Allen Platt

I was greatly anticipating the publication of this book about Hubert Platt. As a gearhead and fan of racing I've consumed many books on drag racing, in particular those that pioneered those way-out races of the 60's and 70's (when I was a kid). I got completely hooked while living in Gainsville Florida and attending Gator Nationals - something about the engine roar and the smell of hot fuels really gets the heart going. I still make it out to local quarter and eighth mile tracks on occasion - great time to catch up with friends, especially later over a few beers. Anyway, I digress - what got me eying this title was the Georgia Shaker - seems one of the investors in my 50's/60's neighborhood development was an old Ford dealer who also sponsored this car - funny how you occasionally come across some serendipity like that.

The book is typical of CarTech Publshing at about 8 1/2" x 11" with stiff paper covers and a glued binding. It's filled with 192 pages of color and black and white photos of Platt recounting his history and mostly significant events - it's also written in a style that's easy to read and interesting. I think anyone who's into racing and in particular 60's drag will enjoy this book - it's informative and hard to put down. Lots of candid photos and reprints of old magazine covers. It's written by Hubert's son, Allen so you can be assured the information is accurate.

I received this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Readers program.… (mehr)

This is the nonfiction automotive biography of famous racer Hubert Platt, the "Georgia Shaker", as written by his youngest son. It spans Hubert Platt's entire life, from 1931 to 2015, focusing mainly on his racing in the '60s and '70s and the many cars he ran during that time period. Interesting and entertaining, the author captures the reader's attention, keeping a book involving a lot of names, places, and numbers from being remotely boring. The 420+ neat pictures throughout this book are a joy to behold.

Despite the fact that I personally liked the book, there are some negative comments I have about it.

There seem to be some aggrandized stories repeated here. For instance, it states that "Legend has it that there were some weekends when he would race the 1938 in both A- and B-Gas competition on the same day, changing out the intake setup from the carburetor to the injectors between rounds. Anybody who has ever turned a wrench at the drag races knows that was no easy feat." Not only is it no easy feat, it is virtually impossible in such a short time, and even if it was possible, changing the intake setup would not have moved the car from A/Gas to B/Gas. Even though the author clearly states it was "legend", including stories like this does not lend to credibility. Other such aggrandized stories include stating that "Dyno" Don Nicholson was "the first to master the dynamometer" although this claim is unproven, and stating that Platt's enclosed racecar hauler in 1971 was "ahead of its time and a hint of things to come" although enclosed haulers had been used by racers since the sixties.

There are several typos and mistakes the editor missed. These include saying such things as the batteries were relocated to the "truck" for better weight distribution, and "Hubert was a wealth knowledge". Also, the index sends you to at least one or two incorrect pages. The most stand-out mistake is the fact that Hubert Platt's nearly equally famous brother Houston had his name misspelled as "Huston" probably 50 times throughout the entire book. The only places you can see his name spelled correctly are in the pictures, where you can clearly see it on the side of his car.

Despite these problems, I would still heartily recommend this book to any drag racing aficionado. Four stars.… (mehr)