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The 5 Best Books to Read in the Off-Season

It’s the racing off-season, what else are you going to do but read?

nascar greats
NASCAR

The motorsports season ended weeks ago–or months ago, depending on what you consider motorsports. All that’s going on now is a little testing here and there and maybe some drivers being fired. Likewise, your hot rod is all bundled up in the garage under that car cover you paid a bunch of money for. So what’s a motorhead to do? Consider reading.

Here are five of our favorite books for the motorsports or general car enthusiast, presented in no particular order. Buy up and read on! See you in the spring.

ALSO CHECK OUT THE 5 MOST MEMORABLE HOLIDAY MOVIE CARS


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Dirt Tracks to Glory: The Early Days of Stock Car Racing As Told by the Participants
Sylvia Wilkinson
Shelby American: The Renegades Who Built the Cars, Won the Races, and Lived the Legend
Motorbooks
Porsche at Le Mans: 70 Years
Now 18% off
Collier AutoMedia
The Archaeological Automobile: Understanding and Living with Historical Automobiles
Now 26% off
Hollywood Stuntwoman: Follow Your Dreams . . . Overcome Your Fears . . .
1
Bonus Book: Classic Car Auction Yearbook 2021-2022
classic car auction yearbook 2021 2022
Mark Vaughn

Anyone who's serious about the global auction market, or anyone who just wants to know what a Ghibli goes for lately, will want a copy of this annual assessment of the global classic car auction market. This is the 27th edition of the book, and this year it covers 8431 cars that crossed the block at auctions around the world, from Pebble Beach to Retromobile. Top of the charts last year was that crazy sale of the 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, which hammered at $142,668,000. There's plenty of analysis on that transaction, as well as many, many others.

But the most fun is to flip through the pages and see what cars like yours might be going for on the world stage. For instance, the prices of Lancia Appias have risen to over 10 grand, so maybe I should finish mine. But there are also Ferraris, Alfas, Duesenbergs, Bentleys and even Barris Kustoms - the Hirohata Merc sold for $2,145,000 at a Mecum auction last year, remember? You can scroll through the book for hours, then return later and flip through for hours more. It's a handy reference throughout the year - until the next Classic Car Auction Yearbook comes out.

It's not available on Amazon. You can buy yours through Autobooks Aerobooks here.

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