If you are interested in any of the books below, use code AAANY9 when ordering at www.motorbooks.com or call 1-800-458-0454.  Members receive a 25% discount on any item from the Motorbooks site.

Offer Valid: November 15, 2009 -- May 15, 2010

Legendary Race Cars

by Basem Wasef,  $35, hardcover. 176 pages, 3,124 color and 57 b/w photos

Even a non-racing fan will enjoy reading this book. Many well known and lots of less famous race cars receive an overview in this detailed tome. Packed with more than 3,000 photos and illustrations, the author presents the history of racing cars dating back to the first Indy 500 winner from 1911 with lots of background information. Did you know that the Indy 500 was the first race to use a rolling start due to the large number of race entries? How about the fact that winner Ray Harroun was the first to use a rearview mirror in a racecar?

Looking at some of these cars makes you realize the great courage, or sheer insanity, needed by drivers to pilot them at the speeds they achieved. In the early days safety equipment did not exist and death was as constant as cheering fans. Fatalities usually did nothing to slow a race, though they did lead to the development and required use of safety equipment like roll bars and safety harnesses.

The story of the STP Indy 500 turbine car from 1967 fascinates since it was one of those radical departures from the conventional that came oh-so-close to being a winner. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney jet turbine helicopter engine and driven by Parnelli Jones, the pioneering concept proved to be heads above the competition and a thorn in the side of other owners and drivers. Jones received the princely sum of $100,000 to drive the car, which had 1,000 pound feet of torque and all-wheel-drive. With great acceleration, lousy throttle response, sub-par top speed and inadequate brakes, the car proved a challenge to drive. But once he got accustomed to it, Jones powered around the other drivers with ease. When he passed Mario Andretti for the lead of the race, Andretti gave Jones a one-fingered salute. On lap 196 out of the scheduled 200, the turbine car suffered a rear-end bearing failure, a $6 part, and coasted into the pits. Jones had led the race for 171 laps. Indy racing’s sanctioning body later banned the car.

The book could have been laid out better, perhaps by listing the cars chronologically so a reader could see the progress in the design and equipment. But this minor flaw aside, Legendary Race Cars is an excellent book that will hold the attention of aficionados and novices alike.

Motorcycle Dream Garages by Lee Klancher, $35, hardcover. 192 pages, 231 color photos

You’ve probably seen some of the coffee-table books filled with photographs of ornate garages housing collections of exotic cars belonging to some entrepreneur or venture capitalist. These garages of grandeur often look better than many homes and have floors with nary a drop of motor oil made from terrazzo that look as if they were lifted from a museum. Motorcycle Dream Garages has an element of the tres elegant with some impressive bikes in pricey pads. More impressive are the less opulent storage facilities and the stories behind them.

The text and photos explore places where enthusiasts store and work on their prized motoring possessions. Divided into five sections – “palaces,” “the real deal,” “sanctuaries,”  “takin’ care of business” and “racer’s refuge¬¬” -¬ the reader is given a behind-the-scenes look at the rhyme, reason and necessities that create the spaces where bikes are kept.

One story demonstrates that the grittier the garage, the better the story, especially if it takes place in New York. Found under “sanctuaries,” Heaven ‘n’ Hell tells about the Rising Wolf Garage in the east Village. Urban bikers are hard pressed to find a safe indoor place to store their machines, much less work on them. Rising Wolf provides both. The owners live overhead and amuse themselves by trying to identify bike and owner when a machine fires up.

One of the tenants was firefighter Gerard Baptiste who, in August 2001, in spite of everyone telling him not to, bought a used Honda 750 LTD that needed tons of work. Baptiste and many of his comrades were in the north tower of the Trade Center when it collapsed. Afterwards, as a means of preserving the lost firefighter’s memory, the restoration of the bike became the object of the efforts of a host of people. Donations poured in from strangers and motorcycle companies alike who helped restore the bike to pristine condition. Painted in FDNY livery, the bike eventually wound up at a firefighter’s museum.

Motorcycle Dream Garages has a range of locations and stories that will keep a deep reader, or one who just likes to look at photos, occupied for hours.

Merchants of Speed by Paul D. Smith, $40, hardcover. 240 pages, 250 b/w photos

Anyone who has used an aftermarket carburetor, ignition system or other such non-factory replacement part will find Merchants of Speed fascinating. The book tells of the very humble origins of the most well known American aftermarket auto parts companies. Going back to the 30’s and 40’s, the author profiles names like Edlebrock, Isky, Offenhauser, Weber and Weiand from the days of the namesake founders working in wood shacks, to the brink of having hugely successful global businesses. The companies that make up SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (once known as the Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association), which represents most of the aftermarket parts makers, had $31 billion in retail sales in 2008.

While the beginnings of the industry may have used seat-of-the-pants, trial and error to develop products, some heavy science developed along the way. Offenhauser used aircraft parts and a recalibrated gearbox to modify a low RPM truck dynamometer. This tested high revving auto engines in order to more accurately analyze the performance of their intake manifolds and carburetors. Mel Scott, a pioneer of mechanical fuel injection, explains how using one hundred percent nitro methane in an engine can lead to an explosion due to adiabatic compression of the liquid. Add a mere ten percent alcohol, and you still will get plenty of power, but nearly eliminate the possibility of a blast.

The drag strip and salt flats served as proving grounds for equipment developers. Record setting runs were usually followed by more orders for the parts that powered the racers to higher speeds on the wide open expanses of the Bonneville Salt Flats.

As the premier race sanctioning body of the period, AAA receives mention throughout the book.

Reads easily with so much fascinating information, it’s easy to spend a couple hours with Merchants of Speed before you realize any time has gone by. Lots of photographs and historical ads lend visual stimulation to the verbal delight.