This detailed illustrated history describes the emergence in North America of the 500cc displacement road racing cars known as FIIIs. It ranges from the start in 1950 right up to current Vintage racing, with descriptions of the cars, courses, organizations holding race events and the people involved, outlining the vast differences from the east coast vs. the west coast. Period photographs and other graphics are reproduced, many for the first time in print. The transition to FIV cars is discussed. By 1964, the initial movement was over and cars were idled, but within a few years, interest in Vintage road racing began, and gradually, many of the existing cars were reactivated. Both east and west coast Vintage events are covered, again with photographs and other images. This book also contains much road racing history (1950-1964), apart from that of the FIII class. Appendices cover surviving cars (both Coopers and other marques) with recent photographs of most. Other appendices cover racing organizations and a variety of technical topics related to racing the cars. No similar book on this subject exists until now.

In the forty-year period between 1951 and 1991, Canadian sports car competition underwent a massive change, transforming itself from an amateur recreational pastime to a commercialized profession and from an individual sport to a spectacle for mass consumption. The Chequered Past is the story of the struggle over power and purpose within the Canadian auto sport that led to this transformation. The first comprehensive history of sports car racing and rallying in Canada, The Chequered Past traces the efforts of the national governing body - the Canadian Auto Sport Clubs (CASC) - to bring its sports car competition up to a 'world class' level, and to manage the consequences of those efforts in the second half of the twentieth century. David Charters traces the social origins of the sport and the major trends that shaped it: professionalism, technological change, rising costs, and the influence of commercial sponsors. Charters argues that while early enthusiasts set the sport on a course toward professionalism that would eventually produce world-class Canadian events and racers, that course would also ultimately change the purpose of the sport: from personal recreation to mass entertainment. As technological innovations drove up the costs of competing at the top ranks, racers were forced to rely on sponsors, who commercialized and ultimately gained control of the sport. The end result, Charters argues, was the marginalization of the amateur competitor and of the CASC itself. Based on extensive research into the CASC's records and dozens of interviews with former competitors and officials, The Chequered Past opens a window into the rich but virtually unknown history of the auto sport, and claims for it a place in Canadian sports history.

This book highlights inconsistencies within the field of sports scholarship and provides an opportunity to open up and extend conversations about the intersection of sports media and race — particularly surrounding athletes of East Asian descent. Despite the growing influence of East Asian and Asian American/Canadian athletes, they are still underrepresented in Western media and in scholarship. This anthology adds much-needed literature to sports, popular culture, East Asian, and Asian American studies. The prominence of sports in global popular culture makes the intersections explored in this collection a crucial addition to existing conversations about both sports and East Asian/Asian American/Canadian studies.

American Motorcyclist magazine, the official journal of the American Motorcyclist Associaton, tells the stories of the people who make motorcycling the sport that it is. It's available monthly to AMA members. Become a part of the largest, most diverse and most enthusiastic group of riders in the country by visiting our website or calling 800-AMA-JOIN.