Match Race Mayhem: Drag Racing's Grudges, Rivalries and Big Money Showdowns

by Doug Boyce

Relive or discover the exciting history of match racing through the cars, drivers, rivalries, events, and everything that was fun about match racing in drag racing’s golden era. This volume by veteran drag race author Doug Boyce is enhanced with wonderful vintage photography provided by fans and professionals in attendance. Drag racing is a very regulated sport. In the history of the NHRA, IHRA, and other sanctioning bodies, many classes exist in an effort to make sure the cars racing against each other are as equal as possible. It is a noble, if not futile, pursuit. Two cars face off that have very similar statistics in terms of weight, transmission type, fuel type, estimated horsepower, and all other sorts of measurables. The byproduct is that often the races that were “fair” were not the races that the fans wanted to see. During the golden age of drag racing, fans didn't care as much about class racing as much as they wanted to see scores settled, rivalries battled, and interesting matchups. There were the manufacturer rivalries, Ford versus Chevy, Chevy versus Mopar, Mopar versus Ford, as well as numerous driver rivalries. Match races were also a great way to feature wildly popular cars that no longer had a class in which to compete, yet the fans still wanted to see them. So popular and intense were these races that many track promoters didn't bother to promote class racing at all. Instead, they used the match races as headliners, similar to the marquee at your local arena or a billboard in Las Vegas, all resulting in putting more fans in the stands. And the drivers loved it too. Although the prize money for national events was fairly average for the day, the extra appearance fees and prize money to lure the most popular match racers to events increased the driver's take exponentially. Many of the most popular pro drivers quit class racing altogether just to go match racing. If you are a fan of any class of drag racing from any era, Match Race Drag Racing's Grudges, Rivalries and Big-Money Showdowns is a fun addition to your racing library.

175 pages, Paperback

Published June 14, 2017

Reviews

[S. Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nonfiction book about the history and evolution of match racing in America. It is laid out chronologically through the 1960's and into the 1970's. It has close to 300 examples of excellent photography spread throughout the book, a couple of which are full page or nearly so, and all of which have detailed captions describing the stories behind the pictures. Included are not only pictures of the cars, but also vintage track advertisements, as well as some of the famed vintage "Wanted" posters that racers challenged one another with.

By just glancing at the title, you may be led to believe that this book is just about funny cars, or west coast fuel dragsters. However, this book shows the wider picture, and covers all the bases, from the Super Stocks to the Gassers to the Funny Cars, etc.

This book contains detailed accounts of many of the best or most game-changing match races in the history of the sport, including names, names of cars, engine builders, fuel configurations, ETs, MPH, tracks raced at, events, and dates. That is a lot of information, but the author seems to actually know what he is writing about, and he gets his information uncommonly accurate. This, in my mind, sets him leaps and bounds above many other automotive authors. The author also keeps the book from getting boring by adding interesting trivia and stories about the different cars and drivers, and he scatters his sense of humor throughout, saying things like narcoleptic Wild Willie Borsch was "caught napping" as his opponent pulled out ahead of him.

Overall, having thoroughly read this book, I think that it is one of the best books on the subject of drag racing. Definitely worth the five stars I gave it.

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The quality of CarTech books is exemplary and Match Race Mayhem is no exception. Comprehensively covering drag racing from the 1960-1970s author Doug Boyce has a narrative writing style so you do not feel overwhelmed by the statistics and numbers given. About each page has numerous color and black and white photos with excellent captions. Occasional inclusion of posters and ads add to the visual interest. The Index is comprehensive so you can easily find information on a specific driver. If you want to relive the match racing era, this book is for you. I received a copy for review through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

[Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Match Race Mayhem: Drag Racing's Grudges,Rivalries, and Big-Money Showdowns

Once again Doug Boyce impresses with another beautiful book on the hobby, I Love the old days of Racing,Any Motorsport in general from way back when. the Hey Day of everything basically, Men were Men, Racers were racers and racing was racing.Beautiful fast cars, Beautiful Pictures,great reading.