Auto Racing

Over the past two decades, Life in the Fast Lane has grown to become a true staple of Formula 1 literature. In essence a monthly diary of a Benetton grand prix mechanic, this essential book gives a behind-the-scenes account of daily life in the trenches of F1 during the tragic and turbulent 1994 season.

The New York Times best-selling novel from Garth Stein - a heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope - a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it.

Tim Richmond was, fellow NASCAR driver Kyle Petty said, "a stranger in time." In one regard, the flashy, flamboyant driver from Ashland, Ohio, was years ahead of the trends in a sport that would soon enjoy explosive growth in popularity. Women who were NASCAR fans loved him - and so did their husbands and boyfriends.

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me. Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries.

Kyle Petty chronicles his life on and off the racetrack, presenting his insider’s perspective of growing up throughout the sport’s popular rise in American culture. Filled with NASCAR history, stories of his family’s careers, and anecdotes about some of stock-car racing’s most famous drivers, Kyle’s memoir also tackles the sport’s evolution, discussing how welcoming diverse racers, improving car and track safety features, and integrating green technology will benefit NASCAR’s competitors and fans in the future.

Sir Jackie Stewart is a man of immense charisma and integrity and is one of the most highly regarded names in global sport: winner of three F1 World Championships, 27 Grands Prix, and ranked in the top five drivers of all time. On retiring from the circuit, he went on to build an equally impressive international business career. In the 1960s and into the 70s, with his black cap, sideburns, and aviator shades, Jackie Stewart was an unmistakable icon in a glorious era of style, glamour, and speed.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Mechanic written and read by Marc 'Elvis' Priestley. In the high-octane atmosphere of the Formula One pit lane, the spotlight is most often on the superstar drivers. And yet, without the technical knowledge, competitive determination and outright obsession from his garage of mechanics, no driver could possibly hope to claim a spot on the podium.

So you’ve said yes to a track day, you’ve got the car, booked your first session, and have no idea what to expect, what to do now or how to make the most of the money you’ve spent. You’re excited, but nervous about looking like the “newbie” at the track, or worse… upsetting the experienced racing enthusiasts and causing uproar in the pit lane. The problem is, that you couldn’t spot an apex if it leaped out in front of you. You don’t have time to get your head around the mindboggling array of race engineering terms out there, and you certainly can’t justify spending yet ...

The greatest duel in Formula 1 history: the 1976 season between Austrian Niki Lauda and Britain's James Hunt. As the '75 season ended, Hunt was out of Formula One racing while Lauda was world champion and the odds-on favorite for '76 with a year's contract ahead of him and Enzo Ferrari begging him to sign a multi-year deal. James Hunt, without a drive until Emerson Fittipaldi broke his McLaren contract, grabbed the McLaren drive with both hands and the help of friend John Hogan. The result? Two drivers in an epic 16-race battle across the globe for the '76 title, ultimately decided by a single point.

The powers-that-be in auto racing in the 1920s, namely the American Automobile Association's Contest Board, prohibited everyone who wasn't a White male from the sport. Dewey Gaston, a Black man who went by the name Rajo Jack, broke into the epicenter of racing in California, refusing to let the pervasive racism of his day stop him from competing against entire fields of White drivers. In The Brown Bullet, Bill Poehler uncovers the life of a long-forgotten trailblazer and the great lengths he took to even get on the track.

In his song "You Can't Stop Rock and Roll" Ozzy Osbourne sings, "Rock and roll is my religion and my law". And that's why Raising Hell is a must-have for anyone who wants to hear about the iconoclastic culture of headbangers and the wild lives they lead. The book contains the crazy, funny, and sometimes horrifying anecdotes musicians have told about a lifestyle both invigorating and at times self-destructive.

“Wild Bill” Donoho was part street hustler, part shrewd businessman. A Vice Cop, he rose to the top of the Nashville police force, only to go to prison under accusations of taking payoffs from underworld figures. Later, Donoho was instrumental in bringing big-time auto racing to Music City. This is his story.

Jerry Crabb and his white and red 12x sprint car were familiar sights at Knoxville Raceway and central Iowa tracks in the 1990s and early 2000s, mainly in the 360 class. He began racing motocross in the ’60s and raced flat-track motorcycles, three-wheelers, four-wheelers, and nearly anything else with wheels, well into the 2010s. However, he didn’t set foot in a sprint car until the age of 47 in 1990, at the spring World of Outlaws race in Knoxville. He was the winner of the 1998 Masters Classic at Knoxville. Learn about the old-school and charismatic Crabb, the interesting cast of ...

Two-time championship-winning and record-breaking racing driver Jason Plato is a living, breathing example of what you shouldn't do if you want to become a professional racing driver. Since joining the Williams Touring Car team in 1997 it's no coincidence that he has had more race wins than Lewis Hamilton and Stirling Moss, competed in more races than Jenson Button and set the largest number of fastest laps ever. But it's also no coincidence that he once spent several days in prison in Monaco for stealing a JCB.

At the pinnacle of motorsports, a humble young man from Stevenage, England, has risen to become the greatest Formula One driver of all time. Lewis Hamilton’s journey from remote-controlled car hobbyist to seven-time world champion, knight of the realm, and global superstar is the stuff of sporting legend. This authoritative biography follows Hamilton’s path from his early days karting on local tracks to the glitz and pressure of the Formula One circuit.

When NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, Jr., retired from professional stock car racing in 2017, he walked away from his career as a healthy man. But for years, he had worried that the worsening effects of multiple racing-related concussions would end not only his time on the track but his ability to live a full and happy life. Torn between a race-at-all-costs culture and the fear that something was terribly wrong, Earnhardt tried to pretend everything was fine, but the private notes about his escalating symptoms that he kept on his phone reveal a vicious cycle.

The world's foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain's greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir. How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian's unrivalled 35-year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he's been involved.

Formula One has only 20 drivers in its elite ranks, but behind each one is an army of professionals devoted to the sport: statisticians and strategists, engineers and mechanics, PR gurus and party planners, and more—all who spend months traveling thousands of miles across the globe each year. Their achievements (and failures) may not be as well-publicized as those of the drivers and team principals, but they’re just as important: one fifty-cent screw in the wrong place could cause a $15 million car to break down mid-race.

In his 17 years as a Formula 1 driver, Jenson Button has picked up a thing or two about how to do the job properly. Sure, you need to be able to drive a car fast - and Jenson is on hand to pass on a few tricks of the trade here - but you also need to know the real rules for making it to the top. Like, how to tell a multiple F1 champion they need to check their blind spot. What the difference is between a helmet and a hat, and indeed a 'helmet-hat'. How to practise your champagne spray ahead of the big day.

Max Verstappen is one of the youngest and most talented drivers in Formula One's recent history. This book is an insightful and comprehensive biography of the Dutchman, from his birth in a quiet Limburg village right up until today, when he's only just turned 19. All of Max's successes - among them two victories at the pinnacle of motorsport - are recounted in detail, along with those moments that didn't go so well.