Raoul ‘Sonny’ Balcaen

By Raoul F Balcaen, III with

Jill Amadio and Pete Lyons

We often talk of the importance of having been there and done that. Raoul ‘Sonny’ Balcaen can certainly claim that.

The skilled craftsman cut his teeth in Los Angeles when it boomed to become an American racing epicentre, and aged just 17 built and raced his own successful dragster.

He then helped no less prestigious figures as Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby on their way, was in the room when Scarab’s all-American Formula 1 engine was first fired up, and rubbed shoulders with plenty of other noteworthy people.

And his 320-page £30 autobiography published this month by Evro Publishing outlines his rich range of experiences with help from Jill Amadio and racing journalist Pete Lyons.

It takes us in detail from Balcaen’s ancestry to the present day, while throughout Balcaen’s passion and deftness is clear. It also doubles almost as an entrepreneurial manual and concludes with a summation of his values.