The Speed Merchants

As I said in the title, the pictures alone are worth the price of the book. Keyser describes the world of motor racing in such terms that anyone without knowledge of racing could experience the thrills associated with the sport. His book would make a great film documentary. As one who has raced cars in club racing, I thoroughly enjoyed his book. I think he adequately captured all aspects of driving. My only complaint is that almost all of the pictures seem to have been captured at only a few venues: Watkins Glen, Zandvoort, Monza and LeMans.

This was an excellent work that captured very accurately not merely a dry collection of facts about the mechanicals of race cars of the 1969-72 era, or the various accouterments of auto racing, but it captures the gestalt, the feeling, the spirit of auto racing. I recommend it highly for not only the text, but for the photographs as well. The Speed Merchants seems to pack as much about the actual sport and the competitors as possible into this volume, and it seems to me that to remove even one sentence from the book would be to detract from the whole, so concise and yet well-done it is. If you can get a copy, please do so. If you are interested in what makes a race car driver tick (or tick over) this is the book to read.