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
Unbound Librarians
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The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein
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
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
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
By the early 1960s, the Ford Motor Company, built to bring automobile transportation to the masses, was falling behind. Young Henry Ford II, who had taken the reins of his grandfather's company with little business experience to speak of, knew he had to do something to shake things up....
Legendary story about cars.
Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best
Neal Bascomb
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...
My Mercedes is Not for Sale: From Amsterdam to Ouagadougou...An Auto-Misadventure Across the Sahara
Jeroen van Bergeijk
"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?"--Janis Joplin A journalist's intrepid endeavor to sell his used car abroad results in a high-spirited and revealing look at West Africa. "Look, there's my car," I say, pointing at my Mercedes in the parking...
The Mechanic's Tale: Life in the Pit-Lanes of Formula One
Steve Matchett
A fascinating insider's look at life behind-the-scenes at Formula One. 'An essential read' AUTOSPORT 'A must for the real inside story' FORMULA 1 RACING 'Recommended for anyone interested in F1 on the inside' MOTORING NEWS...
The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit
Michael Cannell
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. ...
Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors
Edward Niedermeyer
Tesla is the most exciting car company in a generation . . . but can it live up to the hype? Tesla Motors and CEO Elon Musk have become household names, shaking up the staid auto industry by creating a set of innovative electric vehicles that have wowed the marketplace and defied...
The Car: The Rise and Fall of the Machine that Made the Modern World
Bryan Appleyard
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...
Against Death and Time: One Fatal Season in Racing's Glory Years
Brock Yates
Yates tells the story of the reckless, dispossessed young men who raced during the fatal 1955 season at Indianapolis Speedway--not for fame or money, because there was none--but for the sheer unvarnished hell of it.
The Brown Bullet: Rajo Jack's Drive to Integrate Auto Racing
Bill Poehler
The powers-that-be in 1920s auto racing, namely the American Automobile Association's Contest Board, barred everyone who wasn't a white male from the sport. But Dewey Gatson, a black man who went by the name Rajo Jack, drove into the center of "outlaw" auto racing in California, refusing to let...

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