Speedseekers Photobook: Vintage Drags & More – Book Review
Speedseekers is new book by German born designer and photographer Alexandra Lier. Visiting Speedweek’s salt for the first time, she was hooked. Suddenly a fascination with fast cars, hot rods and customs drove her from her design studio to garages shooting top mechanics and builders or she was off to races to get more pics of the cars she loves. That passion is captured in her first book, Speedseekers
Organized into five main chapters, History, Garage, Speed, Landspeed, and Style & Sound.
That first chapter about history might as well say “vintage drag racing” cause the included photos are a fantastic collection of legendary racers from Wild Willie Borsch to to Big Daddy Don Garlits to a fiery burnoutin his first rear engine dragster by the legendary “TV” Tommy Ivo. I spent over an hour studying the vintage pictures, then explained some of them to my sons: “This guy held on with only one hand!” I can’t get enough of nostalgia drags and the people and cars that made it great (and still do in some cases).
From there, I skimmed over the Garage chapter to check out Speed. Almost as great as the vintage drag pictures in History, the Speed chapter and the following Landspeed pages had more old school 60’s and 70’s style Drag racing shots and were followed by Bonneville shots focusing on the people who went fast. There’s also some great advice found in this picture:
Each section was setup by the near poetic writing of Kevin Thompson… here’s an example:
The hands on the wheel begin to tighten as the blood drains from the knuckles. The muted hum of cruise has become the rising pitch of power. He’s edgy in his seat. Telephone poles and mile markers whip past the side-glass, then multiply and diminish in the rearview mirror. A solitary, oncoming car appears on the horizon, looms, blurs, and becomes a part of the rapidly disappearing past.
Back in the Garage chapter, I spent quite a while staring at two facing pages with old-time magazine covers on them like Hop Up, Motor Life, and even Hot Rod and Custom Rodder. Those old covers and the stories that must be inside make me wonder… they’re like a time capsule!
Don’t pass by this book after a brief glance at the cover. There’s much more to be seen and enjoyed inside for anyone who likes great photos from drag racing’s days gone by, land speed racing, pinstriping and lettering. Check out a very small sample of the pictures supplied by Alexandra and Tom West.
The book’s over 250 pages of full color pictures. Here’s just a few more so you know what you’re getting into. Thanks to Alexandra for letting me preview the book.
![The Burklands\' \"411\" Streamliner](https://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/wp-content/gallery/pics/Speed_S144_US.jpg "The Burklands\' \\"411\\" Streamliner")
![\"Nebulous Theorem IV\" streamliner](https://www.myrideisme.com/Blog/wp-content/gallery/pics/Speed_S165_US.jpg "\\"Nebulous Theorem IV\\" streamliner")
Tags
Related Posts
Share This
Surely that makes you want to take a run at the salt this year Pike!… If not, come out with us and the motorcycles the next week.
Hey man, if you run your bike, that second pic’s got good advice for you! I gotta make it next year!