For Stephen Wright, American Racer, 1940-1980 was a labor of passion. This large-format book, the sequel to American Racer, 1900-1940, is an extended photo essay of American Class C racing. Year-by-year the chronicle of miles, half-miles, TT events and road races unfolds. Like so much in motorcycling, this high-quality volume is much better than it needs to be: motorcycle insiders would order American Racer even if it were published in newsprint! Stephen Wright’s sensibilities account for the book’s excellence. It is his belief that the lives and exploits of these American motorcycle racers have lasting importance; that this backwater sport has simple dignity and majesty; and that these years and faces and machines ought to be documented and preserved. Anyone who has ever watched a race could pick dozens of photographs that would make American Racer, 1940-1980 easily worth its price….it is a gallery of unforgettable photographs.

American Racer, 1940-1980 is a lot of fun. The material is presented chronologically, but within the annual sections the order alternates between dirt track, road racing (including every Daytona 200 since the days of the beach course), enduro and dry lakes competition. The book contains a wealth of interesting photographs, all of them well-reproduced in black and white.

Author Stephen Wright has whipped up two magnificent volumes on Class C dirt tracking and road racing, the later one a pictorial history of road racing from its infancy – American Racer, 1940-1980. Wonderful stuff. When you and I are nothing more than dust dressed in our Sunday best six feet under, these are the books people will read to find out just who Wes Cooley was and where he placed at Loudon in 1978. This book will help get you through a long, cold winter and increase your knowledge of our sport.