Gordon White on Auto Racing

Auto Racing History OFFENHAUSER
Miller, AAA, USAC and other Historic Auto Racing Subjects
By Gordon E. White
Leo Goossen Archive Is Here

Welcome to the Web Page for racing history, a source for information on racing as it was from the beginning to the late sixties when the sport entered, for better or worse, its post-modern era.

The latest Auto Racing History Book by Gordon Eliot White is now available: Leader Card Racers, a Dynasty of Speed 228 pages, hardbound.
    The story of the team that twice won at Indianapolis with Rodger Ward, and in 1968, with Bobby Unser.
    Leader Card, a Milwaukee paper company owned by the Wilke family, has a history in racing that stretches from the 1920s to 2009. It began on the dirt tracks, ran a successful midget team before and after WW II and, in 1959, became a power at Indianapolis. They were the ones to beat in the last years of the Offy roadster era and won again in 1968 with a rear-engine car.
    Order from the author, who will autograph this book to the buyer. $54.95 plus shipping & handling. Click here to order.

    Ab and Marvin Jenkins, The Studebaker Connection and the Mormon Meteors, by Gordon Eliot White. The story of Ab Jenkins, who, with Studebaker, set transcontinental highway and hill climb records, raced on the board tracks of the twenties, then, with the help of his son, Marvin, put the Bonneville Salt Flats on the world scene, setting records there for 24 years; Ab's career as Mayor of Salt Lake City and, in the 1990s, Marvin's rescue of his dad's Mormon Meteor III from the un-caring hands of the State of Utah. Published by Iconografix Inc. $32.95 plus shipping and handling. Click here to order.

    The Indianapolis Racing Cars of Frank Kurtis, 1940 - 1963 by Gordon Eliot White. This is the definitive work on the 110 Championship cars that Frank Kurtis built during his career, most of which ran at Indianapolis. Kurtis cars won the 500 five of six years, 1950 - 1955 and during those years made up as much as two thirds of the starting fields. Kurtis designed the "roadster" cars that dominated Indy 1955 - 1964, until the end of the front-engine era at Indianapolis. This exceptional volume includes engineering drawings, body-off and crash photos and many other images not seen in print before. An appendix lists every Kurtis Champ car and its Indy record, 1940 - 1965 with chassis and engine serial numbers. Softbound, 129 pages, 10 1/4 x 8 1/2, 120 black and white illustrations. Order from the Author, who will autograph this book to the buyer. $29.95 plus shipping & handling. Click here to order.

      Lost Race Tracks, The stories of more than 120 20th century tracks that once held the exciting races of yesteryear. Covers the board tracks, the concrete speedways, the dirt bullrings, the beach course at Daytona, the Vanderbilt Cup road courses and the asphalt ovals where the midgets ran at mid-century that are now dark and silent - the Elgin road races, Monza, Gasoline Alley and many, many more.
    Photos, maps and descriptions of long-ago tracks and some that disappeared only yesterday. 128 pages, softbound, 120 photographs. $32.95 plus shipping & handling.
    Published by Iconografix Inc. Click here to order.

      Harry A. Miller was not only the designer of beautiful Indianapolis racing cars of the 1920s, but he designed and built race boat engines that dominated the sport for 20 years. He invented carburetors, built luxurious passenger cars, aircraft and autogiro engines, the engine for a "combat car" an outboard motor and other vehicles too bizarre to be built.
      Drawings, photographs and descriptions of the wonderful mechanical things that Miller dreamed up in his 30 year career as America's most innovative designer.
      Published by Iconografix Inc., 126 pages, softbound. $32.95 plus shipping and handling. Click here to order.

Wanted: drawings of early Miller (183, 122, 91), the Miller FWD cars and other historic blueprints, AAA records from the 1920s that we do not have. Also Indianapolis, ARDC midget records, racing emblems (decals) particularly from the 1950s, and any material dealing with the glorious open-wheel racing we remember. We are interested too in Miller speedboats, early aeronautics and wooden boats.

For a sample of the AAA Sanctions file, click here)

The author at Lime Rock, CT, 1997
Gordon White, Box 129, Hardyville, Virginia, 23070 e-mail me (gewhite@crosslink.net)

last revised: Dec 17, 2009

The latest Auto Racing History Book by Gordon Eliot White is now available: Leader Card Racers, a Dynasty of Speed 228 pages, hardbound. The story of the team that twice won at Indianapolis with Rodger Ward, and in 1968, with Bobby Unser. Leader Card, a Milwaukee paper company owned by the Wilke family, has a history in racing that stretches from the 1920s to 2009. It began on the dirt tracks, ran a successful midget team before and after WW II and, in 1959, became a power at Indianapolis. They were the ones to beat in the last years of the Offy roadster era and won again in 1968 with a rear-engine car. Order from the author, who will autograph this book to the buyer. $54.95 plus shipping & handling. Click here to order.
	Ab and Marvin Jenkins, The Studebaker Connection and the Mormon Meteors, by Gordon Eliot White. The story of Ab Jenkins, who, with Studebaker, set transcontinental highway and hill climb records, raced on the board tracks of the twenties, then, with the help of his son, Marvin, put the Bonneville Salt Flats on the world scene, setting records there for 24 years; Ab's career as Mayor of Salt Lake City and, in the 1990s, Marvin's rescue of his dad's Mormon Meteor III from the un-caring hands of the State of Utah. Published by Iconografix Inc. $32.95 plus shipping and handling. Click here to order.

The Indianapolis Racing Cars of Frank Kurtis, 1940 - 1963 by Gordon Eliot White. This is the definitive work on the 110 Championship cars that Frank Kurtis built during his career, most of which ran at Indianapolis. Kurtis cars won the 500 five of six years, 1950 - 1955 and during those years made up as much as two thirds of the starting fields. Kurtis designed the "roadster" cars that dominated Indy 1955 - 1964, until the end of the front-engine era at Indianapolis. This exceptional volume includes engineering drawings, body-off and crash photos and many other images not seen in print before. An appendix lists every Kurtis Champ car and its Indy record, 1940 - 1965 with chassis and engine serial numbers. Softbound, 129 pages, 10 1/4 x 8 1/2, 120 black and white illustrations. Order from the Author, who will autograph this book to the buyer. $29.95 plus shipping & handling. Click here to order.

	Lost Race Tracks, The stories of more than 120 20th century tracks that once held the exciting races of yesteryear. Covers the board tracks, the concrete speedways, the dirt bullrings, the beach course at Daytona, the Vanderbilt Cup road courses and the asphalt ovals where the midgets ran at mid-century that are now dark and silent - the Elgin road races, Monza, Gasoline Alley and many, many more. Photos, maps and descriptions of long-ago tracks and some that disappeared only yesterday. 128 pages, softbound, 120 photographs. $32.95 plus shipping & handling. Published by Iconografix Inc. Click here to order.

Harry A. Miller was not only the designer of beautiful Indianapolis racing cars of the 1920s, but he designed and built race boat engines that dominated the sport for 20 years. He invented carburetors, built luxurious passenger cars, aircraft and autogiro engines, the engine for a "combat car" an outboard motor and other vehicles too bizarre to be built. Drawings, photographs and descriptions of the wonderful mechanical things that Miller dreamed up in his 30 year career as America's most innovative designer. Published by Iconografix Inc., 126 pages, softbound. $32.95 plus shipping and handling. Click here to order.