Indy: The Race and Ritual of the Indianapolis 500 (Paperback)

by Terry Reed (Author) "The beloved World War II Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernest Taylor "Ernie" Pyle (1900-1945), born in Dana, Indiana, about sixty-seven miles straight west of the..." (more)
Key Phrases: south chute, north chute, warmup lane, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wilbur Shaw, Gasoline Alley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Fascinating . . . It's all there for Brickyard junkies, from the first race in 1911 through 2004." --ROAD & TRACK

Product Description
In a nation that worships the automobile for the freedom, style, and status that it confers, the Indianapolis 500, run on or near Memorial Day eighty-seven times, is an annual rite of passage celebrating Americans’ love affair with speed.

Indy recounts the drivers (677 men and 3 women) who have gone to Indianapolis in the past ninety-five years to live their dreams, staking their lives on the outcome. It highlights the faces in the crowd: hardworking Americans, tinhorn celebrities, hookers, movie stars, gate-crashers, and five American presidents. Terry Reed focuses his narrative on the track’s four quarter-mile-long turns, each the site of triumphs (including those of such multiple winners as Billy Vukovich, A. J. Foyt, and Helio Castroneves); grisly deaths (at least sixty-six, including three unrelated men of the same unusual last name who died in the same turn but in different decades); and bizarre heroics (like the sans souci French driver who downed champagne throughout the 1913 Indy 500 and still won). Reed also examines Indy’s confluence of racing and aeronautics (World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker once owned the track) and the impact upon the event of such forces as segregation, gender politics, food, fads, publicity stunts, world-class partying, and tasteless pop culture.

Indy takes readers on an entertaining, full-throttle ride through the history of one of the world’s most famous races and one of America’s most hallowed rituals. It is the definitive account of the crown jewel of American motorsports.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; 2nd edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574889079
• ISBN-13: 978-1574889079
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #135,134 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book missing key item--but a fun read for racing fan, July 9, 2005

By	Thomas G. Morris - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book misses one of the all-time worst incidents on Turn 4---the 1964 tragic accident involving Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald. Reed has done wonderful research....not a very good grammatical writer but well worth buying if you like the history of the Indy 500

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent book, June 7, 2005

By	michael bragg (glen jean, wv United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is okay. It wasn't what I thought it would be when I bought it. It focuses on the crashes on each part of the track, with the ritual of the Indy 500 talked about in a few pages. It did give a few tidbits of info on the race which I had never heard about.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twenty-five more years of detail, racing events, and track insights , September 6, 2005

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

If Indy: The Race And Ritual Of The Indianapolis 500 sounds familiar, that's because this is the second updated edition of the most famous motorsport event of all time, adding twenty-five more years of detail, racing events, and track insights in an extensive updated revision. Others books have of course been written about the sport - many weightier tomes - but none with the lore, depth and detail of INDY: The Race And Ritual Of The Indianapolis 500.