The incomparable “Gentleman Joe” Schubeck has finally opened his considerable photo scrapbook for our enjoyment:
Schubeck is a legendary drag racing driver and car builder, with additional significant careers in the racing safety equipment field, engine building, a lifelong love of trains, and interesting involvements in the world of aircraft. His fans and friends in motorsport equate to a Who’s Who of big names that run the gamut of going fast, particularly in terms of doing so (but not limited to) a quarter mile at a time. Which is why the SwampRat His-own-self, Big Daddy Don Garlits authored this just-released book’s Foreword. Joe’s been gathering photos, anecdotes, stories and other ephemera for decades, and has worked for some years to put it all together in book form, and its finally here.
True to the title, the layout and content come together in a simple, easy to digest Scrapbook style format and layout. It’s generally chronographical at the beginning, it then breaks down into easy to consume snippets and chapters that may center on a particular time, event, car or person. Read one at a time, or 10 at a time, as you like. A few of you may grouse that some of the artwork looks like “old snapshots taken on crappy old cameras” and that’s somewhat true, but that’s the way it was and often the way it looked back in the day. The fact that Schubeck could pull all this material together in one place is important, and it all adds charm, context and reality to the story(ies).
I won’t ruin the rest of it for you but if you enjoy the halcyon days of hot rodding and drag racing by a guy and guys (and gals) that were truly there, then I strongly recommend this wonderful work for your nightstand and library. The writing is easy, the stories, tales, and photos are charming, and you’ll thoroughly enjoy the ride. And to this I add props and a shoutout to Mrs. Gigi Carleton Schubeck, Joe’s wife and a dear friend of mine with whom I collaborated on my book HOT ROD EMPIRE about the life, times, and cars of specialty publishing doyens Margie and Robert E. Petersen. Gigi worked tireless at Joe’s side to bring this project to fruition, and kudos to them for the effort and investment in self-publishing it.
Need to know:
Purchase at:
And trust me that it’s a ‘screamin deal at $40.
