Even if you never sat in Saugus' always newly-whitewashed grandstands; or strolled though its shady tree-lined pit area, or arrived a little late on a Saturday night and had to park illegally out on Soledad Canyon Road, or partook of the pit food that people who professed not even liking racing came to the races for, or took the "Ego Challenge" driving your own car around the narrow, flat 1/3-mile oval, or raced in, worked on, officiated for, or cheered on any kind of racing vehicle from the zany motor-soccer cars, to world-class USAC midgets, to those thundering, balls-to-the-wall NASCAR Craftsman Trucks; as you journey through the 288 pages and scan and re-scan the 900+ photos contained in Saugus Speedway Scrapbook, Later Years 1979 - 1995 you will feel as if you had been a regular at Saugus in its latter heydays … Fifteen and a half years that were some of the best and brightest in California paved short track racing history.

If you actually were any (or all) of the above, this beautifully conceived and thoughtfully laid out book is part of you, something that finally articulates what you've been trying to explain to a lot of people for a long time now since Saugus' property owners capriciously closed its gates on that fateful July 19th in 1995, with half a season left to race. This book cannot bind those wounds, but it will make it easier for others to understand how deeply they hurt.

By actual count there were 1738 main events at Saugus Speedway won by 348 drivers between 1979 and 1995. You will find a record (and photos) of virtually all of them in "Scrapbook". A copy made the rounds of an operating Southern California short track the other day and stirred memories by the hundreds as person after person got to view even a few pages from the book.

This book does not preach nor has a moral, but the story that it tells (almost exclusively with photos) is simultaneously a romance, an action-adventure, and an extended family photo album, all wrapped up into one totally engrossing volume.

The book's dedication: "…To the drivers, officials, and fans who were too busy being part of the Saugus Speedway family to complete their own scrapbooks" is flat perfect. When you get your copy try to page though it with someone who frequented Saugus … They'll provide the best text that anyone could. This book is a "firestarter" in that respect, a sparking device for a flash fire of wonderful remembrances. In this case a picture can be the launch point for a thousand words, or more.

The authors, Harold Osmer and Lyn Pherigo, toss off their Herculean labors in putting the book together by naming this important work of motorsports history a "Scrapbook". In reality this formidable team has used the word in its very best sense. Wound tight with wonderful memories and fat with future promise, (see how many top stars of today you recognize as fuzzy-cheeked youths learning their trade at Saugus), this book will be a welcome addition to any short track fan's library. Other tracks, great and small, should have the kind of great good luck that Saugus Speedway has had with this duo in its wake to preserve, protect, and celebrate its history.

- Doug Stokes, October 2001