They Started in MGs

An affordable, lightweight sports car suitable for racing, the MG TC launched the sports car scene in postwar America. A wave of drivers first competed on the track in these and the later TD, TF and MGA models during the 1950s, many of them eventually moving up to Porsches, Alfa Romeos, Jaguars and Ferraris. Eighty such drivers, from the famous (e.g., Phil Hill, John Fitch, David E. Davis, Jr.) to lesser known men and women with equally vivid stories, are profiled in this book, which presents many of their recollections from firsthand interviews alongside a wealth of period photographs.

Carl Goodwin has written for Vintage Motorsport, Vintage Racecar, Classic Motorsports, Classic MG, 356 Registry, Forza and other periodicals, plus the Italian car web site Veloce Today. He has earned the Carl Benz Award from the Society of Automotive Historians four times and won numerous golds, silvers and bronzes presented by the International Automotive Media Awards. He lives in Novelty, Ohio.

Carl Goodwin
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 291
Bibliographic Info: 278 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6052-6
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8624-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi
Foreword: Adventures in MGs by John Fitch      1
Preface      5

THE DRIVERS

Fred Allen      7
Cameron Argetsinger      9
S.H. Arnolt      13
David Ash      16
Bob Ballenger      19
Hank Becker      25
John Gordon Benett      31
John Bentley      33
Art and Dutch Brow      37
Hubert Brundage      39
Ralph Cadwallader      42
Jim and Sally Carroll      43
Sam Collier, Miles Collier      46
Harry Constant      49
Denver Cornett      52
Tom Countryman      54
Briggs Cunningham      59
David E. Davis Jr.      65
Bob Dickens      71
Chuck Dietrich      73
Suzy Dietrich      76
Frank Dominianni      80
Bob Donner      83
Ralph Durbin      87
Fred Egloff      91
Gus Ehrman      96
Charlie Ellmers      100
Bob Fergus      103
John Fitch      105
The Funny Face Auto Racing Team      108
Richie Ginther      111
Cal Gleason      113
Isabelle Haskell      117
Chuck Hassan      121
Chuck Henry      126
Phil Hill      130
Bob Holbert      133
Ed Hugus      137
Dick Irish      140
Rowland Keith      145
LeRoy Kramer Jr.      148
Haig Ksayian      150
Bob Larson      153
Ed Licht      158
Otto Linton      163
Bill Lloyd      167
Bob Lossman      168
Karl Ludvigsen      171
Ebby Lunken      177
Sandy MacArthur      184
Henry Manney III      188
Don Marsh      190
Jack McAfee      192
Steve McQueen      195
Ken Miles      199
Bill Milliken      202
Charles Moran      206
Al Moss      209
Alan Patterson      211
Bill Pollack      213
Bob Said      217
Art Seyler      220
Bob Shea      222
Carroll Shelby      229
Bill Staufer      232
Bruce Stevenson      235
Chuck Stoddard      238
John Tame      241
Dick Thompson      244
Lake Underwood      247
George Valentine      249
Bill Victor      252
John von Neumann      254
Fred Wacker      257
Harley Watts      260
Herb Whiting      264
Bill Wonder      266
Doc and Peggy Wyllie      270
Sherrie Zuckert      273

Bibliography      275
Index      279

“Goodwin has written an enjoyable book and he is thoroughly knowledgeable of the subject and a skilled author”—The Automotive Chronicles; “masterpiece”—VeloceToday.com“Goodwin obviously put in a lot of one-on-one interview time and legwork writing this book, and it pays off in a big way, making this book worth owning”—SpeedReaders; “a very interesting and readable book…with the author’s excellent interviewing skills…Goodwin is an accomplished writer and never bores the reader. His accuracy is quite good…this is really a very important book as it brings to light a great deal of information that has not been made available before”—The Sacred Octagon.