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There are 66 color photographs with another 172 black and white photographs in the book. There is an additional 8 posters, magazine covers, ads and displays to highlight events in the text. The quality of the photographs are superb and remember, they used the finest quality paper throughout. While this isn’t a particularly large number of visual enhancements, the photographs and visual displays are placed throughout the book to add strength and emphasis to the textual writing. The author chooses to use quality photographs rather than an abundance of photographic displays in order to tell the story and he does an admirable job. The black and white photographs are every bit as beautiful as the color ones and much more nostalgic for the reader. Fuel & Guts, The Birth of Top Fuel Drag Racing, is a top of the line book in its layout as well as its construction. The pages are woven into a cloth binding along the spine of the book, giving a higher quality and endurance to the book. Cheaper books have the pages glued to the spine and the glue may become brittle and allow the pages to work loose and fall out. This book, like the entire Motorbooks label, will stand the test of time. For all of this quality, size and detail to research, the price of the book is a very reasonable $50 ($62 Canadian), when one considers that paperback books are selling in the $29 to $35 price range. All major bookstores carry the Motorbooks line, or they can order the book for you. Give the bookstore the name of the book and author, or use the ISBN number 13:978-0-7603-2697-8.
Now to the books content. There are 18 chapters, a foreword by Dave McClelland, a section on acknowledgments and the index. Listening to or reading anything that McClelland says is worth half the book’s cost right there. His golden voice sets the standards for announcers in any sporting event and drag racing is thankful that he chose to honor us with his wit and charm. Next, look at the page on sources, references and acknowledgments. This will quickly tell the reader if the author knows his topics or if it’s the chili beans talking from the food served at the concession stands. Madigan not only lists the men and women he interviewed, but he has known them since he started writing about motorsports racing nearly five decades ago. This doesn’t mean that he is perfect. For example, he mentions Bob Petersen hitching a ride to the dry lakes in the 1940’s with a “teenaged Wally Parks.” By this time my father was in his 30’s and a central figure in hot rodding, dry lakes and landspeed racing. On almost every point other than this, Madigan gets the story to the reader on an accurate and interesting level. He knows who Bob Lindsay, Lee Blaisdell and Marvin Lee were and their importance to the rise of drag racing. The early days of drag racing are thorough and precise. The story on the first organized drag race at Goleta even brought out events that I had never heard. Madigan tells the story of C. J. and Peggy Hart and their efforts to get street racers off the roads and onto a safe and sanctioned drag strip. That led to the first ‘professionally’ organized drag strip in the nation that we know of.
The following chapters detail the men and women of top fuel drag racing and some of the other classes in the sport. The author mentions Joaquin Arnett and the Bean Bandits, the Pedregon family, Bob Muravez and his alter ego, Floyd J. Lippincotte Jr, Roland Leong, Don Prudhomme, Eric Rickman, Tom McEwen, Paul Pfaff, Ed Pink, Don Garlits, Ed Iskenderian and many more. To us they are more than just names of famous people. They are family and close friends and Madigan brings out that feeling. Some of the top fuel racers, mechanics, owners and those associated with top fuel drag racing went on to great success and fortune. Some, like Don Prudhomme are still at the top of the field, winning races and championships as owners after their racing days came to an end. Others were forgotten, except by their fans that saw them race and never forgot the experience. Many are still alive and come to the reunions, races and events. The value of Madigan’s Fuel & Guts, The Birth of Top Fuel Drag Racing, is in the history and background that it can give to the newcomer to drag racing and the feeling of nostalgia for those who grew up with top fuel drag racing. It won’t tell you everything that happened at the birth of a new sport, but it is one of the best books on the subject and one that should be in every true drag racing fan’s library.
Pick one up today at your local bookstore!
Gone Racin’ is at RNPARKS2@JUNO.COM.
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