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- Formula Atlantic: Tales from the Top Champions & Competitors, 1969 - 2009
Formula Atlantic: Tales from the Top Champions & Competitors, 1969 - 2009
Formula Atlantic: Tales from the Top Champions & Competitors, 1969 - 2009
Formula Atlantic: Tales from the Top Champions & Competitors, 1969 - 2009
AVAILABLE MAY 2025
Author: Gordon Kirby
Format: Hardcover with dust jacket, 9.5“ x 11.5”, 360 pages
Photographs: ___ color & b/w
ISBN: 979-8-9927598-0-8
Flip through the book here:
Special contributions from: Bobby Rahal
Through most of Formula Atlantic’s forty-year lifespan the formula was a key stepping-stone for American and Canadian drivers to Indy cars or Formula 1. Famously, 1976 and ’77 Formula Atlantic champion Gilles Villeneuve made the jump to F1 with Ferrari where he became one of the sport’s great legends winning six Grands Prix between 1978-’82 before crashing to his death in Belgium in May of 1982. A selection of other Formula Atlantic graduates went on to achieve great success in motor racing. Among these are Keke Rosberg who raced Atlantic cars in 1977 and ’78 and went on to win the Formula 1 World Championship with Williams in 1982. Bobby Rahal raced Atlantic cars for four years in the mid-seventies and went on to become an Indy 500 winner and three-time Indy car champion as well as establishing himself as one of the sport’s top team owners with multi-car operations competing in IndyCar and IMSA. Other top drivers who came up through Formula Atlantic include Indy car champions Danny Sullivan, Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve and Simon Pagenaud.
Bobby Rahal reminisces fondly about his formative years in Formula Atlantic from 1975-’78. “We were like a band of gypsies driving across Canada to the Atlantic races in those days,” Bobby recalls. “We met many people along the way who are still good friends of mine today, guys like James King, Tom Gloy, Tom Klausler and Cliff Hansen. We were all young guys in our early twenties and we travelled together with our cars and little trailers. For me, it was my post-graduate studies after college.
“There were a lot of people in the Atlantic series at that time who had visions of going on to bigger and better things. Guys like Gilles Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg went on to become top-flight Formula 1 drivers and guys like Gloy, Klausler and James King went on to achieve a lot in the sport. It was a fantastically productive formula and Gordon Kirby tells its story with authority and enthusiasm. It’s a great read!”
Formula Atlantic: Tales from the Top Champions & Competitors, 1969 - 2009
AVAILABLE MAY 2025
Author: Gordon Kirby
Format: Hardcover with dust jacket, 9.5“ x 11.5”, 360 pages
Photographs: ___ color & b/w
ISBN: 979-8-9927598-0-8
Flip through the book here:
Special contributions from: Bobby Rahal
Through most of Formula Atlantic’s forty-year lifespan the formula was a key stepping-stone for American and Canadian drivers to Indy cars or Formula 1. Famously, 1976 and ’77 Formula Atlantic champion Gilles Villeneuve made the jump to F1 with Ferrari where he became one of the sport’s great legends winning six Grands Prix between 1978-’82 before crashing to his death in Belgium in May of 1982. A selection of other Formula Atlantic graduates went on to achieve great success in motor racing. Among these are Keke Rosberg who raced Atlantic cars in 1977 and ’78 and went on to win the Formula 1 World Championship with Williams in 1982. Bobby Rahal raced Atlantic cars for four years in the mid-seventies and went on to become an Indy 500 winner and three-time Indy car champion as well as establishing himself as one of the sport’s top team owners with multi-car operations competing in IndyCar and IMSA. Other top drivers who came up through Formula Atlantic include Indy car champions Danny Sullivan, Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve and Simon Pagenaud.
Bobby Rahal reminisces fondly about his formative years in Formula Atlantic from 1975-’78. “We were like a band of gypsies driving across Canada to the Atlantic races in those days,” Bobby recalls. “We met many people along the way who are still good friends of mine today, guys like James King, Tom Gloy, Tom Klausler and Cliff Hansen. We were all young guys in our early twenties and we travelled together with our cars and little trailers. For me, it was my post-graduate studies after college.
“There were a lot of people in the Atlantic series at that time who had visions of going on to bigger and better things. Guys like Gilles Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg went on to become top-flight Formula 1 drivers and guys like Gloy, Klausler and James King went on to achieve a lot in the sport. It was a fantastically productive formula and Gordon Kirby tells its story with authority and enthusiasm. It’s a great read!”
