Drive Smart!: Learn How Racers' Skills Can Benefit You on the Public Road [Paperback]

Al Karasa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

Accidents, as in "chance happenings" (according to Webster), are hardly chance at all. Accidents don't just happen. They are caused; caused by indifference and by incompetence. A meteor hitting your car is an accident, everything else is driver error. If you don't believe that, this book will convince you.

Racing drivers use their eyes, hands and feet in ways which can benefit us on the highway. This book shows how these skills can be used to improve everyday driving. It addresses the thought processes involved and suggests ways to improve quick thinking, rapid decision making and anticipation to help avoid accidents. State driver licensing tests do nothing to show the applicant's ability to minimize judgement errors. This book shows exactly what they are and how to correct them.

Whether you are expert or novice at driving, you will learn equally from this book. It will make you a better driver.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A lifelong automobile enthusiast, coach and racer, Al Karasa writes extensively about automotive history, sports cars and high performance driving. His interest in motorsports began with British roadsters. Among many others, he owned and raced the much admired Spitfire and an AC Bristol - the car from which the original Cobra was developed. He prepares and maintains his own cars and holds twelve engineering patents for innovative mechanical designs secured during his tenure in that field.

An avid scholar of driving skills and active follower of motorsports here and abroad, he also participates in high performance driving education and coaching.

Sherridan's Rain, his first novel published in 1995, is about the Golden Age of sports car racing.

His advanced driving skills column, Racing Techniques for Everyday Driving, appeared regularly in MCA Magazine and he is the Feature Editor emeritus of Miata Magazine, America's leading marque club publication.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738855936
• ISBN-13: 978-0738855936
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,465,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After a childhood in Europe during the cataclysmic years of World War Two, Al Karasa emigrated to the U.S. and continued his education after its brutal interruption during the war. He is multi-lingual and writes in two languages: English and Lithuanian. An eclectic writer since his college days, exponent of many talents, skier, and sometime river rat, Al Karasa holds 15 engineering patents, secured during his tenure in that field, and pursues an interest in history and the heraldic arts. A longtime sailor in vessels ranging from small sailboats to ocean going ships, Karasa spent many years at sea. Avid scholar of high performance driving skills, he continues his association with sports car racing and race driving education. He writes extensively in all these subjects with an eye to authenticity derived from personal participation. For more about Al and his work, visit www.alsbooks.com

Short List

Books:

The Last Golden Smile (narrative nonfiction)
Sidney's Pub and Other Salty Yarns (humor)
Firehead's Malice (historical fiction)
Drive Smart! (nonfiction)
Sherridan's Rain (novel)
New Lines from the Old Line State (anthology of MD writers)

Magazines:

Maryland Life
Lithuanian Heritage Magazine
Chesapeake Bay Magazine
Wargamer's Digest (columnist)
The Courier (columnist)
MCA Magazine (columnist)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone Who Drives A Car Should Read This Book, July 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Drive Smart!: Learn How Racers' Skills Can Benefit You on the Public Road (Paperback)

This book may save your life. It is an outstanding treatment of a long overlooked subject. Al Karasa does a remarkable job of conveying complex information in layman's terms. It matters little if you are an expert driver, professionally trained, or a beginner seeking your first licence, you will learn equally from this book. The racers' skills, alluded to in the sub-title, are those everyone who drives should have. How to aquire them is clearly explained in DRIVE SMART! and they may well save your life one day. Although this book could be required reading for everyone seeking a license, it is probably more beneficial to those with at least a rudimentary understanding of basic driving skills. Part two even deals with sports (or high performance) driving and professional driving schools which teach much of what is covered in these pages.