The Ragged Edge

Richard Nisley

Description

The Ragged Edge is the story of a man who is running— after the Grand Prix world championship he seems destined not to win, and after the woman who has left him. It’s a heart-stopping ride across three continents, on famed international circuits as glittering and intoxicating as Monaco and as beguiling and lethal as Germany’s ‘green hell’ Nurburg Ring.

Sujets

• Circuits
• Sports
• Adventure (Guyana)
• Racing
• Recreation
• Course de lévriers
• Adventure
• Cars
• Ride
• Novel
• Fiction
• Action
• Race
• Sport
• Autres sports

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 16 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665564373
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Ragged EDGE




Richard Nisley











AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]






© 2022 Richard Nisley. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/16/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-6436-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6438-0 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6437-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022912502




Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.



Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.



Contents
Foreword: Why I Wrote “The Ragged Edge”

Chapter 1 Round One: South Africa, January 1
Chapter 2 Chicago
Chapter 3 The High Desert, March
Chapter 4 Diablo Pass
Chapter 5 Willow Springs
Chapter 6 The San Fernando Valley
Chapter 7 England
Chapter 8 Round Two: The Spanish Grand Prix
Chapter 9 London
Chapter 10 Round Three: The Monaco Grand Prix
Chapter 11 Interlude
Chapter 12 Round Four: The Dutch Grand Prix
Chapter 13 Round Five: The Belgian Grand Prix
Chapter 14 Time To Go Like Hell
Chapter 15 The Brig & Age
Chapter 16 Round Six: The French Grand Prix
Chapter 17 Thillois
Chapter 18 The Caves
Chapter 19 An Ultimatum
Chapter 20 Round Seven: The British Grand Prix
Chapter 21 Race Day
Chapter 22 “Dad Wants To See You”
Chapter 23 Thurloe Street
Chapter 24 Round Eight: The German Grand Prix
Chapter 25 “Sometimes, There Are No Winners”
Chapter 26 Team Wagner
Chapter 27 Southern California
Chapter 28 A Trip Back In Time
Chapter 29 Diablo Pass Revisited
Chapter 30 Round Nine: The Italian Grand Prix
Chapter 31 Lake Como
Chapter 32 Akron
Chapter 33 Turn Eight
Chapter 34 Round Ten: The Canadian Grand Prix
Chapter 35 Watkins Glen
Chapter 36 Loss Of Rpm
Chapter 37 One Last Question
Chapter 38 Round Eleven: The United States Grand Prix
Chapter 39 Wagner Luck
Chapter 40 Once More, With Feeling

Afterword: True Lies


















“The best darn racing novel that ever was,”
— George “Hacksaw” Gilbert, legendary F-1 crew chief


















Also, for more writings on motor racing, check out Nisley’s website: “ richardnisley.com ”













To Cindy,
who never lost faith
Special thanks to Avie and Jerry Blount, for suggestions and help with editing; Jon Lang, for timely criticism, advise and encouragement; Danny Ongais, for taking time out from his busy schedule to read an early draft; and “the real guys,” John, for the cover photo, and dropping everything to go with me to Europe; David, for true friendship; and Rob and Charles, for those Porsche nights in the streets and hills of Southern California. Thanks to Dea Lenihen for enhancing the circuit maps.



Foreword
WHY I WROTE “THE RAGGED EDGE”
To me motor racing is a feeling, a feeling that beguiles the soul, and captures the imagination. Writing “The Ragged Edge”, was my attempt to capture that feeling.
I first became interested in motor racing in the summer of 1963, when my father introduced me to the sport’s highest expression–Grand Prix. All that first summer, I followed the sport religiously, reading about races in a host of European countries–from glamorous Monaco, to the rural landscape of southeast Belgium, to the ocean shoreline of the Netherlands, to the champagne region of France, to central England, to West Germany, to Milan, Italy, and finally, in the fall, across the Atlantic, to upstate New York, and on down to Mexico City. There was so much I didn’t understand, but was drawn in by the brilliance of Jim Clark of Scotland, who won seven of ten races, to become the 1963 world champion.
I particularly appreciated the international flavor of the sport, which reminded me of the Olympics, with drivers and racing teams representing a number of nations. I had to know more, and began an all-consuming study of the sport, starting with the drivers (three of whom were not only American, but came from my native California). I also was interested to learn that many of these drivers were well-read, refined and cultured individuals, mostly from well-to-do families. Many were English, who began their racing career as wealthy amateurs, competing not for money or fame, but for the sheer fun of it.
This spirit of amateurism that prevailed in England, prevailed on the Continent as well, where, after World War Two, money was in short supply. As with the drivers, many of the promoters who managed the sport were wealthy amateurs themselves. For drivers, moving up from the amateur ranks to Grand Prix Formula One, often depended upon getting someone to sponsor them, as opposed to having the requisite driving talent. As a result, Formula One in the 1960s was very much a mixed bag, of gifted amateurs and semi-professionals. The limited money that financed the teams was supplied mostly by oil and tire companies. The exception, of course, was Ferrari, which built luxury passenger cars to help finance the company’s aggressive racing department. To compensate teams and drivers, the track promoters would put up what they called “starting money” to guarantee a full field of cars.
If they were paid at all, drivers were allotted a rather meager salary of about $300 per month. On top of this they were compensated for their travel expenses. Other income came from starting money, winning races, and endorsements, plus a modest stipend from team sponsors.
Without a lot of money, little was done to insure driver safety. Many of the circuits were located far from major cities, and away from fully-equipped medical facilities. Many of the European circuits were created prior to World War Two, consisted mostly of ordinary country roads, and were little changed from that time, even though the racing cars had become much faster.
This was the world I discovered in 1963, a world mostly reported on by English journalists, who, in the spirit of amateurism, played down driver safety and the inevitable accidents, even the occasional driver death. Accidents were euphemistically reported as “shunts”, and should a driver be killed, it would be buried deep inside the race report. Were the drivers brave, or merely foolhardy? Neither, they possessed such superior car control, and such large egos, that they believed they were invincible.
BAND OF BROTHERS
Truly, they were a band of brothers, much as in the days of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; friends and rivals in fierce pursuit of fame and glory, who, week in and week out, battled each other on the most demanding and dangerous circuits in the world.
As preparation for writing my novel, I enrolled as a journalism major in college, believing that journalism would make me a better writer, as it had for Ernest Hemingway. While it did sharpen my writing skills considerably, the detached, facts-based reporting style of journalism, proved of little advantage when it came to writing fiction.
For the story setting, I chose the 1968 Grand Prix season, the year technology and commercialism began to transform the sport into what it is today.
Another part of my preparation was to make a detailed study of the cars and how they functioned. I also traveled to Europe to see first-hand a number of the Grand Prix circuits.
A fellow college student from my journalism days, upon learning I intended to write a racing novel, urged me to read Jackie Stewarts’ “Faster–A Racer’s Diary.”
“Stewart puts you right inside the cockpit and shows you what it’s like out there,” he said. “Don’t bother writing your novel until you’ve read Stewart’s book, or you’re wasting your time.” I did indeed read Stewart’s book, which very much helped with describing the racing action from the driver’s point of view.
All well and good, except that when I actually sat down to write the story, I realized that my journalistic approach didn’t work with writing fiction. There is a very big difference between the two forms of writing. To put it simply, with journalism, it’s the facts that tell the story. With fiction, it’s the characters that tell the story. It’s the difference between telling, and showing. In Hollywood, this is called point-of-view story-telling. It was something I didn’t know about, but learned to do over the course of many rewrites, that consumed about five years.
Of course, to make a story compelling, the author must put his character on a quest, which was easy to do with motor racing, where the goal is to win races, and championships. More difficult perhaps, is to make the main character three-dimensional, and believable. While I struggled in early drafts to make my main character come alive, in time I learned that it’s conflict that reveals character and makes him believable. While plotting the story, I thought the best way to do this was to create conflict between the team owner (Edward W. Garret), and the driver (John Wagner).
However