Black noon
Subtitle: the year they stopped the Indy 500
By: Art Garner
Edition: First edition.
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 342
ISBN-13: 9781250017772
Subjects: Safety measures; Indianapolis Speedway Race (1964); Interviews; Automobile racing; Automobile racing drivers; History
Description: "Just before high noon on May 30th, 1964, the Indy 500 stopped for the first time in history. Seven cars had crashed in a fiery accident, killing two drivers, and threatening the very future of the 500. In this tight, fast-paced narrative, Art Garner expertly reconstructs the events, circumstances, and fatal decisions leading up to the sport's blackest day. Recalling a bygone era when drivers lived hard, raced hard, and at times died hard, Black Noon takes readers back to the last race won by a front-engined roadster, to before the switch from gasoline to methanol, to tell one of the great untold stories in sports. Informed by his extensive interviews including six of the seven surviving drivers, Garner brings to life the greatest names in racing - A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Bobby Unser, and Johnny Rutherford - focusing on Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald, the two very different drivers whose lives accelerated toward the same catastrophic end that day. Publishing for the 50th anniversary of this iconic event, Black Noon remembers the race that changed everything and the men that heralded the Golden Age of Indy car racing"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Revolution; title: Indy '63; title: The Brickyard; title: Dinosaurs and Funny Cars; title: A Deadly Profession; title: The Clown Prince; title: The Natural; title: Total Performance; title: Tire Wars; title: The Backyard Mechanic; title: May Madness; title: Learning to Walk; title: Fan Favorites; title: Gas or Fuel; title: Herk Crashes; title: Hanna's Hospital; title: Hard Like a Nail; title: Marshman Emerges; title: Tipping the Can; title: Decision Day; title: A New Track Record Moving Day; title: Let the Bumping Begin; title: Final Preparations; title: Black Noon; title: Gentlemen, Start Your Engines; title: A Curtain of Smoke and Flames; title: "It's Eddie"; title: It's Only A Sport; title: Restart; title: Thank God It's Over; title: Aftermath; title: Finger Pointing, Funerals and Fuel; title: Indy '65 and the Golden Age; title: Closure.