Caesars Palace Grand Prix: Las Vegas, Organized Crime and the Pinnacle of Motorsport

As a lifelong fan of motorsports and a So Cal resident very familiar with Las Vegas I could not wait to crack this one open and dive in. The intrigue, drama and underworld connections simply blew me away! As a race fan I have attended thousands of races but honestly never considered the back story of the venue, the sponsors or really even the drivers beyond the surface level stuff so admittedly I was only getting half the story! Loved the deep dive into the history of Formuly1 in America and the connections of the Las Vegas track to tracks and the players behind them here in So Cal! I highly recommend for all fans of racing!!

The author seems to think that simply because the Mafia was involved in things at locations near F1 events, then there must be collusion between the Mafia and F1. So, if they meet only 50 miles from Watkins Glen, then they must have had a hand in the race. If there is Mafia activity in Florida, the organizers of Sebring must be corrupt. If the Mafia was present in London casinos that Bernie liked to gamble in, well then he must have gotten involved with them. Etc. And, as pointed out by other reviewers, the author repeats these things over and over and over. I need some hard evidence of collusion if I am gong to buy this story.

Randall Cannon is a good historian and an entertaining writer. This book shines a light on events and people most of us have never known about. The author tells the back story of the races and the forces who made it possible. A good read!

This is a remarkably detailed book on how the Grand Prix came to Caesar's Palace as well as some fascinating insight into the history of the Las Vegas Strip.

Sorry - I read just about any F1 related book I can get my hands on. Saw this mentioned on a Jalopnik website note. Finishing it will be a challenge. I genuinely feel sorry for the author - but - his obsession got the better of some editing that was sorely needed. You have a 400 page book that should have been 200 pages at best. Could have lost 50 pages if someone had edited out repeating the same thing over and over at the end of each chapter. Could have lost 20 pages not repeating in the main text what is said in the picture caption. And the Kindle edition randomly hyphenates names for some reason. I'm taking a guess it was self published? Shame because with some real editing and a little intrigue/suspense built in it could be interesting and even fun. -allegedly.

"Caesars Palace Grand Prix is an absolute masterpiece of a book, and it’s a necessity for any American F1 fan." - Jalopnik. I agree completely!

This book is very a detailed review of mafia activities in New York State and it’s transition to Las Vegas. Oh yeah, it mentions F1 in the US. It goes on and on about the mafia with dates, locations, who was involved, who begot who and what they had for breakfast. I have to give the author credit for the amazing amount of research done on the mafia for the book. However it gives very little insight on F1 which is what I purchased the book for based upon the title and description. I stopped reading after 300 pages. Too late to return it.

This book provides the back story of the first Formula 1 race held in Las Vegas. It would be interesting to compare the author’s impressions between the “old Vegas” version and what he sees in the present day.