Click for larger view

Damn Few Died In Bed initially gives the impression that it would feature obituaries of racecar drivers. And although there is an appendix with photo records of 69 drivers that died during this era, the book is a tribute to their memories and not an account of their deaths. In short, this is the autobiography of the extraordinary life of an automotive racing enthusiast who started out modifying Model T Fords, progressed through sprint cars, and ended up as a winning Indy car mechanic. Andy Dunlop was a master mechanic and crew chief who spent almost fifty years in American automotive competition. He began as a highly skilled designer and builder of successful racecars. Initially he drove his own single-seaters. Then in the 1930s he decided to devote all of his attention to the preparation of cars for other brave men to test their skills on the dirt tracks of the Midwest.

With superb mechanical ability, Andy became a shrewd innovator and a good judge of character when it came to finding a driver to do well in the cars he fielded. When he teamed up with Wally Stokes for the 1948 racing season, the two became the scourge of the sprints, winning 27 feature races on tracks all over the East. After Wally's untimely death in a road accident, Andy went to work for Pete Salemi's Cleveland-based Central Excavating Team, contesting the National Championship and the Indianapolis 500.

In a book that captures the essence of American dirt track racing, Tom Saal's skillful interviews with Andy Dunlop bring out the highs and lows of the amazing life of a chief mechanic on the championship trail in the Fifties and Sixties. Time and again he matched his skills with some of the best mechanics and teams of the day. More than fifty drivers earned rides in Andy's cars, including five Indianapolis winners and National champions. Yet as the title implies, his vocation had its darker side. Although only one man died while driving for him, a good many friends and acquaintances lost their lives at the wheel during the course of his career.

From his stories, one also senses the remarkable mechanical skill and inventiveness he brought to his team and pitted against his competition.

With his no-nonsense style, Andy gives us a rare insight into a life at the pinnacle of American oval track racing: its frustrations, moments of glory and unforgiving danger. This is a true testament to Andy Dunlop and the others who lived and sometimes died on the edge, preparing cars and driving them to the limit.