May Book Club Selections: Stealing Speed, Investing, and Sam Posey

This month, we’ll be reviewing three exciting books about motorsports, and one about classic car investing—in other words, three ways to lose money and one way to (maybe!) win it all back.

Starting with Stealing Speed, a classic tale from the motorcycle world about, well, we dare you to not to buy it after reading this description: “The is the compelling story of how one of Japan’s biggest motorcycle manufacturers stole a Nazi rocket scientist’s engine secrets from behind the Iron Curtain to conquer the world.”

From there, ex-racer and broadcaster Sam Posey weaves together a number of tales from around the racing world in Where the Writer Meets the Road, including driver profiles, old stories about crazy contraptions, and a great deal of insight into his F5000 days.

If you’re looking to get a few vehicles as investments, or just have some proof to show a partner that, yes, you might actually make money on that classic car you’re trying to bring home, Better Than Gold is all about the financial side of the industry. Look for that review on May 18.

Finally, a classic motorsport book that every enthusiast should have on the shelf: Best Damn Garage in Town by Smokey Yunick, an unvarnished look at Yunick’s life, the early history stock car racing, and just about every innovation and contraption he devised in order to bend the regulations to suit his driver. Much of what governs NASCAR race cars to this day is because of Yunick’s ingenious workarounds and grey-area engineering.

Yes, we take suggestions! Please drop us a line on books you’d like us to review. Over time, we hope to create healthy discussions on a number of different books and topics.

Reviewing

• May 5: Stealing Speed by Mat Oxley; $9.99+, amazon.com

• May 11: Where the Writer Meets the Road by Sam Posey; $29.95, davidpullpublishing.com 

• May 18: Better Than Gold: Investing In Classic Cars by Dietrich Hatlapa; £125.00, ypdbooks.com

• May 25: Best Damn Garage In Town by Smokey Yunick; $29.95, smokeyyunick.com