AS an old fan brought up on such great journalism as Jenkinson's 1955 Mille Miglia race and George Monkhouse's report on the 1937 Donington GP, I thought I'd never read more exciting work.
That was until the 1998 published racing biog of US track-racer Jud Larson, who drove midgets, sprint cars and Indy Roadsters on dirt, fairground, Indy, Daytona and other surfaced banked tracks, from 1939 to 1966. Larson was 6 foot and 220 lbs, a dirtpoor cowboy from the south-west USA, a real character. The biog was written by Spencer L Riggs for Automobile Quarterly, October 1998, Vol 38 Number 2, titled: "Jud Larson, The Last Cowboy".
Larson's talent was incredible: he started and won races early on against such stars as Hinnerschitz and Nazaruk, and ended winning against the new generation of Foyt, Unser, Branson, Rutherford and Andretti in the mid-sixties when he was in his 40s..
Riggs captures Larson's humour and drawl so well: when he arrived to drive the pink John Zink roadster (Indy 1958) : "Wheweee! Zink didn't tell me the critter was pank!" After he typically dived inside down the banked turn on a dirt track to win a close finish, Larson told his rival (who had a faster car) : " Ah had to think o' somethin' quick. You was goin' too fast." After bad crash burns to his legs and feet necessitating skin grafts, he would have to walk around barefoot after many of his later races: "Mah ol' dogs is overheated". Like Fangio did on occasion if a rookie backmarker was holding him up, Larson would nerf him or ' clack wheels', then afterwards approached the guy after the race: " " Gosh,son, Ah-all is real sorry Ah-all hit you like that, Ah-all won't never do that again."
Apart from the humour, Riggs's race descriptions are exceptional. He witnessed those races,and captures the atmosphere and excitement of the fast, short oval track races, with bellowing 4.2 litre Offy or 4.6-litre Chev V8 engines, torque-lifting their inside front wheels in the turns. He describes racing competition at its ulitmate pitch; highly recommended.
Unfortunately Automobile Quarterly went out of business about two years back, but for any car/racing enthusiast, finding old copies would be worthwhile. Cars and racing from all over the world is included. I was fortunate to get a full set (from an old, struggling ex-driver in Johannesburg back in 1997.
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