The cover description of this book is that it “. . . takes you on a revealing, roller-coaster ride down memory lane . . .”, and it successfully accomplishes this. Regarding “memory lane”, there are abundant reminiscences, anecdotes, period photos, race results, performance standings, etc. – along with extensive name-checking – to stimulate memories in afficionados of local motorsports in upstate New York. It even lists the eighteen individuals likely to spend weeknights in Louis Lazzaro’s North Utica garage, and there is a seven-page index of names for readers to conveniently check whether they, their friends, and/or their relatives are mentioned.
Lou Lazzaro certainly compiled an impressive racing record as a stock car driver on dirt and asphalt tracks in the Northeast, mainly in eastern New York State. Unfortunately, the density of detail is likely to deter any but the most dedicated fans from picking up the book and sticking with it long enough to discover what it does “reveal” beyond the minutia of Lazzaro’s life. Buried here and there in short sections and more often between the lines than in them, is a fascinating story not only of a life, but also of its times. It’s a story of an upstate New York when the prosperous industries of earlier times went out of business or left for greener – and warmer – pastures. It’s a story of families struggling to get by in a difficult economy, sometimes managing to stay together, sometimes drifting apart when children moved south or west, and sometimes with the remaining fragments coming together to form new families.
The main story, though, is about the community formed around motor racing, a community of builders, owners, drivers, sponsors, promoters, and of course fans. Like a family, there could be intense competition, both for attention and for a share of limited resources. But there was also a family-like sense that everyone was in it together. Small suppliers would often lend a hand to owner-drivers facing a dry spell when prize money wasn’t coming in. Unrelated local service businesses were willing to chip in a contribution from time to time, earning a namecheck painted on the cars. Fans stepped up to help teams or tracks, volunteering their time to be part of the ongoing show. And sometimes they pulled together to assist those whom the social services system was letting down. It was a long way from the money-driven big business of contemporary Formula One or NASCAR competition, although over the course of Louis Lazzaro’s career, it had begun to drift in that direction.
As Lazzaro: The Man and His Machines, the book is limited. Amidst the overwhelmingly abundant statistics there is very little about the machines, and it takes for granted that the reader knows what the racing classes were, why the vehicles looked the way they did, and how they evolved. But beneath the surface as Lazzaro: His Life and His Times, the book is a rewarding read about a time and a place and a man who with patience, perseverance, and character made a meaningful life in motorsports that changed the lives of others.
McGoun, Elton G. (2024) “Book Review of LAZZARO: A Man and His Machines. By Ron Moshier. Newburyport, MA: Coastal 101, 2023. 180 pages.,” Journal of Motorsport Culture & History: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 3. Available at: https://scholars.unh.edu/jmotorsportculturehistory/vol4/iss1/3
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About the Journal of Motorsports Culture & History
The Journal of Motorsport Culture & History aims to provide quality motorsport based academic research based on cultural or historical inquiries. Issues will be released once per year in the fall, starting in October of 2019. Manuscripts will be subject to a desk review for fit, and a double-blind peer review for quality and rigor. Student authors are encouraged to submit their research. The scope of JMCH includes, but is not limited to, motorsport research or interpretive essays within: sociology, cultural studies, communication studies, and history (books & newspapers, films, movies, radio & television, museum exhibits, resource guides).