As the holidays are approaching, publishers are brining a lot of their new material to bear and because I am a freakish bookworm, I gladly accepted a few of these tomes to look over and share my thoughts with to you, the BangShift readership. We look at the Don Prudhomme book yesterday and today it’s “Chevy Drag Racing 1955-1980 by Doug Boyce” this book is published by Car Tech and follows the format of many of the company’s publications. They are vintage photos heavy with informative captions and they really leverage the author’s strengths to tell the stories and find the depth level that the reader will be into.
The most impressive part of this book is that it is not just a highline skim of the pro ranks of drag racing during the 1955-1980 time frame. In fact, it goes into incredible depth and spends the majority of its time in the sportsman ranks from stock and super stock to Competition Eliminator as well. I can say with respect and admiration that this book will enter my research and resource library for any historical work that it can be leveraged for.
This is also not just a book that tells the story of NHRA competition. There’s plenty of IHRA and AHRA stuff in here and by proxy of that you get a really good grassroots history of drag racing through reading it. Yes, the car topical material is all Chevrolet all the time and if you are not smart enough to see that by the title of the book, there’s no helping you. If you are a Chevrolet fan or someone who is open to all brands and wants a deep dive into some wide ranging drag racing history, this is the book for you.
If you are looking for light reading about the heroes you already know about you likely will not see the true value in this one. Also, if you are a person who simply loves to gawk at killer historical images this one will definitely be your jam. The photography in the book is amazing and not for the wreckage or anything like that but for the documentation of so many cars that were not nationally known or household names.
Doug Boyce definitely went in deep with this one and we commend him for it. Just when a guy like me thinks he has some understanding of drag racing, materials like this come out and are certainly humbling. Again, if you don’t want to go down every nook and cranny you can consume the book through the photos and the amazing side bars. If you do want the down and dirty, it’s all here to be experienced!
I give this book a strong buy recommendation to anyone who loves historic drag racing. If you love Chevrolets, well that’s even more reason!
You can check out the book and more information at CarTechBooks.com Amazon.com or other fine booksellers.
Very interesting article, thanks for such a publication. I am now preparing something interesting about the development of racing cars, about the first and legendary competitions. I\’m just recently interested in this topic, so https://edubirdie.com/college-papers-for-sale helped me, and looking at this book gave me a new idea. I’ll look through my dad’s magazines and other literature too at the edge of college papers for sale.