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Book Note: W.E. Butterworth, Team Racer

I read this book about 14-Mar-2006. This is the first time I've read this book. The book is copyright 1972. This note was last modified Wednesday, 29-Aug-2007 23:46:41 PDT.

This note contains spoilers for the book.

 

Yeah, another juvenile racing novel. This one says it's a sequel to Road Racer, but I couldn't tell that from the book, and I haven't read the first book.

Butterworth is the same person as the more recent bestseller W.E.B. Griffin.

Steve Haas is a trouble-shooting engineer for an auto company, when he's shoved into the assembly line manager role at a plant, as part of preparing him for a real executive position. He's only 26, but he learns fast, and more to the point is good at people management. The racing is an unofficial company-union collaboration (helped by the shop steward being a friend of Steve's from the Army); Steve ends up driving after the other person with a racing license unoficially withdraws (at least before he wrecks the car).

It's good at one of the things Griffin is good at—command, or at least people management. And it has a number of classic tropes—turns out Steve got a graduate degree in Marburg, and the plane sent to pick him up from Texas is an Aero Commander.

These are short, and quick reads. The back of this one seems to think it's for 12-16 year olds (which makes the 26-year-old protagonist a bit old, I'd have thought). But they're fun. They're upbeat and optimistic, and emphasize people making things both physically and intellectually, including making their lives. People make mistakes, but they learn from them.

 

 

 


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David Dyer-Bennet