Books

BOOKS

RIDE IT: THE COMPLETE BOOK OF FLAT TRACK RACING

by Gerald Foster Haynes Publications Newbury Park, Calif. $7.50 155 pp.

Remember when you were a kid—well, just past a kid—and stumbled upon some pursuit which really set you to staring into the distance at the dinner table? In my day, old National Geographics were good for that, what with camel caravans across the Urp Depression or a safari via Citroen halftrack to Karakorum. You could just see yourself, resplendent in topee and riding boots, tossing coins to the sloe-eyed native dancers grovelling at your feet. The female ones, anyway. Or going to see the Broadway Melody of 193? at the Broken Arrow Odeon and immediately see yourself, decked out in a white tuxedo with eight pleats in the front of the pants, tapping your way across the stage and into the audience’s heart. Surrounded by those chicken-winged little blonde chorines of course, every one giving you the occasional sly wink. Oh Ho! Life was more fun before the skin magazines. Anyway, “Ride It” is that sort of book, meant for kids I suspect, even if its sub-title of “The Complete Book of Flat Track Racing” is a bit ambitious really.

The author, Gerald Foster, is English by birth (all right, Brummie) and in fact the work sounds as if it were written for English readers, either as a series of articles for some magazine or else commissioned as one of a Famous Sports range. Apparently he lives over here now and has a great affection for the sport, so different really from anything found in Merry Old. Mr. Foster takes the reader through a bit of useful history, rather simplified and occasionally a tad offhand, and then progresses through 10 chapters on broad subjects such as the types of races, rules and regs, organization, racing bikes (mostly H-D), optional bits, financial arrangements of the riders, life thereof (example; Gene Romero), a chapter on the 1975 season, a bit on ’76 and so forth. In addition, to fill in the scene, there are a couple of chapters on what drivers use for transportation, another section on CBs which is more than enough already and finally a discussion on what sort of bike should be bought and how to prepare it, adding lists of suppliers of leathers, helmets, steel shoes and the like. Well. Living as we do in the centre of the universe racing wise, we forget that there are folks living out in the piney woods who may possibly see the occasional outlaw half or quarter mile and that’s it. And if they don’t take Speed Age or whatever that turned into, they simply don’t know what the score is. Mr. Foster’s book, in spite of definitely not being a reference work and a trifle dated to boot, fills this basic need and is a pretty good read as well with quite a bit of chatty information packed in. Not a picture book, anyway. Recommended if you want a decent grounding in the subject.

Henry N. Manney III