My Travels on Racer Road: Can-Am and Formula 1 in Their Golden Age

As Sir Jackie Stewart states in his Foreword, "Pete Lyons was one of the best journalists in Formula 1 at the time I was racing." Lyons himself writes that when he became obsessed with motor racing, "It felt like my true road."

He witnessed Chaparral, Lola, McLaren and Porsche create ever-more-monstrous Can-Am beasts to be tamed by the likes of Jim Hall, John Surtees, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Mario Andretti and Mark Donohue. His cameras, notebooks and typewriter also were there when Tyrrell, Lotus, McLaren and Ferrari were the dominant forces in Formula 1, with Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Niki Lauda and James Hunt the World Champion drivers.

• Early travels, including criss-crossing the USA in his family's pre-war Rolls-Royce and by Vincent motorcycle in the late 1950s, then discovering Europe's racing scene as an impecunious wanderer in the early 1960s
• Breaking into professional reporting from 1964 for the UK's Autosport alongside his father Ozzie Lyons, with assignments embracing Indycar, endurance sportscars, Formula 1 and more, and getting to know the great names in these worlds
• Falling in love with the Can-Am upon its inception in 1966 and following this "big-banger" racing closely for seven seasons, during which "Riding with Revvie" -- laps with 1971 series champion Peter Revson in a McLaren M8F -- was among the highlights. Lyons's travels "on racer road" took him all over North America by Volvo station wagon, Ford van and Honda CB750 motorcycle
• Embarking in 1973 upon four seasons of global travels with the Formula 1 "circus" and all the diversions that came with that, including time spent with Emerson Fittipaldi at his home in Brazil and a British rallying odyssey as Denny Hulme's navigator
• Around Europe, Lyons's means of travel included his Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, a VW camper van that doubled as mobile office and hotel, and rented private aircraft that he flew to races himself.
• In his post-nomadic life, Lyons has been plying his trade ever since as a writer, photographer and editor

Immersed in a golden age of racing, Lyons brought a unique blend of evocative description and fastidious factual detail to his craft, putting his devoted readers at the heart of the action. This captivating memoir will transport you back to those times.

Author: Pete Lyons
Publisher: Evro Publishing Limited
Published: 03/25/2025
Pages: 560
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 4.45lbs
Size: 9.65h x 8.55w x 1.65d
ISBN: 9781910505878

About the Author

Born in 1940 in New York State, Pete Lyons is an international motorsports reporter, photographer and award-winning book author in the fields of Formula 1, Can-Am, endurance sportscars, Indycar, Trans-Am and many more forms of racing. In his decades-long, worldwide career, Lyons covered events on all six populated continents for numerous enthusiast publications, including Autosport, AutoWeek, Car and Driver, Racecar, Road & Track, Vintage Motorsport and many others. He is also the author of 20 published books including, for Evro Publishing, Shadow: The Magnificent Machines of a Man of Mystery, which won 'Specialist Motoring Book of the Year' at the 2020 Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards (UK) and 'Best Book' at the 2021 Automotive Heritage Awards (USA).

Mario Andretti is auto racing's definition of "Been There, Won That." His professional driving career spanned more than four decades and includes pit-stops as a Formula One driver (1978), an Indy 500 winner (1969), the Daytona 500 (1967), and four CART/USAC open-wheel racing national championships. Andretti has been called Mr. Versatile, known for driving everything from USAC sprint cars on the dirt to IndyCars, sports racing prototypes, and of course F1. He was Newman Haas Racing's first driver when the team was formed in 1982, raced there for 12 seasons, and is considered one of Paul Newman's closest friends.