Raoul 'Sonny' Balcaen: My Exciting True-Life Story in Motor Racing from Top-Fuel Drag-Racing Pioneer to Jim Hall, Reventlow Scarab, Carroll Shelby and - Hardcover

by Pete Lyons (Author), Jill Amadio (Author)

Raoul 'Sonny' Balcaen grew up in Los Angeles at a time when it became the epicentre of American motor racing, nurturing a vast talent pool of people whose influence has echoed through to today.

• Aged 17, Balcaen built his own Top Fuel drag racer, the 'Bantamweight Bomb', which he developed relentlessly and drove to many successes.
• His role in the fabulous Scarab sports cars -- the landmark all-American racers -- and insights into life with their creator, the incomparable Lance Reventlow.
• Working as crew chief to the brilliant Jim Hall, preparing and running his Lotus Eleven and Lister-Chevrolet long before the famous Chaparrals emerged.
• A second spell with Scarab, this time with the Formula 1 project -- the first American Grand Prix car -- plus a special job for Reventlow converting a Scarab sports racer into a street car.
• Onwards into setting up his own successful business, IECO (Induction Engineering Co), to create and sell high-grade performance and appearance accessories, with Chevrolets -- especially Corvair and Vega -- featuring strongly.
• His many-faceted dealings with Carroll Shelby, leading to consultancy and even assignments as occasional Shelby American company pilot.
• Along the way we meet many other big names of the era, including Chuck Daigh, Bruce Kessler, Warren Olson, Dick Troutman, Tom Barnes, Phil Remington, Ken Miles, Leo Goossen, Jim Travers, Frank Coon, Ed Donovan and Pete Brock.

Author Biography

Born in 1940 in New York State, Pete Lyons is an international motorsports reporter, photographer and award-winning book author in the fields of Formula 1, Can-Am, endurance sportscars, Indycar, Trans-Am and many more forms of racing. In his decades-long, worldwide career, Lyons covered events on all six populated continents for numerous enthusiast publications, including Autosport, AutoWeek, Car and Driver, Racecar, Road & Track, Vintage Motorsport and many others. He is also the author of 20 published books including, for Evro Publishing, Shadow: The Magnificent Machines of a Man of Mystery, which won 'Specialist Motoring Book of the Year' at the 2020 Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards (UK) and 'Best Book' at the 2021 Automotive Heritage Awards (USA).