Indy: The Race and Ritual of the Indianapolis 500, Second Edition

Reed, Dr. Terry

ISBN 10: 1574889079 / ISBN 13: 9781574889079

Published by POTOMAC BOOKS (edition 2nd ed.), 2005

It's a well-cared-for item that has seen limited use. The item may show minor signs of wear. All the text is legible, with all pages included. It may have slight markings and/or highlighting. Seller Inventory # 1574889079-11-1

Synopsis:

In a nation that worships the automobile for the freedom, style, and status that it confers, the Indianapolis 500, run on or near Memorial Day eighty-seven times, is an annual rite of passage celebrating Americans’ love affair with speed. Indy recounts the drivers (677 men and 3 women) who have gone to Indianapolis in the past ninety-five years to live their dreams, staking their lives on the outcome. It highlights the faces in the crowd: hardworking Americans, tinhorn celebrities, hookers, movie stars, gate-crashers, and five American presidents. Terry Reed focuses his narrative on the track’s four quarter-mile-long turns, each the site of triumphs (including those of such multiple winners as Billy Vukovich, A. J. Foyt, and Helio Castroneves); grisly deaths (at least sixty-six, including three unrelated men of the same unusual last name who died in the same turn but in different decades); and bizarre heroics (like the sans souci French driver who downed champagne throughout the 1913 Indy 500 and still won). Reed also examines Indy’s confluence of racing and aeronautics (World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker once owned the track) and the impact upon the event of such forces as segregation, gender politics, food, fads, publicity stunts, world-class partying, and tasteless pop culture. Indy takes readers on an entertaining, full-throttle ride through the history of one of the world’s most famous races and one of America’s most hallowed rituals. It is the definitive account of the crown jewel of American motorsports.

About the Author: TERRY REED has written numerous articles in automotive publications, including Stock Car Racing, Vintage Auto Racing, On Track, and Indy Car Racing, with best-of-year winners in the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association-refereed competition. He has also published books on Truman Capote and playwright and New Yorker essayist S. N. Behrman. He holds a doctorate in Anglo-American literature and lives near Cincinnati, Ohio.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Indy: The Race and Ritual of the ...
Publisher: POTOMAC BOOKS (edition 2nd ed.)
Publication Date: 2005
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 2nd ed.