ITEM E550

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With Comments by Phil Hill

By George F. Wingard

Thanks to George Wingard, I have a vivid sense of the relationship between Mercedes, Benz and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We were doing a story for Road & Track magazine, comparing his 1914 Mercedes Grand Prix, which raced at Indy in 1915, and a 1995 Penske-Mercedes. Al Unser Jr. was in the howling mid-engined machine, while George and I paced him with the tall, bellowing vintage Mercedes as we lapped the famed speedway. What a way to see the historic track and develop a sense of what it was like to race there when Indy really was a brickyard.

Wingard's book detailing the tie between Mercedes, Benz, and the Brickyard can’t offer the sound or wind-through-the-hair ride, but it seems everything else needed to appreciate this relationship is here in what doubles as a fine historical document and, quite simply, an enjoyable read. As thousands of university students will attest, it isn’t easy to find a book about history that is also fun to read, but that's what you expect from a man as diverse as Wingard—go cart racer, former businessman, award-winning automotive restorer, multi-term state senator, international vintage car racer, and the holder of two rather different degrees: a B.S. in engineering and a PhD in Anthropology.

A racer and archaeologist - who better to piece together and put in perspective what Mercedes, Benz, and Indianapolis meant to each other? The tie was begun in those years before World War I, when automotive competition and companies needed each other as a form of mutual promotion. The relationship returned to full bloom in the 1990s when Mercedes-Benz, in a bid to re-establish its racing image, returned to Indianapolis and the winner's circle.

Be warned that you'll probably want to take some time to get through Wingard's book. You'll require one long sitting to enjoy the hundreds of photos - many never before seen - and then you'll find yourself proceeding slowly through as you read the text: no point in rushing a good time.—Phil Hill

Hardbound, 144 pages, 200 photos, 11.25'' x 8.75''