Emerson Fittipaldi

Gordon Kirby

Hazleton Publishing

Relentless determination, unrivaled charisma, and the ability to climb into any type of race car and win has made Mario Andretti a household name for more than thirty years. His accomplishments include four USAC and CART titles, the 1978 Formula One World Championship, winning the 1967 Daytona 500 and 1969 Indianapolis 500, and three victories in the grueling 12 Hours of Sebring sports-car race. Mario Andretti: A Driving Passion documents the toughness, intelligence, and humor that makes Mario the man so compelling and reveals the remarkable mixture of determination and luck-both good and bad-that defined his career as the most versatile and accomplished racer of all time. For the first time, his extraordinary life story is presented through exclusive interviews with Mario, his family, and the drivers and teams he raced with. In-depth descriptions of his greatest races and cars, combined with behind-the-scenes team photos and commentary by Mario himself, provide an insider's perspective on the progression of racing technology and the teamwork behind a winning effort. Author Gordon Kirby goes beyond the race track to explore Mario's early life in post-war Italy, his friendships with fellow drivers, team owners, engineers, and journalists, as well as his family's role in supporting and sustaining his career. Mario Andretti: A Driving Passion brings all of these elements together to create the definitive portrait of the man many regard as the driver of the century. Lavishly illustrated with the work of top racing photographers and memorabilia from Mario's own scrapbooks, the book includes pictures of nearly all of the 167 cars that helped build the Andretti legend. These include everything from his first homemade Hudson stock car to such milestone machines as Clint Brawner's Indy-winning Hawk and Colin Chapman's revolutionary ground-effect, Lotus 79.

Mario Andretti : A Driving Passion

Kirby, Gordon

Biographies & Memoirs

David Bull Pub

Chris Pook and the History of the Long Beach GP

Mario Andretti

Racemaker Press LLC

The Story of Rick Mears and the Mears Gang Racemaker Press is delighted to announce a new second edition of Gordon Kirby’s biography of four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears. Rick announced his retirement from racing at the end of 1992, just after his forty-first birthday. He was still at the height of his powers and chose exactly the right moment to retire, a rare thing in most sports and motor racing in particular. Rick went out a winner with a record of four Indy 500 victories, three CART Indy Car World Series championships and twenty-nine individual race victories and forty pole positions. He was the most successful Indy car driver of his era and was considered the king of the speedways. For him, the faster the track, the better. “Rick was an incredible talent,” Mario Andretti comments. “He was always given so much credit for being such an ace on ovals. I think that disturbed him to some degree because he was able to rise to the occasion on the road courses as well. He was a force to be reckoned with where ever he went. I think he was probably the most misread individual because he was always very kind, very laid-back. But I don’t think anybody’s fire burned any brighter or any stronger in his belly when he was in a race car.” Mears is also recognized as one of the fairest, most ethical drivers in the history of the sport. Rick’s behavior on the track was impeccable, the standard by which all others were judged. “He was very polished,” Andretti adds. “He was probably one of the most correct drivers out there to race against. I always had the greatest respect for Rick Mears.” Rick is pleased to enjoy a legacy for being brilliantly fast but eminently fair. “That means a lot to me,” he reflects. “I never really thought about it, except when somebody brings it up. But it means a lot to me, because then I feel whatever we’ve earned was earned in the right way. It’s not like cutting corners. I feel like we’ve earned it fair and square. I’ve always felt like that’s

Rick Mears—Thanks

Racemaker Press

Perhaps nobody in the history of automobile racing enjoyed a career of wider reach and diversity than Roger Bailey. Over the course of 52 years (1959–2012) Bailey competed as a mechanic, engine builder, crew chief, sanctioning body technical inspector and finally, co-founder and administrator of the Indy Lights series. Bailey’s career came to its culmination in 1986 when he co-founded the American Racing Series with Pat Patrick. In 1991, the ARS became the Indy Lights series with Bailey at the helm of the category through its heydays until his retirement in 2012. Boost! details Bailey’s life and career, documenting the many skills that made him so successful. “Roger was such a great guy,” Roger Penske declares. “He worked with us in the Can-Am in 1967 and you could see that his passion for racing was as strong as anyone’s. He brought a lot of good ideas to us and was one of the hardest workers we ever had in our organization. “You could see that when he took over running the Indy Lights series. He had a broad skill set and people genuinely appreciated him as their leader. If you can lead people the way Roger has over the years, you build great momentum and in that way he was among the very best.” Boost! Roger Bailey’s Extraordinary Motor Racing Career is Gordon Kirby’s latest Racemaker Press biography.

Boost! Roger Bailey’s Extraordinary Motor Racing Career

Relentless determination, unrivaled charisma, and the ability to climb into any type of race car and win has made Mario Andretti a household name for more than thirty years. His accomplishments include four USAC and CART titles, the 1978 Formula One World Championship, winning the 1967 Daytona 500 and 1969 Indianapolis 500, and three victories in the grueling 12 Hours of Sebring sports-car race. 
Mario achieved his dream against enormous odds. As a boy in Italy he and his family lived among Nazis under Communist occupation, lost everything they owned, and emigrated to America in 1955. As a teenager he built his first Hudson stock car and won his very first race. His unmistakable talent soon earned him seats in better, faster cars. Just six years after his first race, he drove to his first USAC championship and was Rookie of the Year at the 1965 Indy 500. 
For the first time, his extraordinary life story is presented through exclusive interviews with Mario, his family, and the drivers and teams he raced with. In-depth descriptions of his greatest races and cars, combined with behind-the-scenes team photos and commentary by Mario himself, provide an insider's perspective on the progression of racing technology and the teamwork behind a winning effort. 
Mario Andretti: A Driving Passion documents the toughness, intelligence, and humor that makes Mario the man so compelling and reveals the remarkable mixture of determination and luck, both good and bad, that defined his career as the most versatile and accomplished racer of all time.

Mario Andretti: A Driving Passion

David Bull Publishing

Forty remarkable stories of forty champion racing drivers who but for a stroke of bad luck, an unfortunate last minute mistake, or just the intervention of fate, were never able to win America's Greatest Race; the Indianapolis 500. Written by automotive historian Joseph Freeman and racing journalist Gordon Kirby, with a forward by Michael Andretti; a beautifully produced hardbound book, of 400+ images on 303 pages, covering the years 1911-2014.

Second to One: All but for Indy

Joseph S. Freeman

'Jim McGee, Crew Chief of Champions' tells the entire story of McGee's remarkable career. McGee was one of the most successful crew chiefs and team managers in Indy Car history. Between 1965-2005, McGee's cars won 90 races--including four Indy 500s--and nine USAC or CART championships. The story of McGee's career, 'Crew Chief of Champions', is told largely in McGee's own words with interviews of all the top drivers and team owners Jim worked with over his long career. Written by veteran US racing writer and award-winning author Gordon Kirby, 'Crew Chief of Champions' is lavishly illustrated with more than 300 photographs.

Jim McGee, Crew Chief of Champions

Over the years, American automobile racing has enjoyed a handful of successful racing families such as the Andrettis and Unsers in Indy car racing and the Pettys, Allisons and Earnhardts in NASCAR. We've also seen this phenomenon in Europe and international racing, with the likes of Graham Hill and his son Damon, world champions both, and the legendary Ferrari Formula One hero Gilles Villeneuve and his son Jacques, who was successful in both Indy and F1 cars. Less well-known with the passage of time, but equally accomplished in a wide-range of American open wheel racing are the Bettenhausens, Tony and his three sons, Gary, Merle and Tony, Jr. The family's story has been told before by Carl Hungness in his epic GO! The Bettenhausen Story, published in 1982. But more than thirty years later, with advice and assistance from Merle and Susan Bettenhausen we decided to take a fresh, pictorial look at the family's story using Racemaker Press's superb photo archive along with the Bettenhausen family's personal collections. Award-winning author Gordon Kirby has created a visual odyssey of the Bettenhausen family's epic story, starting with two-time Indy car champion Tony Senior's first laps at the wheel of a mid-western midget in 1938, and following Gary's, Merle's and Tony Jr.'s careers. This book features over 350 superb photos and is enlivened by Merle and Susan Bettenhausen's personal recollections, observations and commentary about their father, brothers and family. The book is completed with full statistical data of the Bettenhausens' championship racing careers.

Tony Bettenhausen & Sons: An American Racing Family Album

Karl Kainhofer, an Austrian-born Porsche-trained master mechanic, was Roger Penske's personal race mechanic, preparing many of the cars Penske raced in the late nineteen-fifties and early sixties. When Penske started the Penske Racing organization in 1966 Kainhofer was the first man he hired as a full-time employee, and over the following ten years Kainhofer became chief mechanic for Mark Donohue's Can-Am, Formula 5000 cars, Indy cars and Formula 1 cars. After Donohue's tragic death at the Austrian GP in 1975 Kainhofer started a second career as the boss of Penske's engine shop. Over the following twenty-two years he was Penske's chief engine man, before retiring at the end of 1997, after thirty-two years with Penske Racing. Through a career that spanned 40 years from 1958 through 1997 Kainhofer scored a remarkable 170 wins from 535 races, including 22 with Donohue in the USRRC, Can-Am and Indy cars, plus 94 wins, nine Indy 500s included, as the chief engine builder for Penske's Indy cars from 1977 through 1997. In researching and writing 'Penske's Maestro' veteran American racing writer and award-winning author Gordon Kirby interviewed more than sixty people who worked with Kainhofer at Penske Racing over the years. Hence the book relates not only Karl's life history but also the inside story of Penske Racing's first 32 years. 'Penske's Maestro' includes more than 400 photos plus a complete statistical record of Kainhofer's amazing career. Fully Indexed.

Penske’s Maestro: Karl Kainhofer and the History of Penske Racing

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Books by Gordon Kirby