Customer Reviews

Rapid Response: My Inside Story as a Motor Racing Life-Saver

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Dr Steve Olvey has done a wonderful job at putting us behind the sceens in a place only a few ever know about. This is not a book for the faint of heart, it tells it like it is. The men and women who are first response and emergency meds are to be commended for the amazing work they do. Many owe their lives to the Rapid Response they have received, and the fans owe a debt of gratitude for keeping our heroes of the race racing another day.

Dr. Stephen Olvey served as Championship Auto Racing Teams' medical director from 1979 to 2003. This very moving memoir of his years leading the charge for motor sports safety in the series at the pinnacle of open wheel racing in America recaptures an exciting era in the development of technology, both in motor racing and in sports medicine. With professionalism, sincerity, empathy and humor, Olvey recounts the challenges, rewards and devastating losses of forwarding safety in the sport.

On a personal note, I have had the distinct honor of knowing Olvey during most of his tenure with CART, and have heard many of these stories directly from him and Dr. Trammel. Many of the people he writes about are friends of mine and I was present during most of the racing accidents he describes (and several he doesn't mention). For me, it is a bittersweet reminder of the history of my own life in motor sports.

Dr. Olvey is world-renowned in the racing community, and with good reason. Dozens of racing drivers across the globe owe their lives directly to his work, as in the case of Alex Zanardi, as well as indirectly in the cases of the thousands of racers who have benefited from Dr. Olvey's research. He truly is a special human. I had the pleasure of being given a tour of the CART Medical Unit by Dr. Olvey during the Laguna Seca race weekend in 2003, and he is a genuine person, without pretense. The only thing that I found somewhat odd about "Rapid Response" was the somewhat hyperbolic writing style... seems as if everything has exclamation marks as punctuation. Elaine Benes would not approve, but that's beside the point. This is an utterly minor quibble, and does not detract from the engaging and often sobering stories he tells. Consider this a must-read for any racing fan, even if you never followed CART or Indy Car racing. Great stuff.

This book was written by one of the 2 doctors who have rescued drivers in the Indy Car racing series for many years.

As someone who has followed Indy racing for many, many years, I was fascinated to read how medical procedures were developed to take care of the injuries specific to Indy Car drivers. It was fascinating also to see how many of these procedures then were used in day-to-day medical rescue care.

Not for everybody, but I found it fascinating and drivers should be thanksful for the author's work!

Having been an IndyCar racing fan for more than 35 year - having seen the ups and downs of the sport - I looked forward to reading "Rapid Response" for a long time before I found it on Amazon. The book was everything I hoped for, providing insight into many accidents I remembered, including some where drivers unfortunately lost their lives. Severe accidents are an unfortunate part of the sport, as we saw recently with the death of Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon. "Rapid Response" helps the reader understand that things could be far worse -- and that 20 years ago the accident that took Wheldon likely takes a couple of other lives as well.

I can highly recommended this book.

I loved reading this book. I have wondered for years about the inside of racing and what goes on with the medical crew. This book is a great inside look.

This book could be read by a die hard racing fan or just a regular joe. Dr. Olvey is an amazing individual and along with Dr. Terry Trammel revolutionized medical help, facilities, and response for the entire world. His single minded focus towards the care of a driver is unbelievable. He and Terry are truely the most important people that have been involved in the sport of auto racing in the last 100 years.

as a huge fan of open wheel racing this book is great you learn about the accident side of racing and how they deal with it i think anybody who is a racing fan should read this book

As someone who has followed open-wheel racing for a long time, I had heard about this book. I just got through it and was amazed as to the coverage and insight in the book. There are some really sad stories, but I was also laughing some as well (you AJ Foyt fans will love the "cooler" story!)

Excellent book and an easy read. A bit "graphic" though, so be careful with kids.

This is almost certainly the best book ever written about motor sport safety and the tremendous advances made in the last 30 years. Olvey and Trammel not only raised the bar but in reality invented a whole new concept