Tag: Tammy Kaehler

The Racing Fan’s Holiday Gift Guide

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Time for the annual dilemma- what to get the race fan on your shopping list. Just in the St. Nick of time, The Pit Window’s annual  gift guide is here. There are some old favorites and new suggestions.  I can tell you from personal experience, however much racing related stuff a fan has, it probably isn’t enough.  Self storage was probably created by a race fan to store all his stuff. Enjoy. I hope this helps some of you find that perfect gift.

On Track

A 2-seater ride at IMS or another track is gift that requires no space in the home. Indy Racing Experience has provided rides for many years.  This group is very organized and professional.  A 2- seater ride costs $499. There are also single seat cars you can drive yourself at IMS for $1,000.  IRE also offer a combination package with a 2-seater and a self drive for $1,200.

If you want Mario AndrettiAdam’s Wooden Creations to drive you around, a mere $3,299 will get you there.

A gift membership to Indycar Nation makes rides available at races to members. I have been fortunate enough to get a couple of rides through my membership. Memberships can be purchased through the Indycar site.

A Unique Keepsake

I discovered an unusual gift last year thanks to my friend and fellow blogger Patti Nolen, author of the I Kissed the Bricks site.

Adam’s Wooden Creations makes wooden coasters and other items. He creates coasters with tracks and driver names and numbers. In addition to Indycar tracks, Adam also will do a NASCAR or Formula 1 circuit.

You can order from Adam’s Etsy shop, Adam’s Wooden Creations. Here is the link:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AdamsWoodenCreations?ref=search_shop_redirect

If you have something special in mind, leave Adam a note and he will be happy to discuss it with you.

Books and DVDs

Some of my favorite books are shown above. I also highly recommend the updated Gentleman, Start Your Engines, Wilbur Shaw’s autobiography. The updated section continues the story from 1952, where the original stopped. I reviewed the book earlier this year. You can find the two part review here:

https://wordpress.com/post/thepitwindow.blog/8646  and Part II-

https://wordpress.com/post/thepitwindow.blog/8663

Of the books pictured, Black Noon is my favorite. Tammy Kaehler’s Kiss the Bricks is an entertaining mystery centered around the 500. Her hero, Kate Reilly, has other adventures in sportscar series, chronicled in other books by Kaehler, such as Dead Man’s Switch.

Books I hope to get to next year include Chasing Checkers by C M Hinchcliffe.

Some new DVDs have come out this year, including Born Racer, the story of Scott Dixon’s 2017 Indycar season.

Will T. Ribbs has a biography documentary, Uppity,  soon to be released and available for pre-order at Amazon. It is produced by Adam Corolla, who also produced the Paul Newman documentary.

Other documentaries on  dvd I recommend are Winning: the Racing Life of Paul Newman, Mclaren, and Senna. The theatrical movie Rush is a great depiction of the 1975 Formula 1  championship battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt.

I hope this helps with your race fan shopping. If any of you have other recommendations, please let me know and I will post them here. Happy Shopping.

 

 

True Racer- McLaren Movie Review

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Just one more lap before lunch. Bruce McLaren, always looking for more from himself and his car, wanted to try a different downforce level.. He left the pits but didn’t return that day in June 1970, ending a meteoric rise from champion driver to successful car builder. A view of the accident scene comes at the end of the documentary, McLaren, a film making sporadic appearances in the United States. I had the good fortune to see it Thursday night.

The film chronicles McLaren’s life in chronological order from his humble beginnings in New Zealand. Bruce knew he wanted to be a race car driver by the time he was 5 years old. When he was nine, he developed Perthes disease, a disease that causes the head of the femur to lose blood flow and die. As a result his left leg was shorter than his right one. McLaren was bedridden for nearly 2 years as doctors tried to strengthen the hip and lengthen his left  leg.  While the hip got stronger, his leg did not get longer. Mclaren walked with a permanent limp.

He went to Europe to drive F2 in 1958 and won his first Formula 1 race the following year, the U.S. GP at Sebring. At the time McLaren was the youngest F1 winner in history, a distinction he held for 44 years. He drove as a teammate to Jack Brabham for Cooper.  Brabham won the World Championship the following year and McLaren finished second.   Both drivers  left Cooper and eventually each built their own Formula 1 cars.

McLaren’s greatest success came in the Can Am series.  In 1969, McLaren-built cars won every race on the Can Am schedule. The three McLaren  cars swept the podium twice that year.  Dennnis Hulme and Mark Donohue were McLaren’s teammates that year.

The movie contains interviews with many racing greats including Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, and Chris Amon. McLaren’s family also appears, lending a personal view of the man. We also hear from several engineers and mechanics, mainly Robin Heard, who came to work for McLaren after helping design the Concorde supersonic airplane.  Many of the airplane’s aerodynamic principles, and some of the same materials, were applied to the cars.

My favorite segments were the vintage racing footage. The race films contain shots of Graham Hill, James Hunt, Jack Brabham, and many other drivers of that era.  We see Le Mans in 1966, Monaco in 1958, Sebring in 1959, and Spa in 1968.  Several things in the films stood out. Grand prix races used to start 3 wide and both F1 and F2  raced at the same time just as sports cars race today. It was great to see the traditional Le Mans start again, with drivers sprinting across the track to their cars. How would that work today?

Several McLaren home movies brought a personal touch to McLaren’s life. He would send film of his European races home and the family and their friends gathered to watch. I also enjoyed the movies of Bruce with his wife and young daughter.

McLaren is one of the best documentaries I have seen on any subject. It is a new, important contribution to preserving racing history. I’m hoping the movie returns in general release. Had there been a second showing last night, I might have stayed for it.  Look for its return, and go see it.

Book Review- Kiss the Bricks by Tammy Kaehler

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Kate Reilly- full time race driver, part time sleuth, hopes for a drama free May as she prepares for her second Indianapolis 500. As usual, drama finds her. She sets fast time on the first day of practice, duplicating the accomplishment of another female driver thirty years ago.  That driver, P.J Rodriguez, died before Pole Day in a mysterious fall from the roof of her downtown hotel. Rodrigueaz’s family asks Kate to help them  find out if her death was  suicide or  murder?

Kiss the Bricks is the fifth book in Tammy Kaehler’s Kate Reilly Racing Mystery series. Usually Reilly drives sports cars, but moves to the Indycar series for this adventure.

The first third of the book alternates between the present day and May of 1987. We learn of the events that lead to P. J.’s death and how Kate gets involved in attempting to find out what happened.  P. J.’s family tells Kate their suspicions and asks for Kate’s help. Her reputation as an amateur sleuth precedes her.

With the help of her grandfather and her PR rep, Kate sets about identifying suspects and motives. They come to the chilling conclusion the culprit may be someone very close to her own race team. The answer becomes clear after the race as activity at the track slowly winds down.

Another complication for Kate is an envelope her grandfather gives her early in the month. He explains it makes clear some family issues that Kate needs to know. He requests she not open it until after the race, so she can focus on the most important event of the year. She resists the temptation to open a few times.

I found this book fun to read. It presents a great look at what a driver’s May is like off the track as well as on it. May seems incredibly busy with media appearances, sponsor meet and greets, and oh yeah, prepping for the 500. I was most impressed by the author’s portrayal of how isolated the drivers are while in the car. Each driver is focused on his/her  car and his/her performance, and only mentions others when they do something that might interfere with the team’s plan.  Drivers rely on their spotters and crew chiefs to know what is happening in the race.

This is only the second Kate Reilly book I’ve read, and I will be reading the others. Kaehler writes great racing stories with a murder mystery thrown in. Her books are available on Amazon.