Books for the Car Guy in Your Life

Name: Cruisin' the Original Woodward Avenue
Brand: Anthony Ambrogio
SKU: 9780738540450
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

The Tinkerer. The Race Fan. The Classic Car Buff. The Mechanic. There are many kinds of car lovers, and we have books for them all. For example, Lost Car Companies of Detroit features fascinating tales from many of the more than 200 car companies that tried their hand at making cars in Motor City. Explore the histories of classic names like Packard and Mustang. Thrill to the action-packed stories from the iconic oval of Charlotte Motor Speedway, to the hairpin turns of Watkins Glen, and the high-banked curves of Dover Downs in Delaware. Or, inspire your gearhead with San Diego’s fascinating Lowriders--intricately painted, low-to-the-ground cars with tricks up their sleeves. This year, give the gift of gears.

15 products

Sort

Cruisin' the Original Woodward Avenue

$24.99

Hydroplane Racing in Detroit

$24.99

Nazareth Speedway

$24.99

Nebraska Cornhusker Football

$24.99

San Diego Lowriders

$21.99

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

$24.99

Delaware Auto Racing

$24.99

Hydroplane Racing in Seattle

$24.99

Portland Speedway

$24.99

Bristol Motor Speedway

$24.99

Spokane Hot Rodding

$24.99

Turbine Racing in Seattle

$24.99

Ontario County Transportation

$24.99

Cruising in Montgomery and Berks Counties

$24.99

Middletown Pacemakers

$24.99

Cruisin' the Original Woodward Avenue

9780738540450

$24.99

In the 1950s, cruising swept the nation. American street became impromptu racetracks as soon as the police turned their backs. Young people piled into friends' cars and cruised their main streets with a new sense of freedom. Pent-up desires after the hardships of World War II plus a booming economy fueled a car-buying frenzy. To lure buyers to their particular makes and models, automobile companies targeted the youth market by focusing on design and performance. No place was that more relevant than on metro Detroit's Woodward Avenue, the city's number-one cruising destination and home of the world's automobile industry. Barely 50 years earlier, Henry Ford rolled his first Model T off the assembly line at Piquette and Woodward, just south of where cruisers, dragsters, and automobile engineers ignited each other's excitement over cars. This unique relationship extended into the muscle car era of the 1960s, as Woodward Avenue continued to reflect the triumphs and downturns of the industry that made Detroit known throughout the world.

Hydroplane Racing in Detroit

9780738560861

$24.99

Discover a time when hydroplane racing captured the heart of the Detroit community in a way that has never been equaled.

Since the start of the 20th century, Detroit has been the hub of the motorized world. It was only natural that the powerful motors built in Detroit's huge factories eventually found their way into high-speed boats and that organized racing soon followed. Starting in 1916, Detroit became the center of powerboat racing. Names like Gar Wood, Chris Smith, and Horace Dodge dominated the sports pages of the 1920s and 1930s. Following World War II, racing in Detroit entered its golden era, led by local businessmen like Jack Schafer, Joe Schoenith and George Simon.

Nazareth Speedway

9781467120487

$24.99

In the early 1900s, Nazareth Speedway opened its gates to bring dirt racing to the masses. Located in the industrious town of Nazareth, these tracks hosted many racing legends, such as Mario Andretti, Frankie Schneider, and Al Tasnady, over the years. As the tracks became more popular for racing events, cars got faster, safety rules were modified, and track configurations were changed. In the late 1980s, asphalt was brought in to cover the big dirt track that Nazareth was known for. The new asphalt tri-oval course design was unique and challenged its drivers. Shortly thereafter, IRC merged with Roger Penske, and the track closed in 2004.

Nebraska Cornhusker Football

9780738534374

$24.99

When Matt Davison made a diving catch on the famous "flea-flicker" play against Missouri in 1997, securing Nebraska's perfect season, the Husker faithful were in football nirvana. And that memorable play was preceded by over a century of Nebraska Football greatness. The team was winning conference championships back in the 1890s, and was an established national powerhouse by the time they joined the Big Eight (later Big Twelve) in 1928. Even the mediocre years brought excitement, such as the stunning 25-21 upset of the "unbeatable" Sooners in 1959. Five National Championships (1970, '71, '94, '95, and '97) under the coaching of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne, when the Huskers won at least 9 games per season for over 30 straight years, is an accomplishment of which most collegiate football programs can only dream.

San Diego Lowriders

9781467137805

$21.99

San Diego's unique lowrider culture and community has a long history of low and slow. Cruising the streets from 1950 to 1985, twenty-eight lowrider car clubs made their marks in the San Diego neighborhoods of Logan Heights, Sherman Heights, National City, Old Town, San Ysidro and the adjoining border community of Tijuana, Mexico. Foundational clubs, including the Latin Lowriders, Brown Image and Chicano Brothers, helped transform marginalized youth into lowriders who modified their cars into elegant, stylized lowered vehicles with a strong Chicano influence. Despite being targeted by the police in the 1980s, club members defended their passion and succeeded in building a thriving scene of competitions and shows with a tradition of customization, close community and Chicano pride. Authors Alberto López Pulido and Rigoberto Rigo Reyes follow the birth of lowrider culture to the present day.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

9780738569253

$24.99

After more than 50 years, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey is regarded as one of the most famous racetracks in the world. Mazda Raceway offers competitors challenges unlike any other with its mix of corners, which includes the Corkscrew, where drivers encounter the largest elevation change in the shortest distance of any track worldwide. The raceway also offers spectators sweeping open vistas of the track, and all within view of the Pacific Ocean.

Delaware Auto Racing

9780738592077

$24.99

The First State of Delaware has a truly legendary history of automobile racing.

Since the first racers roared down the dusty Delaware State Fairgrounds track in 1915 at Wawaset Park, Wilmington, Delaware, auto racing has thrilled capacity crowds all over the state. Images of Sports: Delaware Auto Racing documents and explores the tracks, cars, and people that made racing what it is today. The history of racing can be seen in historic photographs from the legendary dirt tracks, like Delmar and Georgetown Speedways, to the high banked turns of Delaware's NASCAR track--Dover Downs. Rare images have been collected from drivers, car owners, fans, and historians to provide an insightful look into auto racing in Delaware. Many of the historic photographs have never been published.

Hydroplane Racing in Seattle

9780738531182

$24.99

Hydroplane racing burst onto the Seattle scene in 1950, and local sports fans embraced it with a passion that is hard to imagine. Throughout the early 1950s, thousands of fans flocked to Lake Washington to watch classic races between Seattle's Slo-mo-shun boats and a fleet of East Coast challengers. For over 40 years, hydroplane racing was synonymous with summertime in Seattle. During its golden age, when "hydro fever" was at its height, drivers like Bill Muncey, Ron Musson, and Mira Slovak were sports heroes on par with today's Ken Griffey Jr. or Ichiro. Seattle became the "hydro" capital of the nation.

Portland Speedway

9781467131469

$24.99

Portland Speedway, also known as Union Avenue Speedway, opened in the summer of 1936 and enjoyed a 66-year run as the leading oval track in Portland. Originally built as a dirt track on a farmer's field in the far north of the city, the track was known for track roadsters based on Ford's Model T, sprint cars, and stock cars. As returning servicemen discovered a love for racing, the track exploded in popularity after World War II. The track was paved in 1946 and flourished as a center for racing; it even included a drive-in movie theater. Many notable racers, such as Len Sutton, Rolla Vollstedt, Greg Biffle, and Mike Bliss, either started their careers at or visited Portland Speedway. But the real story of Portland Speedway is told in the hundreds of people who made a living or simply enjoyed the racing life while competing at the Pacific Northwest's finest track.

Bristol Motor Speedway

9780738542461

$24.99

When Bristol's racetrack opened in 1961, tickets were often given away to fill the 18,000 seats. Over the years, Bristol Motor Speedway has grown to 160,000 seats and legendary status among race fans. There is a fascination with the unforgettable moments that take place at the track, including rivalries that are hard to miss when you can watch all the action around the half-mile track no matter where you are seated.

Spokane Hot Rodding

9781467133005

$24.99

Spokane, located just 20 miles from the Idaho border, is the largest city in Eastern Washington, and during the 1940s, it became a center point of an evolving postwar hot rod community. Auto sports were expanding at this time from stock car and midget racing to street cars and drag racing. Local car enthusiasts joined together with an influx of military personnel and college students who were just as passionate for hot rodding, and it was during this time that the Spokane hot rodding culture started flourishing. Together, they pushed the boundaries of hot rodding and created lifelong bonds in the process. This book explores that evolution of inland northwest hot rodding from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s, starting with the jalopy-styled hot rods that began popping up on local streets to the formation of new clubs and organized racing.

Turbine Racing in Seattle

9780738548913

$24.99

Hydroplane racing captured the heart and soul of Seattle in the early 1950s and never let go. No Seahawks, Sonics, or Mariners game has come close to drawing one-quarter of the audience that watches the hydroplanes race. The unmistakable sound of the boats' huge motors was as big an attraction as the racing itself. In the mid-1980s, something began to change. The distinctive roar of the old Thunderboats gave way to the whoosh of the turbine. The old names like Muncey and Chenoweth were replaced by new names like Hanauer and Villwock.

Ontario County Transportation

9780738509181

$24.99

Ontario County Transportation encompasses the means of travel in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the towns of Canandaigua, Geneva, Phelps, Naples, Victor, Clifton Springs, Manchester, and Shortsville, New York. Beginning with the primitive horse and buggy and ending with the state-of-the-art automobile, this volume chronicles the history of transportation in a realistic and fascinating way. Featured in this diverse volume are never-before-published pictures of locomotives and railroads, early aviation and the Flying Farmers, delivery vehicles, water vessels, fire trucks, and trolleys.

Throughout history, Ontario County was regarded as an area of favorable influence. For this very reason, it had such iconic visitors as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Andrew Johnson, who are shown within the chapter entitled "Railway Classics." Also among the eminent persons who have appeared in the area in the past are Canandaigua native and automobile pioneer John North Willys, Geneva native and Secretary of the Treasury Charles J. Folger, and Phelps innovator Charles Lane, whose chief achievement was building one of the first fire trucks in Ontario County.

Cruising in Montgomery and Berks Counties

9781467115575

$24.99

Montgomery and Berks Counties have been central to the car industry for decades, employing residents of the cities and surrounding small towns. Pottstown first came to be known as the cruising capital of the East Coast in the 1950s and held on to the title for many years. In the 1960s, hundreds would line the sidewalks to watch the hot rods and classic cars cruise down High Street. Among the circuit favorites were the Tropical Treat, Hilltop Drive-In, and Dempsey Diner. Lansdale also attracted automobile enthusiasts who enjoyed cruising the Dale. In 1962, the Maple Grove Raceway, a quarter-mile strip in Mohnton, opened and became home to the popular Super Chevy Weekend, hosting great drivers like Fred Spiezio, Ken Hall, and John Johnson. The Grandview Speedway and the Reading Fairgrounds Speedway also emerged, attracting even more auto racing enthusiasts from around the area. Today, longtime residents enjoy reminiscing their beloved cruising pastime, with many belonging to historical automotive clubs.

Middletown Pacemakers

9780738519579

$24.99

Hot Rodding began in Southern California in the 1930s and had spread throughout the United States by the mid 1950s, spawning the sport of drag racing and the advent of the Detroit "muscle cars" of the '60s and '70s. Hot Rod Magazine and the National Hot Rod Association promoted the formation of responsible car clubs to combat the delinquent reputation of hot rodders, earned through illegal street races and Hollywood's portrayal in "B" movies. And thus were born the Middletown Pacemakers in 1951.

The Pacemakers brought southern Ohio its first reliability runs (1952), custom auto shows (1954), and drag racing competitions-setting national records (1958, '63, '64) and winning national championships (1963, '64, '65). When the hot rodders were not busy upgrading their drive train for more horsepower or "chopping" and "channeling" for improved performance, they could often be seen on the streets of Middletown feeding expired parking meters or rescuing motorists whose cars had broken down or run out of gas. By 1966, as was the fate of so many hot rod clubs, the mass production of Detroit muscle cars ushered the Pacemakers to fold.