Rick Shaffer

More than 60 years ago, author/historian Rick Shaffer developed an interest in the sport of auto racing that allowed him to work in the sport as a journalist, Indy-car team publicist and researcher and statistician for television. He has also become the author of four racing books.

Born in Indianapolis, he witnessed his first auto race in 1964: the Indianapolis 500. A college journalism major, Shaffer parlayed his education into covering motorsports, first as a newspaper reporter and later as a columnist and feature writer for Indy Car Racing Magazine and Vintage Motorsport. He spent several years as a publicist for Bettenhausen Motorsports and PDM Racing before moving to television in the coverage of the IndyCar series by Versus and NBC Sports Network. Along the way, he also authored the Autocourse Official History: CART: The First 20 Years, 1979 to 1998. He served as co-author with Donald Davidson in the Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500 and more recently authored 500 on (the Indy) 500: Tales, Facts and Figures on the Greatest Race in the World.

Shaffer has found research to be as enjoyable as writing when it comes to the history of the Indianapolis 500. That is what made this latest book a fun experience. He hopes to do more books on racing.