Lloyd Ruby--#17 finished

Lloyd Ruby: The Greatest Driver Never to Win the Indy 500, is the title, in case you, like me, have no idea who Lloyd Ruby was. I am still not really sure who Lloyd Ruby really was now either. This book seems to be thrown together and really doesn't go into any depth of the person--it really is the same thing over and over. A good guy, unassuming, laid back, easy going Texan, loyal to a fault, handshake is his word, etc etc. Now it all may be true and I am sure much of it really was, but this book was nothing but that chapter after chapter. The book's main focus was on the Indy 500 but I don't understand why more wasn't told about the other races he ran through the season. I guess while it at least mentions someone that people might have forgotten, it is really too bad that this effort wasn't better.

Thinking about the Rube Foster book, the Negro League pitcher, it was hard for the author to find people that had ever met him. That book was basically a research of black newspapers and 2nd or 3rd hand information. The book had tended to describe games he pitched by the numbers, like innings, strikeouts, runs given up, walks, etc but at least that detail gave the reader a true understanding of his performance. This book only talked about Indy, I don't get it, Indy is not the only race out there. Oh well, the book is what it is and to me it is a disappointment.

I have posted it on PBS and there was 1 WL for it so hopefully I will be sending it off. I hadn't noticed it earlier but the author has autographed the book also, oh well. If it was a Lloyd Ruby autograph maybe but the author's autograph is not something very interesting to me.