Journalist, author

In the ‘50s and ‘60s, Daley was arguably the world’s most important English-language motorsports journalist, covering the sport for The New York Times and authoring two best-selling books, Cars at Speed (1961) and The Cruel Sport (1963). SpeedTV.com wrote of The Cruel Sport, “(Daley’s photos) are spectacular, but the text may be even better.” Octane called Cars at Speed “a modern classic.” The script for the 1966 film Grand Prix borrowed heavily from the latter, including Daley’s quote of inductee Phil Hill speeding up past ugly accidents because he knows others will be slowing down. Daley was drawn to racing after meeting the Marquis de Portago. He was fascinated by the speed and the stakes. Daley was also a brilliant motorsports photographer, his work featured in multiple exhibitions. Witnessing Lorenzo Bandini’s horrific death at Monaco in 1967 prompted Daley to reduce his involvement. He later became Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department and authored fiction and non-fiction books on police work, including Prince of the City, later turned into a film.