Author/Photographer Pete Lyons Visits AutoBooks in Burbank Saturday October 29, 2005

Veteran Motorsports Writer Will Sign Copies of His Newly-Reissued “Can-Am” Book Burbank, Calif. - - One sunny day at a sports car race on the old public road course at Bridgehampton, NY, a very young lad who, at that time, had no interest in automobiles was invited to step into the cockpit of a tiny Cooper-Norton F3 race car. “This one fits me!” he remembers exclaiming in his mind. Today, he remembers that as a life-changing moment.

Now, some fifty years down the road, on Saturday, October 29 to be exact, that “grown-up” young lad, Ozzie Lyon's son Peter; will visit Autobooks in Burbank (from noon until 3PM) with the expressed purpose of signing the newly re-released paperback edition of one his justifiably famous books on the richly fabled and colorful Can-Am era of American road racing.

But that's only the tip of the iceberg. The store's true purpose in scheduling the man is simply to wind him up, sit him down, and let this true original spin his personal stories of the glory days of the Can-Am and F1, and Indy Car racing as only he can.

Friends, fans, newbies, old hands, experts, and amateurs alike: Please do heed this wonderful opportunity to hang with one of the true heroes of the sport, the great Pete Lyons. For those who are a bit cloudy on Lyon's background here's a few 'graphs we stole from his excellent and highly-recommended site www.petelyons.com: “… For several years Pete reported on the North American scene for Autosport, regularly attending great events like the Daytona 24-hour and 500-mile races, the Sebring 12-hour, the Indy 500, and the annual Formula One Grands Prix in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. A special favorite was the Can-Am, the Canadian-American Challenge Cup series for essentially unlimited big sports racing cars. Those glorious years from 1966 to 1974 are the basis for two of Pete's books, CAN-AM and CAN-AM PHOTO HISTORY, both from MBI Publishing.

Pete then went international, and spent four wonderful years as the F1 correspondent for both Autosport and the American publication AutoWeek. From 1973 through 1976, at a time before live television or the internet, when fans had to wait for their magazine to arrive to learn the results of a race weekend, Pete tried to put the reader into his shoes at such exotic locales as Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Japan and all the great circuits of Europe.

After several years on-staff as editor of a US racing monthly, which at first was called Formula and later renamed Racecar, Pete chose to become a freelancer once again. Today he contributes to a wide variety of automotive publications, including AutoWeek, for whom he is now a Senior Contributing Editor, and Vintage Racecar Journal, which carries his regular column, "Fast Lines." He also serves as editor of MilePost, the monthly organ of the Motor Press Guild (MPG). Other prestigious publications in which Pete's byline has appeared include Racer, Road & Track, Corvette Quarterly, Car and Driver, Vintage Motorsport, Cycle, Cycle World, Private Pilot and many others.

To date Lyons is the author of six books. His work has been honored with the Dean Batchelor Award of the Motor Press Guild, an Award for Journalism given by the Road Racing Driver's Club, and the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award.

The Historic Grand Prix Association periodically awards its Pete Lyons Cup to owners of vintage F1 cars whom Pete feels best recreate the spirit of the historic times he remembers so vividly.

The flying bug bit, too: he earned his private pilot's license in 1976, and has owned Cessna, Mooney and Piper aircraft. At the extremes of the flight envelope, he has proudly logged pilot time in the Goodyear Blimp and at the stick of a Navy Blue Angels jet.

With his wife, Lorna Fitts Lyons, two dogs and two cats, Pete is at home today in a small mountain community in southern California ...” BOILERPLATE: Autobooks-Aerobooks is the legendary bookshop in bustling Burbank that's (almost) totally dedicated to the history and excitement of the automobile. Airplanes (especially military ones), motorcycles (especially fast ones) and trucks (almost any kind of them) are also part of the wonderful mix of media which includes books, magazines, DVDs, Tapes, paintings, posters, photos, tin signs; and scale, diecast models (hundreds and hundreds of the most accurate, coolest, neatest … gotta have 'em diecast models). Of late, increased interest in the classics has given impetus for a good selection of used books on both subjects (car and planes) many coming in from important collections.

Founded in 1951 by racer, track operator (Willow Springs), and former Road & Track staffer, the late Harry Morrow; Autobooks-Aerobooks has been in constant operation ever since, supplying car “lovers” and airplane “nuts” with their weekly “fix” of hot-off-the-press information on their favorite subjects.

The atmosphere at Autobooks is very much akin to the old general store, where the latest news and information is always a hot topic. It's a place where cool street rods park cuddle up next to new Ferraris and well-worn Volvo wagons in the parking lot; and where the great races, drivers, and cars are all still in action (in books, on tape, and in miniature). The store features regular book-signings with great authors and photographers and the chances of meeting someone who's a bona fide member of the “I ? cars and planes club” are always high any time that the store is open.

Autobooks-Aerobooks is located in Burbank, California on Magnolia Blvd. just one block East of Hollywood Way. Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10AM - 6PM (with a special Cruise-In (mini-car show) featuring FREE coffee and doughnuts set for every Saturday morning from 8 - 11AM).