Titles by the Author Driving Forces

Peter Stevenson

Born a Navy brat while his father worked at the Pentagon in 1941, Stevenson was whisked away to New Zealand where the family got a ringside seat for the war in the Pacific. He spent his first three years there learning how to walk on the lawns of the Japanese ambassador's house (the Ambassador had taken a quick trip for the duration).

Back in the States after the war with a bit of an English accent, he and his generation discovered that no toys had been built during the War so they had to make their own, building what they couldn't afford or find on the shelves at any price. Some time later, with his own kids to raise, he found the same situation, and built the toys that appeared in his book The Art Of Making Wooden Toys.

During this time, Stevenson and his older brothers had become fascinated with the sportscars that the G.I.s were bringing back from England. Stevenson was able to tag along to some of the earliest roadraces on the West Coast where Allards did battle against the big American Cunninghams.

Later, Stevenson did volunteer work at the Briggs Cunningham Automotive Museum where he was able to talk with some of the visiting racing greats like Juan Fangio, Sterling Moss, Reid Railton, and Innes Ireland, as well as interview one of the characters in Driving Forces, Rene Dreyfus in New York. At the museum Stevenson was also able to get the cockpit feel and handling characteristics of vintage race cars before they became precious icons.

Stevenson wrote vintage motoring features for national magazines including Road & Track as well as in his book The Greatest Days Of Racing with an introduction by Grand Prix champion Phil Hill.

Stevenson passed away in June of 2012 and is fondly missed by his family, friends and all of us at Bentley Publishers.