Kurtis-Kraft - Masterworks Of Speed and Style

Author: Gordon Eliot White, Hardbound, 216 Pages, ISBN: 9780760309100, 1st Edition, 2001 - **VERY RARE BOOK IN PERFECT CONDITION**

KURTIS-KRAFT

MASTERWORKS OF SPEED AND STYLE
. .
It could have been a gray KK500 with red wheels at the Speedway, flashing out of the sunlight of turn four into the gloomy shade where the looming stands blocked the sun. Perhaps it was a bright yellow KK4000 reflecting the dim lights, poised on its toes, sliding silently with its throttle shut into the first turn of some mosquito-bitten, dirt-flecked Midwestern fairgrounds oval.

There's a chance it was a red, flathead-powered 500S, chuffing away from the moaning Ferraris, Porsches, and Jaguars on a sun-baked redundant air base somewhere in California. Wherever it was, many people who saw their first Kurtis race car, never forgot it.

The creator of these dreams-on-wheels was Frank Kurtis. His concepts ruled the highest levels of pavement and dirt oval racing from the end of WW II until the 1960s, and are still in practice now. Today, his cars are sought after as the finest combination of craftsmanship, aesthetics, and visceral dynamism. Kurtis-Kraft is the story of those fabulous cars and the visionary craftsman who built them.

The story is told by author Gordon White, a man who knows the subject of Kurtis and his times intimately and has driven Frank's creations on dirt ovals, road courses, and the Bonneville Salt Flats. His books on Offenhauser engines and Kurtis Indianapolis cars have contributed to our understanding of these icons of our racing heritage. Just as with White's other meticulously researched works, this biography of Frank Kurtis will immediately become the definitive book on the subject.

Pour your beverage of choice, settle into your favorite chair, and prepare for a wonderful read. When you're finished, your only regret will be that this evocation of a halcyon era of American racing ended too soon.

—Michael T. Lynch

About the Author

Gordon Eliot White began writing on American auto racing for Illustrated Speedway News in 1952. He stooged at Freeport, New York, for Kurtis midget driver Bill Schindler and never lost his love for the sport.

White earned a B.A. in American Studies from Cornell and a M.S. in Journalism at Columbia. He spent a career as Washington Correspondent for the Salt Lake City Deseret News, where he was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

In 1988 he moved on to the Smithsonian Institution where he serves as auto racing advisor. He owns the restored Tassi Vatis # 9, an Offenhauser-powered Kurtis-Kraft midget.

At Bonneville in 1989, he and that car set an international class and a U.S. midget speed record of 156.902 mph.