PETE LYONS, WRITER AND PHOTOGRAPHER
PETE LYONS is an international motorsports reporter, photographer and award-winning book author in the fields of Formula 1, Can-Am, Endurance sports cars, Indycar, Trans-Am and many more forms of auto racing. In his decades-long, worldwide career, Lyons covered events on all six populated continents as a STAFF and/or FREELANCE CONTRIBUTOR to numerous enthusiast publications, including Autosport, AutoWeek, Car and Driver, Racecar, Road & Track, Vintage Motorsport and many others (listed below). To date he is also the author of 16 PUBLISHED BOOKS (detailed below).
Lyons' honors include two Dean Batchelor Awards for Excellence in Journalism, a Lifetime Achievement Award, a Royal Automoile Club (RAC) award for the recent SHADOW book, and more (details below).
MAGAZINE CREDITS: Autosport (UK), AutoWeek, Car and Driver, Car Graphic (Japan), Classic Motorsports, Corvette Quarterly, Cycle, Cycle World, EAA Sport Aviation, Formula Um (Brazil), Motor Sport (UK), On Track, Powerslide (Switzerland), Private Pilot, Road & Track, Racer, Racecar (née Formula)*, Sport Auto (France), Sports Car, Vintage Motorsport, Vintage Racecar Journal and many others in many countries.
* Racecar/Formula; Lyons was STAFF EDITOR of this US monthly for 3 1/2 years, then served 2 1/2 years in the same capacity for the trade magazine Import Automotive Parts and Accessories.
BOOKS: Currently Pete Lyons is author of 16 published books. His latest, due out in early 2025, is a Memoir: PETE LYONS: MY TRAVELS ON RACER ROAD. Prior titles include his recent SHADOW: THE MAGNIFICENT MACHINES OF A MAN OF MYSTERY, which is a comprehensive look at the American Can-Am and Formula 1 marque; and LOTUS 72, a race-by-race and car-by-car study of the iconic Formula 1 car. Both are from EVRO Publishing.
Copies of these three and also his FAST LINES, an anthology of 55 columns originally written for Vintage Racecar Journal magazine and published by Octane Press, are still available directly from the author with personalized inscriptions.
Also, a few copies remain of his earlier LAMBORGHINI and FERRARI marque histories, published in the 1990's and still considered classics.
All of the titles listed above can be purchased directly from the author, complete with autograph personalized as you wish. See "My Books" on the navigation header above.
Pete's earlier books may be found online, including RIVERSIDE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, his earlier CAN-AM (Winner 1996 Dean Batchelor Award for Excellence in Journalism) and CAN-AM PHOTO HISTORY, both for MBI Publishing; CAN-AM CARS IN DETAIL for David Bull Publishing (Winner 2010 MPG Dean Batchelor Award), marque histories of FERRARI, LAMBORGHINI and JAGUAR, Formula 1 seasonal reviews for 1974 through 1977, JAMES HUNT Profile, and CHAPARRAL Profile. Also, Lyons teamed with Rod Campbell on I'M ROD, the collaborative autobio of the late motorsports PR pioneer.
Lyons' publishers include EVRO, Spry, David Bull, Consumer Guide, Motorbooks, Octane Press, Paul Oxman, Profile Publications, and he also has contributed words and/or photos to other books published by the above or by Robert Bentley, Haymarket, Haynes, Osprey, Porter Press, Racemaker Press, and others.
HONORS INCLUDE the two Motor Press Guild Dean Batchelor Awards noted above for Excellence in Journalism, plus two best-in-category awards from the same body; the recent RAC Best Specialist Book of the Year Award for SHADOW; the Ken Purdy Award of the International Motor Press Association; a Best Feature Article Award of the Sports Car Club of America, and an Award of Appreciation from the Road Racing Drivers Club. Also, Lyons was 2011 recipient of the International Automotive Media Award for Lifetime Achievement; in 2016, the same body gave him a Gold Medal for his story "Piggy" in Vintage Motorsport. Pete also is a co-founder and Past President of the American Racing Press Assoc. (ARPA).
American, born 1940 in Schenectady, New York State, USA, son of racing photojournalist Ozzie Lyons. Married (1983) to Lorna Lyons, née Fitts.