Racing Eagles

Book Review: The Last Road Race: The 1957 Pescara Grand Prix

Title: The Last Road Race: The 1957 Pescara Grand Prix

By: Richard Williams

Publisher: Orion Books ( February 29, 2004)

Misc: Softcover, 152 pages with black / white illustrations

Price on jacket: $18.95 (CAD)

Price on Amazon: $9.99 (USD)

Review: I have a theory about nostalgia and sports biographies. Usually, the flood of biographies and books about a certain sports comes about 20 to 40 years after the authors were adolescences. People look at the heroes of their youth with a certain nostalgia which they want to focus on. It's why you see a lot more biographies these days on the late 1960's and you are starting to see a lot more biographies on drivers of the 1970's. It's just the natural progression of things.

It also why this book about a race that happened 52 years ago is so unique. The Pescara Grand Prix seems an odd choice of races. It's the race right after Fangio's majestic drive at the Nurburgring where he slayed a pair of Ferrari giants with the drive of his life. The 1957 season itself magically with three legitimately legendary grands prix in the German, British, (Moss and Brooks win their home grand prix in a British car) and Monaco Grands Prix. (Where Hawthorn went into the Harbor while Fangio tip toed around the carnage to take the win.)

Book Review: Memories of The Bear: A biography of Denny Hulme

Move over Oprah, I'm starting a book club.

I get a lot of dead time traveling. In the age of laptops, PSPs, PDAs, iPods, iPhones, and such; I do the old fashion thing... I bring a book. Many of the titles I've read over the summer are Formula One related books. With that in mind, he is my first in a series of Formula One book review starting with Eoin Young's 'Memories of The Bear: A biography of Denny Hulme.'        - Dan

Title: Memories of The Bear: A biography of Denny Hulme

By: Eoin Young

Publisher: Haynes Publishing (August 15, 2008)

Misc: Hardcover, 416 pages with both black / white and color illustrations

Price on jacket: $34.95 (USD)

Price on Amazon: $26.56 (USD)

Review: There are several reasons why I picked up Eoin Young' Memories of The Bear: A biography of Denny Hulme in May at Powell's bookstore in Portland, Oregon. First, Denny Hulme is a dead ringer for my father. Second with as many hours I've spent playing the video game Grand Prix Legends, I figured it was about time that I read about the guy who won the championship that season.

There is a certain mythology about Formula One racing in the 1960's. It was the last decade before sponsors, big TV deals, wings, and advertisements. The era is viewed as the most dangerous time ever for a Grand Prix driver to race when safety was considered as hay bails along the road and American football helmets. It was also a era stacked with talent with the likes of Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney, John Surtees, Pedro Rodríguez, Lorenzo Bandini, Graham Hill, Chris Amon, and Bruce McLaren all behind the wheel.

It's easy to see why Denny Hulme seems lost in the crowd... dare I say almost forgotten. Which is really too bad because his journey to the 1967 World Championship was so fascinating. What compounds this lack of knowledge of Denny is the fact he died when he did in 1992. It was before he could be appreciated by the world's motor sports community in the same way as such elder statesmen of the sport such as Stewart, Brabham, and Surtees.

Eoin Young is no stranger to this era or Denny Hulme. He was in the amazing position to cover the Kiwi invasion of Hulme, McLaren, and Amon to the Formula One grid in the 1960's. He has published biographies on Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren which I've not read yet but will be picking up one of these days. Based on Young's performance in this book, they should be fascinating.