Against Death and Time: One Fatal Season in Racing's Glory Years

The Right Stuff of the "Brickyard"-the name given by the racers to the fabled Indianapolis Speedway-is chronicled in Against Death and Time, for one fatal season, 1955, in the post-war glory years of racecar driving. This book tells the story of the reckless, dispossessed young men who raced not for fame or money-there was none-but for "the sheer unvarnished hell of it." Brock Yates has been writing for Car and Driver for more than thirty years and is one of the best-known people in the racing world. He raced his own car for a season in a Plimpton-like adventure recorded in Sunday Driver, one of his six books. He has published widely, from Playboy to the Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on every major television network as both a racing and automotive industry commentator. An evocative writer with an absolute command of the period, Brock integrates unexpected and fascinating detail into a character-driven story of men compelled to compete against themselves, time, and death. Brock's Dutch-like strategy of a fictional narrator observing, interrogating, and reporting on his real-life protagonists imparts the immediacy of fiction to this minutely accurate account. Black-and-white photographs are featured.

Brock Yates is Editor-at-Large and featured columnist for Car and Driver, erstwhile CBS Sports analyst, and commentator for the Speed Channel Motorsports Cable Network.