From Fan to Author: How Red Racer Books Inspires Young Motorsports Fans

Andy Amendola started as an average fan of Formula 1, but he transformed his growing passion for motorsports broadly into Red Racer Books, an inclusive and educational children's series teaching new fans how racing works and telling powerful stories of racing legends including 2x Indy 500 winner, 2x IndyCar Series champion, and Indy Lights champion Josef Newgarden.

Andy gets vulnerable talking about his ‘pinch me moments’ and what it was like working with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden. He was able to launch his book series with IndyCar and became the official featured product at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Andy’s story is inspiring and endearing, and he shares advice for aspiring authors who want to follow in his footsteps.

If you are looking to share your ideas with the next generation of motorsport fans, submit your manuscript here for a chance to bring your story to life!

Click below to watch the full interview with Andy Amendola (Red Racer Books), and keep reading for the full transcript.

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Introduction and Launching Red Racer Books with IndyCar [0:26]

Greg: I'm joined with Andy Amendola and we are here to talk about Red Racer Books.

Greg: The start of this year, there was a press release that was done by IndyCar announcing this partnership. What did it feel like being there and seeing your book at the track?

Andy: That was one of the most fulfilling moments of my life.

Excuse me. Getting emotional now. It's incredible. There's so much history with IMS. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is just a beloved. So many people. Hundreds of years of history. I went there. My product was actually the product of the day. So it was featured on the screens at one of the oldest tracks in the world, the biggest sporting event.

So coming from writing kids books to creating something that people love so much, that then was officially approved by a professional racing series.... Then to arrive at like the biggest track... it was magical. It was even more magical that I got to go back with family, and they got to be there too.

So yeah, I'm getting very emotional because it really was an incredible experience. I'm so thankful - so grateful to everybody who helped.

Sorry, I need a sec. Getting very emotional.

What's really great is that I got to bring a lot of people along with me on that journey. There were so many people who contributed to that book. Their names are there. I actually sent all of them a free copy of that book because it mattered so much. Their input really made the book a lot better.

It's something that I'll never forget, and I'm incredibly grateful.

Greg: The pride and gratitude that Andy felt seeing his books featured at IMS are emotions few motorsports authors, and arguably authors in general, have ever felt. What makes that emotion even more special, though, is that in Andy's case, he'd only been a professional author for just two years.

So already, in that short time, he'd had the chance to work with the likes of IndyCar and a 2-time Indy 500 winner. Before you hear more about those stories, let's first go back and find out how he got his big break. You should definitely stick around until the end because we'll share a way that you could bring your dream to life, just like Andy.

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Who is Andy Amendola? [3:12]

Greg: Why don't we start with: "who are you?"

Andy: I am a father, a husband - I have two kids that are eight and nine, and my career has been in marketing for the most part. In 2021, I set off on this journey to start writing kids books about motorsports. Red Racer Books has now evolved to being a micro publisher or a small press, dedicated on children's books about motorsports.

Greg: Was writing ever in this equation? Was it something you had done on the side as a hobby?

Andy: Not in this format, no. I worked at various advertising agencies, and writing is just part of it. I'm not a copywriter, I was a strategist and a planner. So basically, you know, between writing pitch decks, presentations, I did a lot of writing for work, in that sense.

To be honest, I have trouble calling myself a writer, and I have trouble calling myself an author. I see myself as more of a a creator because I don't want to limit myself to just thinking about the books as text only. Kids books are more than just writing. I don't think I could write a full adult novel with no pictures.

I've always loved picture books, even as an adult and engaging and reading them with my kids. Creating a children's book is more about the marriage of the text and the images because that's how we learn. That's how I learn.

Greg: I learn through visuals. The words are fine, but show me something.

Andy: Right. So I think it's a combination of both the writing and the images that really make children's books work. That's why sometimes I'll call myself the founder and creator of Red Racer Books as opposed to just an author.

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Finding motivation to write children's books [5:04]

Greg: What was the catalyst that prompted you to start putting pen to paper in some capacity?

Andy: I think it starts with my kids. Since they were born, and even before they were born, we were reading to them. Me and my wife would read to our kids every day. It's part of our nighttime ritual. It's a ritual that I cherish, and I love because it's a great time to bond with the kids. My daughter is 10 now, and my son is 8.

So, that's 10 years of reading every night. Children's books, mostly picture books. I also realize that there are some books that are just more engaging for the adult reader as well. A lot of times I would be reading, and I would completely zone out. There's a lot of variety and quality.

Every time I speak to other parents, they're always like, "oh, I have an idea for a kid's book."

A lot of people say that because the reality is - it feels something that's tangible and easy to do because it's not a novel that is like 600 pages of just text. A lot of people have that aspiration, and I did too.

I'm not gonna lie, after reading so many books, I basically said, "I think I could do this, you know, after all that time and with my marketing background." I figured maybe I could do this, but I didn't have something to write about.

I didn't have a particular passion or a particular specific idea, at that time.

Greg: Right.

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Falling in love with motorsports and seeing a gap in the market [6:36]

Andy: With that, me and my wife binged on a lot of shows, and Drive to Survive was one of them. Now, I'm completely obsessed with Formula One, and that transitioned into being obsessed with all motorsports, really.

At that time, I lived in Miami, and the Grand Prix was announced that there would be a Miami Grand Prix for 10 years. I said to myself, "This is amazing. I can't believe this. We're so lucky. To have a race here in Miami, people travel around the world to go watch races."

Now there's going to be one in my backyard, but I couldn't wait. So I decided to come to the Austin race first, and I came 2021 here in Austin and it blew me away. It was just an incredible experience that was so inspiring. After seeing all the energy, seeing the people, seeing the fandom, seeing just the sheer numbers of the crowds.

Really the moment that I saw my first F1 car, after that, I knew that I had something. I had an idea.

The reason that I actually wanted to create these books is because - when I fall in love with something, and we have this nighttime ritual with my kids, I would find books for them. Find books about things that I liked.

Greg: Were they watching the show with you? Was this something that, when you and your wife would watch, they might sneak in and see an episode or two?

Andy: That was part of it. We watched as a family, and my kids really liked it. They got to know the drivers. They got to know the teams. I wanted to share more with them, and I wanted to read about it as part of my learning process.

I joined a group chat so that I was chatting every race with a bunch of people who knew a lot more about F1 than I did. I listened to podcasts, I read blogs, I read articles, I read books, I watched documentaries, everything. I consumed as much as I possibly could because I was obsessed. For me, a lot of it was the actual science behind it.

The STEM component. It's really exciting to me because I don't think there's any other sport in the world that combines the physical competition of a human with the kind of competition of engineering that you see in Formula 1. Once I became obsessed, I wanted to share that with my kids. I did that by buying books.

I basically bought a lot of kids books and still continue to do so. Now, I can expense it for work, but I looked and there really wasn't any out there. I found a lot of books, but they were all very dated. Formula One changes so much. It's hard to stay up to date. That really gave me the seed of the idea.

It's like - there's a gap here. then when I went to the race, and I saw how big it was getting in the US, we went from having one race to having three races in a matter of a couple years. That was a signal to me that says 'this is growing.' I noticed a gap It's sort of in my wheelhouse, and I went after it.

Greg: There's this last bit of - What does it take to make you actually make that leap? I know from the conversations you have had before that you've had this family business that's always been there. It's been the same for me, too.

I always think back to myself with, with FanAmp of, was that my entrepreneurial motivation, was it in my blood, and is it always there?

I don't know. That feels a little bit romanticized.  

Andy: I've always had a hunger to create something for myself, but I've always been very risk averse as a person. At the end of the day, I think being cooped up in a house and the pandemic, it just changed me. I said, 'it's time to take that risk and take that leap.'

Who knows what could happen. I think it was heartening to see so many other creators in the space putting themselves out there, and it was inspiring to see other people try, too.

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Taking the leap and building the Red Racer brand [10:42]

Greg: So you've taken the steps. You're an advertising guy. You're a branding guy. You probably started there.

Andy: Yeah, exactly.

Greg: What is the brand meant to be?

Andy: I just started to build a mood board. The red comes from Ferrari. Enzo has that famous quote, "if you ask a child to draw a car, he or she will color it red."

I wanted to have a look that was inspired by racing posters. I was very much obsessed with the vintage style Monaco Grand Prix racing posters of the old days.

That's basically how I got to it. I started thinking of things that would work well in terms of characters. I looked back at the book that my kids really liked. They loved alphabet books. There was one all about the ABCs of monsters that my son wanted to read it over and over and over and over again.

Greg: Well, you gotta learn about monsters.

Andy: I didn't even know there were so many different types.

Greg: I couldn't even tell you 26 things about monsters.

Andy: Exactly. Then there was one about peculiar animals. You know, those types of books my kids loved. They also, provided some kind of education. I set a series of values that I wanted the books to incorporate that I wanted the brand and the business to embody.

STEM education was a big piece of it.

Another piece was gender parity and racial diversity. I have a daughter as well as a son, I wanted her to see herself in these sorts of books. I wanted her to see herself on the podium.

When I fell in love with Formula One, it also was during that summer of Black Lives Matter.

Lewis Hamilton was a huge inspiration into my obsession with Formula One. I loved what he did on track and off track. Then when I created this, I wanted it to be crafted in a way that adults and their kids could enjoy. So, I like to say that they're made for fans; fans and their families. They actually helped me write it and that's really what started it.

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Bringing Red Racer Books to life and advice for aspiring authors [12:49]

Greg: So, then the last step in this is bringing it to life and getting it out to people. What was that last step like for you and maybe some advice for other people who are about to go through that themselves?

Andy: For me, the way that I got my first book, it was actually two books. I launched with the ABCs of Racing in English and in Spanish. The way that I got it out there was through Kickstarter.

It's basically a great launch pad for creative projects. It's a lot of work. Don't get me wrong. It involves a lot of putting yourself out there. I really pushed myself way outside my comfort zone. I'm not somebody who likes to be on camera, and I really don't like to ask for favors. I don't want to be asking people for help.

It's something that I learned is key. It's key to life, it's key to everything. There's no reason you shouldn't ask, and there's nothing wrong with asking. Basically what Kickstarter does is that you have a set amount of time and a budget that you have to hit to bring your project to life. If you can't get to that number in that set amount of time, you get nothing.

It's an all or nothing format, so it's incredibly challenging and I didn't get much sleep during that month. It's also very rewarding because then you do see people that are willing to give without knowing what the product looks like. So they're basically buying you and your beliefs and your ideas.

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Andy’s biggest lesson from the first book [14:29]

Greg: Looking back at all of it, what was your biggest lesson that you took away from getting to this first book?

Andy: I think the biggest lesson is: just ask for help and try not to do it alone.

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What it felt like partnering with IndyCar  [15:01]

Greg: Speaking of asking for help, soon after his first books were published - he met some important people. People who are willing to open the door to the IndyCar team. That introduction turned into Andy's first licensing deal and a momentous achievement that has since become a catalyst for many more opportunities.

What was it like to have a series like IndyCar want to work with you, especially so early into this journey?

Andy: Yeah, I mean, it's a dream come true. I am not going to lie.

The moment I walked onto a racetrack and saw my books for sale at the official merchandise tent... I'm getting emotional now just talking about it. It's incredible. I have to say I was very fortunate to meet people in the IndyCar community that helped get me in front of the right people.

So, thanks to Tata Calderon, who was a former IndyCar racer, an amazing driver. I got to meet her and her sister, Paula, who's her manager. They put me in touch with the folks at IndyCar. I went to them with a draft, a manuscript of an ABCs of IndyCar. I had fallen in love with that series and I said, "Would you like to partner?"

They really liked what I was doing. I had a meeting with them. I shared with them the vision behind the brand, the values that are incorporated in the brand, and they really liked it. They asked me if I wanted to do a licensing deal. At first I was really scared, so I didn't know what I was getting into.

They were a great partner. They're just like a family there. It's a very tight knit group of great people that love the sport.

Greg: They feel like this very warm and inviting friend group that's open to other people coming in. I think one of the lessons that I've taken away from this journey, and  I'm hearing it from you now, is this notion that the path from point A to point B is not a straight line.

And in many times, that sort of detour that you take, as long as you keep your North Star, is actually a better outcome. And you had never thought of it initially, you're discovering it along the way, you're adapting, and ending up in this position where you've got someone who is excited to share in what you're doing feels really good.

And I can hear it from how you talk about it.

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Working with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden [17:10]

Greg: Not too long ago, we were just in Nashville for another milestone. You now have this book with Josef Newgarden. And it's a book about his life; going from being a kid and watching racing on TV to then being behind the wheel of the car and trying to win the Indy 500 is like.

That's another major milestone. What was that like for you?

Andy: Yeah, it's crazy to me how fast it all happened. That was another pinch me moment that I was speaking to a driver, who was an Indy 500 winner. That's a legendary thing. The fact that he wanted to create a book with me.

I explained to him, I am one person. I'm a startup. This is not a big publishing house. I think that resonated - the fact that I was really passionate about it.

I don't know what to say. The opportunity itself was remarkable, and he has been an amazing partner and his family too. His wife was very involved in the project too. So we basically all wrote it together, but it came out of a series of interviews that I just did with him. I wanted to understand his life.

When he had this dream of winning the Indy 500. How he approached racing. How he went through all the challenges in life. We cover a lot of that in the book. There's so many things that maybe didn't go right. I think that's part of racing. You lose a lot more than you win. That's just a fact. But he never gave up.

He just kept going. I'm almost... I'm not at a loss for words because it's just such an incredible experience to work with someone like that and bring their story to life. It was a great experience because it was very collaborative.

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Telling Josef Newgarden’s story: struggles and persistence [20:14]

Greg: One of the things that I took away from the Josef book in particular was that notion of him persevering, him going through a lot of bad moments or difficult moments, but keeping his head in it and always just getting back behind the wheel and going again.

I actually was thinking a lot about how that book reminded me of Disney movies, in the sense that there was the level for kids and it was teaching him a bit about racing and the science and the math. On the other hand, the level for the adults was the real human story of what he actually went through, at a level that I don't know if kids would fully emotionally appreciate.

Sometimes life is just hard. It's shitty. It's like, there's these difficult moments and you have to pick yourself back up and keep going through it. I'm curious, how did you balance that? I think it came through really well.

Andy: It was a new challenge for me to write this type of story and to work on this type of story with Josef.

In a way, it is nonfiction. He lived all of that, but how do you write that, or how do you put that into context that a child can understand, so that they can take something away from it? It had to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. There had to be a reason why this dream existed.

We had to show the actual challenges that he faced. Convey them in a way that a kid can understand. Also, there's only so many times you try something until you give up. We had to figure out a way to present it to the children and to readers that there's something that's worth going after.

To really achieve success, you have to have that mentality that you never give up. You really have to dedicate every living moment to that dream. Then, there was like a lot of real moments where he almost did give up. It's something that I think a lot of race car drivers go through because there can only be one winner, you know.

With the Indy 500 specifically, they don't have a podium for multiple winners. It is just win or lose. That's it. It's incredibly challenging because everything needs to go right on this one particular day for you to win. Many have tried even more times than Josef and haven't won. So we had to show the different ways to process through the challenges and to keep going.

To get back behind the wheel after crashing. To take the risks that you had to take in order to achieve those dreams. The only way to succeed is by continuing to try.

What was crazier was that we announced his book on the Thursday before the Indy 500 this year. It's all about him dreaming about winning it, which he did the year before. Lo and behold, he won again. He was the first back to back winner in 20 years. Mind blowing.

Greg: Yeah.

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Pinch me moments and closing thoughts [22:15]

Andy: It's been a dream to work with him. We have more projects coming. It's a great partnership. It's really like a dream for me, you know. I'd never thought that I'd start this with the Kickstarter, and then a couple years later be working with a driver. Launching a book at the Indy 500. Pinch me moment, you know

Greg: Multiple. Yeah.

Andy: It's incredible. I'm very grateful.

Greg: Andy said to me that his ultimate dream is for Red Racer Books to be the official motorsports books for kids. Much like racing, getting there is a team sport. That's why Andy decided Red Racer will serve as a micro publisher to lift up others.

So, if you're an author, a driver, or simply a mega motorsports fan with a story to tell, get in touch with Andy, and who knows, maybe your book will end up as IndyCar's next big feature product.

Andy, this has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for opening up about this whole journey, for sharing what it's like to bring this to life. Looking forward to seeing all these things unfold in your future.

Andy: It's been great.

Thanks for tuning in!

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