Book review: Aussie ‘Speed Kings’ at the Indy 500

There’s a mystique associated with the Indianapolis 500.

When traffic’s moving fast and erratically, the casual observer will be heard to remark that it’s like the Indianapolis 500.

But when it comes to awareness, the ‘Indy 500’ plays second fiddle in this country to F1 at Albert Park and Supercars at Bathurst.

The famous open-wheel race is the subject of John Smailes’ latest book, ‘Speed Kings’, which takes the reader through the history and background of the Indy 500 and its famous venue, ‘The Brickyard’ – and the assortment of Australian and New Zealand drivers who have competed in the event over the years since its inception.

Early Aussie competitor, race promoter and polygamist Rupert Jeffkins, features in the early pages of the book.

Smailes sets the tone with his fair and balanced assessment of the three-times married but never divorced Jeffkins. The author is always impartial but also personally engaged by his subject matter.

Nearly half a century passed between Jeffkins’ memorable turn as riding mechanic for Ralph de Palma in 1912 and Sir Jack Brabham’s entry in the 1961 Indy 500, driving the ground-breaking rear-engined Cooper Climax.

Since then, however, drivers from the antipodes have been drawn to the Indy 500 in increasing numbers, including Aussie racing royalty, James Davison and Matthew Brabham.

The book contains many interesting anecdotes, one example being Jeffkins’ entrepreneurial relationship with the infamous John Wren – a man whose thinly disguised story was told in ‘Power without Glory’.

There’s much sadness recounted in ‘Speed Kings’. So many deaths – not all of them on the racetrack.

Denny Hulme’s 21-year-old son Martin died in a swimming accident around the time of the 1988 AGP in Adelaide. That tragic event placed a lot of stress on the marriage of Denny and his wife Greeta, but their relationship had begun to recover – only for Hulme to be taken by a heart attack four years later, behind the wheel of a BMW M3 at Mount Panorama for the 1992 Bathurst 1000.

There are numerous heartbreaking stories like that, but there are also a few to lift the spirits. We learn, for example, what Allan Moffat’s first wife, Pauline, has been doing since she and her illustrious husband parted company.

And there’s a vicarious thrill for the reader when Ryan Briscoe relates Roger Penske’s offer to him to drive sports cars. Briscoe’s salary was paid directly by Porsche – with Penske’s proposal that Briscoe compete in the Indy 500 just icing on the cake.

Smailes leaves some of the more controversial remarks in the book to American journalist Robin Miller, but he reserves for himself an opportunity to give the Toyota F1 factory team a mild kicking for its unrealistic expectations and its lack of support for team manager Ove Andersson.

The author’s remarks are pithy and candid, coming as they do from a bloke who was a prominent PR consultant to Toyota Australia over many years. Perhaps in the book he is simply echoing what Toyota Australia execs themselves were saying at the time.

So there’s a lot of nuance and detail in this book, with ‘Speed Kings’ also a potted history of the race, including the dramatic split and eventual healing of the CART series and IRL.

An index at the rear of the book provides a quick reference for pinning down many of the key characters and events such as these.

At times, the book goes overboard with detail; one of the later chapters, ‘The Engine Room’, is heavy-going. It focuses on team management rather than the drivers, and introduces an internecine cast of players, most of whom will likely be complete unknowns for many readers.

But this was also the chapter that finished with some of the intriguing dirt concerning industrial espionage in the sport, including the ‘Atlanta Project’ car that essentially reproduced unique design traits of the McLaren M16.

The following chapter, ‘Aussie Heroes’, is almost the polar opposite, focusing on Australians at the pointy end of the Indy 500 – but not necessarily at the wheel, whether it’s race commentator Leigh Diffey, or ex-RAAF fighter pilot and now Red Bull Air Race competitor Matt Hall.

The specifications of Hall’s Zivko Edge 540 aerobatic plane can’t match an IndyCar racer for power-to-weight ratio, but its ability to roll 420 degrees in under a second and withstand 12g forces at speeds up to 425km/h make for terrifying numbers.

Hall himself is no less impressive, having escaped death over Iraq in 2003, flying an F15 Eagle for the USAF.

The book concludes with Aussie winner Will Power and Indy aspirant Scott McLaughlin. The latter is familiar to Supercars followers and Smailes shines further light on the young Penske acolyte, but Power remains something of an enigma, despite the author’s efforts.

The Queenslander is “bashful” and “self-deprecating”, but equally well-known for being handed a $30,000 fine after his offensive gesture at a race director. What we learn about Power is from those around him, not so much from the bloke himself.

As one would expect from Smailes, the quality and ‘cleanliness’ of the text is almost beyond reproach.

It’s also an enthralling read that doesn’t over-egg the story.

Edited and printed in Australia, ‘Speed Kings’ is priced at $32.99 and is a terrific gift for your favourite F1 or Supercars fan who needs his or her motor sport horizons broadened.