Books by sporting personalities are pumped out at ‘production line regularity’ these days and it is rare to find one which is both different and worthy of devoting valuable time to.
Alas, Dario Franchitti has come up with a gem, titled ‘Romance of Racing’ which was written in conjunction with Andy Hallbery who at various times has edited Autosport and Racer magazines and has worked both in F1 and IndyCar.
Quite by chance the book comes out at a time when Franchitti was forced to retire from a magnificent Indy career after his accident at Houston in October which left him with back and ankle injuries.
The book was in the final throes of production at the time, and in any case, Franchitti was reluctant to do it in the first place when first approached by Hallbery thinking he was not ready to do an autobiography, as he thought would be the theme.
Far removed from being a self gratiating account, the book is a celebration of a selection of some of the great motor racing names of the past and present starting with Juan Manuel Fangio, Franchitti’s Scottish compatriot Jim Clark, Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Gilles Villeneuve et al.
Uniquely formatted, Romance of Racing devotes several chunky paragraphs on each subject accompanied by a full page photograph.
Its easy-to-consume format captures almost 60 drivers, team owners, commentators, motorcycle racers and the late medic Dr Sid Watkins.
Even the Ferrari 312T4 gets a splash on pages 70-71 with Franchitti admitting he was involved in an aborted attempt to buy one of only five ever made, 10 years ago.
The flat 12-cylinder Ferrari was driven to the 1979 World Championship crown by South African Jody Scheckter.
As disclosed by Franchitti on page 7, the book is not meant to be a definitive list of legends, but a choice of who the three times Indy 500 winner has respected and admired through the decades.
Double F1 champion, IndyCar series champion and two-times Indy 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi penned the forward.
Part of Fittipaldi’s description says, ‘Dario is a very intelligent racing driver. He knows the boundaries, the limits of himself, the car, the track.’
Turns out those words, written before the Houston calamity, have a prophetic ring to them.
Click through for more details on Romance of Racing.
