By Cyndi Paceley - May 7, 2021, 10:30 AM ET

New on the Bookshelf: Indiana’s Lost Speedways

Champaign, IL -- Living just an hour from Indiana’s western border and visiting family members in our neighbor state, Team Paceley has trekked to many a racetrack in our nearby travels. Add in one team member’s childhood adventures watching races at numerous Hoosier tracks, and it’s easy to see why we enjoyed meandering Memory Lane through Indiana’s Lost Speedways and Legendary Drivers.

The 128-page paperback just released Monday (May 3) by Arcadia Publishing is authored by David Humphrey with the Indiana Racing Memorial Association. With an introduction by IRMA co-founder Mark Eutsler, the book offers a nostalgic collection of photos, posters, programs, postcards and other memorabilia that nicely captures the characters, traditions and camaraderie of racing’s bygone days across the state of Indiana -- from soap box derbies in Anderson to Midget races at Jungle Park.

Though Indiana still boasts about 40 asphalt, clay and dirt-covered oval tracks, dozens have fallen by the wayside over the last century. This book pays tribute to the Indiana-born drivers -- well-known and unknown -- who thrilled fans at those now-defunct tracks.

Included is Evansville native Charlie Wiggins, who won the

Gold and Glory Sweepstakes

four times; Bloomington’s Bob Kinser, whose 40 years of racing earned him a place in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame; and Muncie’s Tom Cherry, another Sprint Car HoF inductee who won the Little 500 four times.

The book is available from

Arcadia Publishing,

Barnes & Noble

and other booksellers.