Indianapolis Roadsters, 1952-1964 [Hardcover]

Joe Scalzo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 1999

Roadsters of the post-war Indy era were a unique breed. Large, front-engined, Offy-powered beasts that required brute strength and a healthy dose of bravery to get them to perform at their peak. Drivers of the era possessed large doses of both and read like a who's who of American motorsport: Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Troy Ruttman, Rodger Ward, Bobby Unser, Tony Bettenhausen, Eddie Sachs and others. Indianapolis Roadsters 1952-1964 is a dynamic history of the Roadster era, and contains fascinating and comprehensive coverage of the drivers, the builders, the team owners, the Speedway, and other popular tracks.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joe Scalzo's four decades of racing passion have taken him around the world and resulted in 13 books, thousands of magazine and newspaper features, and a wide reputation as one of the sport's most original and insightful chroniclers. Scalzo lives and works in Southern California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; First edition (December 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760306346
• ISBN-13: 978-0760306345
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #525,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars worth a look, November 29, 1999

By 

Harold Osmer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indianapolis Roadsters, 1952-1964 (Hardcover)

from lacar.com book reviews:

...A scorecard or table illustrating the ties between particular cars, drivers, race records, and especially the car names would have been helpful.

Still, this book has value. Joe Scalzo's writing style is better suited to a magazine format. If you pick up Indianapolis Roadsters and read a few pages at random, you will gain a terrific insight into the days when roadsters ruled the Indy roost. But if you want a cohesive story to take shape or are a hardcore facts and figures kind of person, you will come away disappointed.

If it sounds as though I am flipping a coin to decide whether or not to recommend this book, you are almost right. As a research tool, this book answers very few questions. Yet the firsthand accounts and fabulous photography of a previously neglected topic are fine redeeming qualities and make Indianapolis Roadsters 1952-1964 worth a look.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars beautiful photographs...not so great text...., May 3, 2000

By 

goodoldmac "goodoldmac" (Charlotte, North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indianapolis Roadsters, 1952-1964 (Hardcover)

This is a badly needed volume, at least to those of us who rememmber the "stand on the gas and turn left" days at Indy, when the cars looked like cars and things like aerodynamics and ground effects didn't exist... Some beautiful color photos plus a lot of b/w pics highlight it. The text skips about covering this driver, then that with what seems to be no special order at all....Surprisingly, only one photo of the car that started (more or less) the roadster era, the car driven by the great Bill Vukovich, who had the breaks gone just bit different would have won 4 STRAIGHT Indy 500's...(He had a steering failure which caused a crash just 8 laps from the end of the '52 race, won in '53&'54, suffered a fatal crash running away from the field in '55)However,the other great names of the roadster era are well-represented:Bryan, Ward, Rathmann, Sachs, Jones and of course, Foyt. The price is bit high, but the photos alone make the book worth it....

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book!, March 15, 2000

By 

geetumor - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indianapolis Roadsters, 1952-1964 (Hardcover)

This book is not so much just about the cars as about the whole Indy roadster era. Scalzo covers the hard living characters who participated in the era of the "dinosaurs". His writing style is gritty and a little bit melodramatic but, believe it or not, has actually mellowed since his "Stand On the Gas" days. If you look back on "Indy's" past with affection, and disdain the current over-hyped, over-sanitized and over-marketed racing scene of today (like I, and Scalzo, do), you'll like this book. There are many beautiful photos of the cars that Scalzo talks about as if they were friends and characters he misses.