This is a story of experimentation, competition and success.
World War II was over, spirits were high, and the sport of road racing was about to begin again in America.
Former members of the Automobile Racing Club of America, which managed American road racing in the 1930's, and war veterans with an interest in the spirt urged the newly formed Sports Car Club of America to revive it. Through their efforts, amateur road racing was reintroduced in the United States at Watkins Glen, New York in 1948.
The popularity of the sport exploded over the next few years as the racers and organizers struggled to keep up with the rapid changes. The challenges of initiating, organizing and managing the races led to many disagreements among the various key players, racers and clubs as they attempted to control the activities with conflicting visions and goals.
By year-end 1950 the sport extended across the nation with major events held at Watkins Glen and Bridgehampton in New York, Palm Beach Shores and Sebring in Florida, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin and Pebble Beach, California as well as numerous other venues scattered around the country. Among the drivers who rapidly became stars in the reinvigorated spirt were Briggs Cunningham, Miles and Sam Collier, Jim Kimberly, Erwin Goldschmidt, Phil Hill, John Von Neumann and George Weaver along with many others who achieved success in those years.
Compiled from the original records and documents of the racing participants, clubs and organizers, the story is presented in authoritative detail by racing competitor and historian Joel Finn with the accuracy and immediacy of first-hand experience. The 435-page text is enriched with more than 600 historic photographs of the cars, drivers and evnts, many never before published, as well as extensive race result charts.
216 pages. 330 rare photographs and race result charts. Hardcover 2006 - $80, includes shipping in USA
This is a story of speed, challenge and championships.
SEBRING EMERGES: In the decade after World War II, in an America gone patriotic and car crazy, racing promoter Alec Ulmann created an unlikely sportscar race course on an airfield at Sebring, a sleepy town in central Florida. This was the era when motor racing was founded in the United States, when the big events and big tracks were being created, when the legends of American racing were born.
WORLD CHAMPIONS RACE AT SEBRING: After years of negotiation, Ulmann scored motor racing’s biggest prize: his track in Sebring would host an official Grand Prix race for the FIA World Formula 1 Championship, the first to be run in America. The world’s best drivers, cars and race teams came to the United States in 1959 to participate, including Ferrari, Cooper and Lotus; Jack Brabham, Phil Hill, Stirling Moss and Bruce McLaren. The FIA Drivers Championship was decided at Sebring, in a surprising finish where the new World Champion literally pushed his racecar over the finish line, and collapsed, exhausted on the track before collecting his winner’s wreath.
FORMULA JUNIORS AND COMPACT CARS COMPETE: To increase interest in the event and attract a wider American audience, Ulmann organized two other pioneering competitions for the Grand Prix weekend. The first Formula Junior race in America was held in conjunction with the 1959 Grand Prix of the United States. An additional attraction, the firstinternationally sanctioned race for Compact Cars was also held here with Corvairs, Larks, Falcons, Ramblers and Valiants competing with imports including Jaguars, Volvos and VWs.
A COLLECTOR’S BOOK: The stories of the drivers, the mechanics, the press and the corner workers, brings the drama of the events and the race to life. The story is enhanced with 330 rare period photographs and illustrations that nearly growl with the sound of racing. Author Joel Finn was an observer and participant in the 1959 event and also a friend of the race principals. He has competed at Sebring many times in the years since and has driven his own 1959 Cooper T-51 in competition there with great success. Finn brings to the story a vivid sense of the personalities, technology, luck and drama of the weekend in December, 1959 when Formula 1 racing came to America.
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330 pages. 540 illustrations. Hardcover. 2004 - $125 includes shipping in USA
Long Island has a rich tradition of hosting road racing, beginning with the Vanderbilt Cup Races run between 1904 and 1910, the largest sporting events of the time. Sports minded and affluent, the region continued to attract motor racing enthusiasts in subsequent decades, stimulating the popular interest in sports car racing and in international automotive competitions.
RACING ON THE STREETS
The village of Bridgehampton became the site of one of the earliest road racing centers in the revival of the sport after World War II. Public spirited community leaders organized sports car races on the streets, attracting sporting gentlemen and keen competition. Tens of thousands of spectators lined the country roads that formed the course route, where the finest drivers and cars of the day pushed their limits. The events brought welcome visibility for stylish summer holidays in the little town, and generated funds that supported a variety of community projects.
CREATING A CLASSIC RACE COURSE
When racing on public roads was banned by the New York legislature, a group of local Long Island and New York City sports car enthusiasts banded together to finance and construct a masterpiece of a road racing course on land they purchased on a spectacular hilly site amidst the sand dunes in northern Bridgehampton overlooking Peconic Bay. The track, opened in 1957 during the golden age of American road racing, became one of the country’s legendary race courses.
HEROES ON THE TRACK
Throughout the 1960s, Bridgehampton hosted all of the most important American road racing series and attracted the nation’s leading race teams and drivers. These included gentlemen racers like Briggs Cunningham and the heroes of the USRRC and Can Am. Legendary drivers raced here, including Walt Hansgen, Mario Andretti, Phil Hill, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney and Roger Penske. Pedro Rodriguez, Mark Donohue and Jim Hall roared through “Echo Valley” in their Ferraris, Lolas and Chaparrals, with Bruce McLaren and Denis Hulme in their McLarens. The NASCAR stockers also raced at the track, with Richard Petty among those in the winner’s circle at the Bridge. Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds and Javelins competed in the Trans Am championships at Bridgehampton, as the American automotive manufacturers fought for supremacy on the track.
Ferraris, Porsches, Corvettes, Alfas, Maseratis, Jaguars and Lotuses filled the Bridgehampton racing weekends with excitement. A venue much loved by drivers for the awesome challenge of the track, the Bridge continued to attract SCCA and club racing events through the 1970s and ‘80s.
A COLLECTOR’S BOOK
In this comprehensive account, the drama of the racing at Bridgehampton unfolds. Here for the first time are the behind-the-scenes stories about the struggles to establish the street races and the difficulties in creating the permanent circuit and then keeping it alive, Accounts of the lap-by-lap contests of daring driving and technical achievement bring the reader to the edge of the pit wall as the competitors roar by.
Illustrated with 540 rare historic photographs and more tha 50 charts of important race results, this 330 page book is the authoritative record of the Bridgehampton road racing experience. Automotive historian Joel Finn, a long time competitor at the track and associate of the racers and the organizers, recreates the racing excitement with a first hand knowledge imbued with the passion of the sport.
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400 pages. 600 illustrations. Hardcover. 1995 - $125 includes shipping in USA (Deluxe Edition +$25 includes slipcase and is authographed.)
Road racing in the United States was born during the 1930s with the founding of the Automobile Racing Club of America. It began on crude home-built dirt circuits with cars that were little more than the ancestors of today’s go carts. By the end of the 1930s, ARCA races on public streets and roads evolved into a sport that attracted the finest examples of European road racing machines and one-off American specials.
Packed with more than 600 rare period photographs and illustrations, this exciting 400-page book by historian, author and racer Joel Finn tells the fascinating tale of our homegrown road racing and the 1936 and 1937 Vanderbilt Cup races. The research is exhaustive, based largely on original documents from the archives of ARCA and lengthy interviews with its members and active participants in the sport.
Reviews
What the Critics Said about American Road Racing: the 1930s
“A superb history” Brock Yates, Car and Driver, 11/95
“A landmark work”, “the most complete record of that period of road racing in this country”, …an absolute must for racing history enthusiasts”, …”very highly recommended.” David Woodhouse, Vintage Motorsport, 11/95
“If you are at all serious about learning all of the history about MGs, they you need to have this book…It is a must…It is not often a book such as this comes along. Don’t miss it.” Dick Knudson, MG Magazine, 12/95
“Concise and easy to read…packed with rare period photographs.”
Jonathan Stein, AutoWeek, 11/27/95
“Priceless information. A real treasure to own.”
Victory Lane, 11/95
“A job well done. To anybody with the desire to learn about this fascinating period of racing, it is truly worth every dollar.”
Jim Sitz, Road & Track, 2/96
“Written in such an engaging way that you didn’t want to stop reading…There are elements in the narrative that leave the reader smiling, and even laughing outright at the experiences of these wanna-be racers…The entire book is highly readable and entertaining. And it is beautifully presented.”
Helen V. Hutchings, Old Cars, 2/22/96
“Superb.” Mick Walsh, Classic and Sportscar, 6/96
“A landmark book” Walter Elliott, National Speed Sport News, 8/28/96