, specially when you see that this is not political correctness at all costs, and the guy simply says what he thinks spontaneously. Like for instance, when he retires with a car that hasn't been properly reapaired (or at least that's what he feels) and after one promoter likes to have a go and do some laps in the car, the author hopes that the promoter never goes nearly as fast as he did. This makes for a very honest and fresh (by today's standards) read. Finally, the writer ends the book by becoming a car-nut hero to many by winning (co-driving with American driving legend, Dan Gurney) the first edition of the Cannonball race. The Cannonball race is only a small epilogue or rather, a nice introduction to Yates' following book of this (in)famously named race.

As a club racer this book has inspired me the most. The insight (as far as I know) of racing, the people and the stress of a racing driver alone in the car is exact. This book covers one racers career from racing school to a couple of pro Trans-Am races. And the chapter of the first race as a mechanic for a new Trans-Am team is a must to read for every aspiring race car owner (/driver). The chapter on the 'fair' test of the 70's musclecars is a good insight into how to bend rules. Reprint it, my copy is falling apart.