Embrace the "Romance of Racing" with Dario Franchitti

The book publishing business is changing, with the internet making it possible to produce works that might not be considered viable by mainstream publishers. That's the thinking behind , a quality 128-page book of essays by triple Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti, allied to brilliant motorsport images, produced in collaboration with former Editor Andy Hallbery. The book will be published privately, funded by pledges via kickstarter.com.

"Why am I doing this book? Very simply because I love racing and I love publishing, and embraces them both," Hallbery explains. "I want to share these passions to the outside world, and people of a similar mindset who enjoy motorsport, and want to be involved in the project, besides reading the end product. 

"The reason I chose Dario Franchitti as the author is that he is a very successful racing driver. As well as being a winner, he embraces the , and the work others have achieved in his sport.

"I have known Dario for more than 20 years, as a friend as well as a colleague, and pestered him for a long time to do a book. He will not do an autobiography until he has retired from racing, and that is a long way off yet. So instead I came up with something that Dario is also well known for, his love of racing history. He was enthusiastic about the idea immediately and my thoughts as to how it should be produced. The book we are going to publish is a high-quality, 128-page photo book with essays written by Dario explaining his reasons behind the choices, from heroes to friends."

Hallbery adds that Franchitti will not make any money from the book.

"The funding will go to buy the print and paper, plus delivery contributions to our distributor. Another major cost is the photo fees, and without world publishing rights there would be no book. Dario Franchitti will NOT be making a penny out of our project and has donated his time, enthusiasm and words to the publication to make it happen with no fee," he say. "Advertising and promotion will mainly be via social media and word of mouth using prominent stars of the racing world, but a portion of the money will be used to fund Review copies for the media, building the website and the production of the video both of which we had to make in advance of the book."