"Gentlemen, Start Your Engines"

[Fred Shapiro]

I am trying to see how far back the phrase "gentlemen, start your engines"
goes, and to determine whether any individual is said to be its coiner.
I would welcome any information about the phrase's provenance; the
earliest evidence I have so far is a 1955 book with the phrase as its
title.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------