Cars and Racing

Books about car culture and auto racing, from Formula 1 to the insights of weekend track day aficionados. Stories about racers and technical investigations into the techniques and mechanics of speed.
Updated December 14, 2022
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The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein
Paper Book
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM FOX 2000 STARRING MILO VENTIMIGLIA, AMANDA SEYFRIED, AND KEVIN COSTNER MEET THE DOG WHO WILL SHOW THE WORLD HOW TO BE HUMAN The New York Times bestselling novel from Garth Stein--a heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately...
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip
Matthew Algeo
Paper Book
On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess, off to visit old...
Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-Bending Celebrating America the Way It's Supposed to Be—With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac Escalade in Every Carport, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mowing Our Lawn
P. J. O'Rourke
Paper Book
A collection spanning thirty years, chronicling famed humorist and gearhead P. J. O'Rourke's love affair with the automobile from mid-twentieth century to now--from heyday to sickbay.
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans
A.J. Baime
Paper Book
As told in the film Ford v. Ferrari, Go Like Hell transports readers to a risk-filled, glorious time in this brilliant portrait of a rivalry between two industrialists, the cars they built, and the "pilots" who would drive them to victory, or doom. By the early 1960s, the Ford Motor...
Legendary story about cars.
Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best
Neal Bascomb
Paper Book
Winner of the Motor Press Guild Best Book of the Year Award & Dean Batchelor Award for Excellence in Automotive Journalism  For fans of The Boys in the Boat and In the Garden of Beasts, a pulse-pounding tale of triumph by an improbable team of...
The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit
Michael Cannell
Paper Book
In The Limit, Michael Cannell tells the enthralling story of Phil Hill-a lowly California mechanic who would become the first American-born driver to win the Grand Prix-and, on the fiftieth anniversary of his triumph, brings to life a vanished world of glamour, valor, and daring. ...
The Car: The Rise and Fall of the Machine that Made the Modern World
Bryan Appleyard
Paper Book
A spirited, insightful exploration of our favorite machine and it's cultural impact on society over the past one hundred and fifty years. More than any other technology, cars have transformed American popular culture. Cars have created vast wealth as well as novel dreams of...
Beast
Jade Gurss
Paper Book
Beast was the nickname of a shocking new race engine unveiled for the 1994 Indianapolis 500. The massive effort to design and build it in a seemingly impossible timeframe is still hailed as one of the most herculean efforts and well-kept secrets in the history of the Indy 500. In the award...
Survival of the Fastest: Weed, Speed, and the 1980s Drug Scandal that Shocked the Sports World
Randy Lanier
Paper Book
**Winner of the Best Book Award by the Motor Press Guild** The high-octane, Seabiscuit-meets-Scarface story of how Randy Lanier became a 1980s international sports star, soaring through the ranks of car racing while holding a dark...

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