Sean Cridland chronicled the history of Brumos, the most recognizable Porsche racing brand in North America, in detail in a three-volume set of books titled “Brumos: An American Racing Icon.” It took the author two years of research to compile this outstanding 1,500-page sports car trilogy. The idea was to start with one book. Soon Cridland received documents from the Brumos founders dating back to the 1920s. On top of that, he was allowed unlimited access to all of Peter Gregg’s business and personal records. The result is nothing but a true masterpiece. ‘Brumos: An American Racing Icon’ covers the entire history of the most recognizable American -if not global- racing team.
The Brumos story begins almost seven decades ago in 1953 when racing enthusiast Hubert Brundage acquired the rights to become the official Volkswagen importer for Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Originally located in Miami Springs, Florida, but later relocating to Jacksonville to be in closer proximity to the shipping port, the fast-growing dealership’s name was shortened from Brundage Motors to Brumos in the interests of increased name recognition and brevity. On September 1, 1959 Brumos signed a contract with Porsche becoming the licensed exclusive distributor of Porsche cars for the states of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. With business affairs settled and support from Porsche, Brumos would subsequently establish an official Brumos racing team which started to run a limited schedule of races within a day’s drive of Jacksonville with drivers such as Herbert Linge, Edgar Barth, Briggs Cunningham, and Ken Miles piloting.
- Volume 1 chronicles0 the historical events that led to the creation and development of one of the world’s legendary teams. With a foreword by Penske, the story begins with the introduction of Brumos founder Hubert Brundage and runs through significant events in American history before the onset of the American sports car craze of the 1950s.
- Volume 2 begins with a foreword by Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Founder and Chairman Bill Warner and recounts the explosive 1970s when Gregg, Haywood, Jack Atkinson and Porsche-owned American GT racing.
- Volume 3 starts with comments from actor and racer Patrick Dempsey. This volume examines the challenges and victories of Brumos in the post-Peter Gregg era, from early 1981 until 2020.
Conclusion
Sean Cridland had set the bar really high in his previous book Hurley: from the beginning. One could think it would be hard to equal that quality in a new book. However, delivering work of less quality was no option for Cridland. And the trilogy Brumos: an American Racing Icon is at least as good as its predecessor. It might even surpass it. Cridland has set a new standard for biographical books. Words fall short to describe Brumos: an American Racing Icon. An absolute masterpiece that you should have in your library. Awesome
Biography
Visions of Power
July 20, 2021
Hardcover with slipcase
1500 pages
Over 2000 pictures
English
