A01=Jill Amadio
A01=Pete Lyons
A01=Raoul F. Balcaen
Allen Guiberson
Andy Granatelli
Author_Jill Amadio
Author_Pete Lyons
Author_Raoul F. Balcaen
Bob Estes
Bob Toros
Brooks Firestone
Bruce Kessler
Bud Meyer
Cal Niday
Carroll Shelby
Category=DNC
Category=SMFA
Cheryl Holdridge
Chuck Daigh
Chuck Pelly
Culver City
Dan Gurney
Dean Batchelor
Dick Reventlow
Dick Troutman
Don Yates
Ed Donovan
Ed Iskenderian
Ed Pink
Ed Winfield
Eddie Meyer
Emil Deidt
Emil Diedt
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eq_biography-true-stories
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_sports-fitness
Frank Coon
Frank Iacono
Frank Kurtis
Frank McGurk
Frank Startup
George Bartell
Harold Daigh
Harold Mauk
Hilborn
Hot Rod
IECO
III
J.C. Agajanian
Jack Dulin
Jill Amadio
Jill St John
Jim Hall
Jim Rathmann
Jim Travers
Joachim Bonnier
Ken Miles
Lance Reventlow
Larry Shinoda
Leo Goossen
Lister-Chevrolet
Lister-Chevy
Louis Meyer
Marshall Whitfield
Meyer & Drake
Mickey Thompson
Miller
NHRA
Nick Arias
Offenhauser
Pat Ganahl
Pete Clark
Pete Lyons
Peter Brock
Phil Hill
Phil Remington
Preston Lerner
RAI
Richie Ginther
Rob Walton
Robert Petersen
Ruth Levy
Sam Hanks
San Fernando
Scarab
Simone Olson
Skip Hudson
Steve McQueen
Tom Barnes
Tony Nancy
Traco
Vic Edelbrock
Warren Olson
Product details
- ISBN 9781910505779
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 01 Sep 2022
- Publisher: Evro Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Raoul 'Sonny' Balcaen grew up in Los Angeles at a time when it became the epicentre of American motor racing, nurturing a vast talent pool of people whose influence has echoed through to today. As a teenager, he successfully competed with his home-built Top Fuel dragster during the formative years of the sport. With Lance Reventlow, he worked on the famous Scarab sports cars and was standing in the dyno room when the team's all-American Formula 1 engine was fired up for the first time. A period as Jim Hall's crew chief and a close association with Carroll Shelby added to the know-how that guided him towards becoming a successful entrepreneur and led to all that followed. This engaging memoir is the very personal history of a momentous time and place in which we meet a who's who of West Coast road-racing heroes.
* Aged 17, Balcaen built his own Top Fuel drag racer, the 'Bantamweight Bomb', which he developed relentlessly and drove to many successes.
* His role in the fabulous Scarab sports cars - the landmark all-American racers - and insights into life with their creator, the incomparable Lance Reventlow.
* Working as crew chief to the brilliant Jim Hall, preparing and running his Lotus Eleven and Lister-Chevrolet long before the famous Chaparrals emerged.
* A second spell with Scarab, this time with the Formula 1 project - the first American Grand Prix car - plus a special job for Reventlow converting a Scarab sports racer into a street car.
* Onwards into setting up his own successful business, IECO (Induction Engineering Co), to create and sell high-grade performance and appearance accessories, with Chevrolets - especially Corvair and Vega - featuring strongly.
* His many-faceted dealings with Carroll Shelby, leading to consultancy and even assignments as occasional Shelby American company pilot.
* Along the way we meet many other big names of the era, including Chuck Daigh, Bruce Kessler, Warren Olson, Dick Troutman, Tom Barnes, Phil Remington, Ken Miles, Leo Goossen, Jim Travers, Frank Coon and Pete Brock.
Jill Amadio is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books and has a background in journalism with National Speed Sports News, Motor Trend, Kelly Blue Book, Los Angeles Daily News, Conde Nast, Washington Examiner and Gannett Newspapers as well as a spell as communications director for Skoal Bandit Racing.
Pete Lyons is a revered racing journalist who has had positions with publications such as Autosport, AutoWeek, Car and Driver, Road & Track, RACECAR and Vintage Motorsport, and is also the award-winning author of more than a dozen books, the most recent being Shadow: The Magnificent Machines of a Man of Mystery (Evro, 2019).
