a ROCKIN' tip o' the hat to Peter Egan, ROAD & TRACK columnist, bringing back memories of "where it all began"

Peter Egan may be the best-read columnist in the entire automotive / motorsports world. He writes his "Side Glances" column each month in ROAD & TRACK.

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This month, in the May issue just out, he devotes nearly two full pages to ROCKIN' and Billy F. Gibbons' book ROCK & ROLL GEARHEAD. He gave both me and Billy propers and solids a-plenty, calling ROCKIN' "superbly researched," among much, much else.

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Egan is himself a guitarist and member of a [Madison, WI] rock band, The Defenders, so he knows what he's talking about here. This column's thesis is, "when you spend a couple of evenings with these two books, you can almost start to believe that cars and rock & roll are essential parts of exactly the same thing, like the ingredients that make up a cheeseburger." He goes on to discuss how certain cars have rock & roll spirit, whereas others clearly don't. It's an inspired essay, published in one of the world's great automotive mags seen by millions around the globe.

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Looking around for information about Egan, I found this statement online: "Peter has a unique gift: he's able to take all of the thoughts and feelings each of us has had at one time or another and put them down on paper. His universal appeal is that he speaks directly to our automotive souls." I couldn't agree more.

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Nurturing my automotive soul, I grew up on ROAD & TRACK. and SPORTS CAR GRAPHIC. I dove deep into those magazines each month for Formula One racing results like other kids read the daily newspaper for baseball standings. It was in my early high school years that I developed my respect for the late Jim Clark (many-time Formula One and Indy champion) in particular.

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In 1969, when I went away to college--Stanford--I took with me two issues of R & T: September '66 and September '67 (both shown above, and saved to this day). I was born in September, so that had further meaning, but the real reason I saved them was because they detailed Ford winning Le Mans for the first time ('66) and then repeating the next year ('67). I was a Ford guy, rooted for "Fast Freddie" Lorenzen in NASCAR (when 99% of the kids in New Jersey barely had any idea of what NASCAR was), and when I learned that the McLaren/Amon GT Mk II crossed the Le Mans finish line fist, well I kvelled with pride.

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In the '67 issue, I also read that my hero, Clark, won the Dutch Grand Prix in his Lotus 49 with its new Cosworth-Ford V-8, and that American Dan Gurney two weeks later, driving his Eagle-Westlake V-12, won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. That, on top of the 1967 Indy 500 which featured the Parnelli Jones-driven, Andy Granatelli-built (and highly controversial) turbine-engine race car (the contest itself was won by A.J. Foyt driving a Coyote-Ford, after a small part in the turbine car's gearbox broke on the 197th lap).

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Interestingly, in both issues, a Ferrari 275 GTS was portrayed on the cover. I've been a Ferrari guy too ever since, and just as much NOT a Porsche, BMW, or even Mercedes guy. It just happens that way (although I do confess a secret passion for vintage Austin-Healeys). I like sports cars and hot rods the way others love muscle cars, and reading R & T (and Rod & Custom) cemented that.

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I also have to say, being a writer, journalist, and author over many years now, that my respect for great automotive writers began with my reading the posts-from-afar by R & T European editor Henry N. Manney, and the monthly "Miscellaneous Ramblings" by publisher John R. Bond--amongst all the other great literary personalities I encountered in the mag, beginning in the very early '60s (I was born in 1951).

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So it really is about passion. Passion for certain magazines, for certain writers, race cars and drivers, and ultimately--in my case, and now I read in Peter Egan's case as well--for rock & roll itself and particular rockers besides. "We like the music and these old cars too," wrote Egan this month. "Both are a form of transportation to another place or time. They stop the clock for us at some moment we've idealized because it was, well, ideal."

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So for the second week in a row I say, "amen, brother." Yes, I affirm what I set out to do--tell the world all about the history of CARS and ROCK & ROLL. 'Cause (in the words of the new Avis commercials), "you're gonna need some rock when you roll."
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