Read more
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.
About the author
Born in 1940 in New York State,
Pete Lyons is an international motorsports reporter, photographer and award-winning book author in the fields of Formula 1, Can-Am, endurance sportscars, Indycar, Trans-Am and many more forms of racing. In his decades-long, worldwide career, Lyons covered events on all six populated continents for numerous enthusiast publications, including
Autosport,
AutoWeek,
Car and Driver,
Racecar,
Road & Track,
Vintage Motorsport and many others. He is also the author of 20 published books including, for Evro Publishing,
Shadow: The Magnificent Machines of a Man of Mystery, which won ‘Specialist Motoring Book of the Year’ at the 2020 Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards (UK) and ‘Best Book’ at the 2021 Automotive Heritage Awards (USA).
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, Condé Nast,
Washington Examiner and Gannett Newspapers as well as a spell as communications director for Skoal Bandit Racing.
Summary
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.
