It's... A... New Track Record! (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781918070002)

Donald DavidsonIndianapolis Motor Speedway Historian Donald Davidson has been blessed with what he is told is a "selective retentive easy access" memory. He showed up at the track in 1964 as a young adult from England, obsessed with the "500" and having memorized a plethora of trivial facts about the event and its participants. To his amazement, he was immediately embraced by the racing fraternity and taken into its inner circle. Returning in 1965 (this time on a one-way ticket and clutching a "green card"), he was invited by IMS Radio Network Chief Announcer Sid Collins to participate as a commentator on the race-day broadcast, a duty he has performed ever since. The week after the race, he was hired (by Director of Competition Henry Banks) to be the keeper of records for the United States Auto Club (USAC), and since that time has contributed to dozens of books, written numerous magazine stories and local newspaper columns, given hundreds of talks, been featured on ABC News, and been a guest, along with Mario Andretti and Jackie Stewart, on Ted Koppel's Nightline. He has hosted a call-in radio show every May since 1971, and for 20 years has conducted a four-night course on "500" history for IUPUI, the Indianapolis-based combined campus of Purdue and Indiana Universities. He joined IMS full time on January 1, 1998. Rick ShafferFor most youngsters growing up in Indianapolis, the "rite of passage" can mean one's first visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In the case of writer/historian Rick Shaffer, it came during October of 1962, when his father took him and his older brother on a surprise trip to the track and museum. Like his co-author, Shaffer got to witness his first Indianapolis 500 in 1964. A combined interest in history and auto racing led him to major in journalism in college, and he has been writing stories on the subject since 1973. From 1987 through 1993, he helped cover the sport for The Indianapolis Star. Over the years, he has also written articles and columns for a number of racing publications. Shaffer currently resides outside of Indianapolis where he continues to write, occasionally lecture and collect books on the subject of auto racing. This is his second published book and he rates the latest experience the combination of "a labor of love" and "a dream come true."