Customer Reviews

Umbrella Mike: The True Story of the Chicago Gangster Behind the Indy 500

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Interesting book that provides the real story of the owner of Wilbur Shaw's last two Indy-winning rides. Gives you a real feel for racing in the 1930's. Only negative is that some of the details are repetitive (Yates described the differences between 1930s Indy Cars and the high-tech German racers at least three times).

I picked up this book because the title and description on the back cover make it sound like it is about a gangster's life style and his interest in the Indy 500. While there is a wisp of a thread that runs through the book about Mike Boyle and his interest in the race, the book is more about the early years of the Indy 500. It goes through the winners of each year in a repetitive fashion in a manner that 5 chapters could easily be condensed to one. There are also a number of sentences that are repeated, nearly word for word, over and over in several different chapters that lends the book a redundancy of thought. Specifically note the references every few chapters about WWII.

If you are a big fan of Indy Racing, there are some interesting facts (not necessarily enough to warrant reading this book), but if you seek history on a gangster life style, skip this book. The rating of 4.5 stars on Amazon (Aug 09) is definitely overrated.

The book was a good read on one of the more interesting characters in Indianapolis 500 history. There has been little previous information about one of the most successful car owners in Indy history.

The material was not too in depth, but gave a good account of the Boyle Maserati that won the Indy 500 in 1939-40 with Wilbur Shaw behind the wheel.

I bought this book because of my interest in the Indy 500, because the title was very intriguing, and because I was familar with the author from articles he wrote for a popular automobile magazine. As it turned out, the book was not that interesting and added very little to my knowledge of the "greatest spectacle in racing". I rate a good book as on that I will want read again and again and that also motivates me to find out more on its subject matter. This book does neither.

Excellent expose by autoracing expert Brock Yates of Chicago gangster Mike Boyle and his dominance in Indy-car racing in the late 20's through the early post WWII period. Yates brings out the links between Boyle and nearly all of the big name drivers and engineers of the day. With Favorite driver Wilbur Shaw, Boyle's Maserati won Indy twice, and became the most successful Indy car in history. But one wonders how much influence Boyle had, through Shaw, in convincing Tony Hulman to purchase the track after WWII? Although not a subject Yates discusses, the implications arre certainly there. The book is marred only by the lack of an index (highly needed) and Yates redundant phraseology about WWII.
A welcome addition would be a chart showing the links between Boyle and arch rival Joel Thorne. A must for Indy history fans!!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is loaded with history about behind the scenes. I love the "old days" of the indy 500 and this book hits home about some of the happenings of the day. I would recomend reading this book. I, in fact find amazon much like the library down the street. At the library I can not find books like this so I plan on purchasing them to read and relist for sale. I just finished reading this and plan on reading it again then listing it on amazon. You won't be dissapointed with this book.

Great Book, couldn't put it down until I finished it! If you like the history of how a great race car was born and how three special guy's, Wilbur Shaw, Ted Horn and Cotton Henning made the Masarati 8CTF a legend, get this book! This car was a winner in 1939-40, should have won in 1941, and finished no worse than 4th from 1946 to 1948. It was still competing in the 500 until 1951.

Very interesting story about 1930's and 1940's racing at the Indianapolis 500 and the power teams at the time including Mike Boyle's. Probably most of this subject matter has been little documented until now. Brock also does a nice job interspersing these stories into what was going on at the time, war, etc. Well worth the investment.

A fascinating look at mainly preWWII (but some post-war) Indy 500 and open-wheeled racing history. This is a great read if you are at all interested in American open-wheel racing, which was one of the most dangerous forms of motor racing in the world but a unique motorsport art form.

Nice surprise for my racing fan husband. This wasn't on his Christmas list. Just thought he would like a few extra books to read after the ones he had on his wish list.

Great service! Fast shipping for the holiday. No problems whatsoever.

Husband loves the book!!