Motorsports Mavericks

And this is so typical … upon receiving this latest all-star racing round-up expertly written by George Levy and incandescently illustrated with some two hundred and ninety (by my personal shoes and socks off count) Pete Biro photographs, I started to do what we all do when we first get our mitts a new book as ablaze as this one—casually flip through the pages.

What happened about half way into that casual ritual was that I fell headlong into a rolling shore-break of so many standout motorsports memories that all flooded back as I read couple of paragraphs here, there, and then everywhere in this one and witnessed the accompanying evidence (er...photographs).  

The stories that are related in these 240 pages (some well-known, some new, all classics) are, at least to me, where the real appeal of motorsports and the people who have been so much a part of that pageant lies.

I know these names. I know of their deeds. I’ve met a few of them face to face, and I want to hear more of their stories as told by one of the best in the biz and photographed by a guy who had a seemingly magic power to be at the right place at the right time in a sport where things happen in the blink of an eye.

(Doug's note: One of the very best ever motorsports photogs, Biro passed away in 2018. His legacy, his prestidigitational ability to capture motorsports moments is here on display in full song.)

My guess is that no one who has read Levy and Biro’s 2019 book, “F1 Mavericks The Men and Machines That Revolutionized Formula 1 Racing” (which is very highly recommended as well), will want to miss this latest wide-ranging foray into the same sort of volatile mix of time, talent, aspiration, and perspiration.

This time the show is spread across a wide (insert your own adjective here) open canvas that includes “F1, Indy, NASCAR, Le Mans, and More” as this book’s under-title billboards. 

I remained quite pleasantly dazzled through all 240 pages of this one was rewarded with colorful details and plot points, many that I knew of, some that I had a grasp on bits of, and some not at all.  All straight-ahead stuff that carried this book’s theme with alacrity.

There are a whole lot of racing people who author Levy categorizes as “Mavericks” herein. Just for drill here, the big book (see below) tells us that the key traits of a Maverick are as follows:

Mavericks tend to be: Independent: They make their own choices, Rebellious: They go against the crowd, Unconventional: They use new or different ideas, and Brave: They take risks to stand alone. 

That above fit-up, measured against any of the all-star cast of this book is pretty damn accurate and quite well-applied here by Mister Levy.  

There are books like this one that really put the wide sweep of motorsports into perspective, but here, the motives and drives are almost clinically laid out.  There are (another of my uncertified counts) 190 of them here, all of who’ve been written about in story and song before.

Here, author George Levy takes those stories a little deeper and relates traits that are as wide and unique as any random group, anywhere, except that, in this case all have a similar goal: going faster or further (or both) for longer than anyone else in some sort of very high powered machine.

(Doug's note: And yes, sure. there’s a v. strong temptation here to list all these mavericks by name, but I’m going to resist making this review look like a some sort of phone book and simply assure you that you’ll not be displeased with the amazing cast of characters … er.. Mavericks that you’ll meet up with here.)

Let me close this review with the words that the authors had used to lead this one off:

“This book is a love letter to an era, a world within a world and the people who made it impossible to forget.”

Damn … I wish I said that.

So I’ll say this: high level professional motorsports has a lot of moving parts … here’s how some of the best of those parts, people, and passion went together. - DS