Author’s CredentialsPhilippe Defechereux is a former New York and Detroit advertising executive, a published author in both English and French and a History buff. He was born in the French-speaking Liège Province of Belgium not long after World War II, just north of the fighting perimeter of the “Battle of the Bulge” salient. His parents and two sisters had lived through that terrifying experience. In the early 1950s, Sunday family drives to towns such as Malmédy, Stavelot and Spa were frequent occasion for his parents to share remarkable lived WW II episodes. This background created in his mind a keen interest in history from an early age, a passion that only grew with time, along with a keen interest for car racing – the town of Spa is home to a famous Grand Prix track. German was his first foreign language in elementary school, but he soon learned English on his own as well.After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Economics at Liège University in 1967, he pursued his early American dream by emigrating to New York in 1970.  By 1972, he had earned an MBA from Columbia University, after which he was hired by the elite Ogilvy & Mather ad agency in New York. This was the start of a successful 20-years advertising career – including the sales-boosting and still-remembered “Fahrvergnügen” VW ad campaign. During those year, he had several major articles published in business publications, such as the Belgian-American Trade Review. In 1991-1992, he was persuaded to spend one year at VW A.G. headquarters in Wolfsburg as a special consultant on the American market at the Board level. That year proved precious for refreshing his German fluency and gaining a deeper insight into the German mentality.All the while, he accumulated a considerable library of history books focused on both world wars, one that continues to grow to this day. Being a voracious reader, he read them all, some several times. Among his favorite authors are Barbara Tuchman, Ian Kershaw, Antony Beevor and Annie Jacobsen.By the mid 1990s, being widely acknowledged as an excellent business writer, he decided to try his hand at writing his first book. He chose to focus on the history of car racing, thus combining his two passions. His first book would be devoted to the birth of European Road Racing in America shortly after WW II. This “birthing” took place at Watkins Glen, NY in October, 1948, and within five years had become a national phenomenon – one that lasts to this day. First published in 1998 (40th anniversary) by a minor publisher, a much enhanced and expanded second edition was published in 2011 by the renown Dalton Watson Fine Books publisher and retitled “Watkins Glen 1948-1952 – Glory, Drama and the Birth of American Road Racing.” It continues to sell at $50 per copy.