| Date | Wednesday, September 15, 2021 |
| Time | 6:00pm PDT |
| Zoom/Registration Link | https://saesocal-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kjQYSDfiTxOWnW2emku1oQ |
| Short Description | Tonight we’ll be focusing on two great new books that talk about the history of professional open wheel racing in America. Both books have a connection to the upcoming Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Formula 5000 was the feature race of the inaugural Long Beach Grand Prix in 1975, while the final Champ Car race was the 2008 Long Beach race. |
| Detailed Description |  Lost In Time presents a historical summation of the professional SCCA racing category of Formula 5000 that existed between 1968 and 1976. The series featured powerful, nimble open-wheel racecars and attracted some of the world’s best drivers to contests on a selection of North America’s finest road racing venues. The stars were bright. The competition was intense. The question of why the series didn’t last longer than it did remains all but unanswerable.  Indy Split explores the history of Indy car racing during Hulman-George family’s 75-year stewardship of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While the book focuses on the “split” between Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and the Indy Racing League (IRL) that occurred from 1996-2008, it actually analyzes decades of conflict between IMS management and Indy 500 competitors that resulted in NASCAR emerging as America’s favorite form of motorsport. Roger Penske’s acquisition of the Speedway and the IndyCar Series in 2020 finally provided the Indy car community genuine closure from the damaging effects of the split and confidence that the sport can regain the level of popularity it enjoyed up through the first half of the 1990s. |
| Panelist Bios |  John Zimmermann, the award-winning author of Dan Gurney’s Eagle Racing Cars, began his 40-year career in motorsports journalism as Managing Editor of RACECAR, and continued as Founding Editor of both On Track and RACER magazines, with a stint as Motorsports Editor at AutoWeek sandwiched in between. His freelance work has appeared numerous publications, including Road & Track, Autosport (UK), Motor Trend, Motor Sport (UK), Newsweek International, Automobile Year and The Sunday Times (of London). Lost In Time is his third book, as he also authored The Atlantic Championship, celebrating the first 25 years of one of racing’s top development series.  John Oreovicz first witnessed cars on track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 22, 1977, the day Janet Guthrie became the first female qualifier for the Indianapolis 500. Since 1993, he covered more than 400 Indy car races around the world for outlets including National Speed Sport News, RACER magazine, and ESPN. He resides in Speedway, Indiana, a three-block walk from Turn 1 of IMS. |
| Media | Indy Split is available direct from Octane Press. https://octanepress.com Lost In Time is available direct from Racemaker Press. https://www.racemaker.com Both books are available at Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank. https://www.autobooks-aerobooks.com |
