Rapid Response: My Inside Story as a Motor Racing Life-Saver

by Stephen Olvey

Now available in paperback. This is the compelling story of the author's life in motor racing, providing fascinating insight into crashes involving many famous racers and circuits. The book begins with Alex Zanardi's crash in Germany in 2001, and from there the author reflects on his career with many tragic, funny, interesting stories.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2010

Reviews

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great! I was hooked from the beginning with Zanardi’s foreword, and I enjoyed Olvey’s timeline of stories detailing CART. It’s amazing to understand the evolution of safety in the sport due to tough lessons learned, and I have a huge appreciation for the work he and his colleagues championed and developed. There are definitely graphic details and some photos. The description of the crashes and different racing events is detailed, and I felt like I could picture what happened. I was not into motorsports before mostly bc I have never been around it, but this book has gotten me very interested in it. Olvey is also quite (!) funny throughout.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. Olvey is obviously a much better doctor than he is an author. It is the story of the development of the medical safety team for CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams). What started as a crude, disorganized response to racing accidents developed into a world class response team that saved the lives of many drivers. Tragedy taught them many lessons in techniques and equipment not only in responding to accidents, but recommending equipment that prevented injuries. Having grown up with racing in this era I remember many of the incidents.