"Drive It! - The Complete Book of British Drag Racing"

“Drive It, — The Complete Book of British Drag Racing” by David Hardcastle & Peter Jones. 184 pp. 11″ x 8″ (Haynes Publishinc Group Ltd., Sparklord, booed, Somerset, BA22 7JJ. £4.95)

Drag racing. although spectacular in the extreme. remains a closed book or at least a rather obscure facet of motoring sport to mans.. So this inexpensive but very comprehensive st udy ot the subject, including drag-racing history, by two enthusiasts. Peter looking after the mostly sensational) photographs, is welcome. It covers both the out-and-out dragsters and those outwardly saloon motor cars adapted to play drag.

All you could conceivably want to know about drag-racing seems to have been put between the books covers. There is even a glossary should you be unacquainted with terms such as “Middle Dragster”, “Bye Run”, “Chirpies” or “Rat”, for instance, and the book has it all, from the now becoming obsolete slingshots to funny-cars, pro-fuel, pro-comp.. comp.-altered and the rest ot the essentially accelerative bunch. Drag-racing equipment is looked at in detail, with many pictures which might have come from Haynes’ well-known instruction manuals. the drag-bikes, the drivers, the meetings and useful addresses are all there and the Foreword is by Dennis Priddle. Good value indeed! — W.B.