When it comes to the great Can-Am Challenge Cup, aficionados first remember the driving greats who did battle in this rowdy, nearly unlimited series for big-bore sports cars: McLaren. Hulme. Surtees. Gurney. Donohue. Behind each and every driver, however, was a team of mechanics who kept these wildly radical racing cars thumping around North America’s great road courses. It’s been a rare occasion when they’ve gotten to tell their side of the Can-Am legend.
This 400-page hardcover book, with some 363 illustrations, does yeoman work in correcting that historical oversight. One Last Turn spotlights the stories of more than a dozen master mechanics who came from motorsport all over the world to match skills in the Can-Am arena. Its lineup of participants is also a roster of some of racing’s very best mechanics during the glory years of the 1960s and early 1970s.
This is more than just a technical history, given that each subject tells his life story, with the narrative being very generous in terms of personal anecdotes from the participants. Their stories are funny and frustrating in equal measures.
Technical geniuses
Among the technical geniuses profiled in the book are Roger Bailey, who’s worked seemingly everywhere in motorsport; the Porsche expert Alwin Springer, longtime Penske Racing mechanical icon Karl Kainhofer, the acclaimed racing engine builder Franz Weiss, and John “Woody” Woodward, who wrenched on the awesome Porsche 917/30 before joining the Penske parade to Indianapolis glory. All these gentlemen rate their own chapter in the book. It’s all a highly personal story of success in one of motorsport’s most brutally competitive venues.
Plugging a gap
When it comes to books on racing, drivers understandably tend to get the bulk of the glory. This excellent, comprehensive volume admirably plugs a gaping gap in the written history of the Can-Am series. Books that salute the grunt workers of racing are always admirable, especially when they’re researched and written as well as this one.
Authors: Martin Rudow and Dave Gaddis
ISBN: 9781956309089
Publisher: Dalton Watson Fine Books
Pages: 400
Price: $135.00
