William Camus was something of a mysterious character. It was generally thought that he was born in the Yukon territory in Canada to a French mother and a Native American father, and lived as part of a tribe until he was 11.

He travelled around Canada and America. He was working as a mechanic in Indianapolis when he attended the 1953 Hoosier One Hundred race for Midget cars. There was also a stock car race on the programme. A promoter then organised a tour of stock cars to Europe, and William was one of the drivers. It was much less lucrative than expected, and most of the drivers returned to America early. However, William remained in France, but had to pretend to have been born in France in order to obtain a French stock car licence. And that is how he became part of the French contingent that raced in England in 1954. At some point, he was a professional racing driver in the USA.

However, most of that is not true. In reality, both his parents were French and he was born in Joinville-le-Pont, France. His real name was Louis Andre Georges Camus, although he was known as Willy. No record has ever been found of a stock car race taking place at any Hoosier One Hundred meeting. A tour of American stock car drivers did take place, but it was in 1955 and was to England, not France.

He lived and worked most of his life in France. He was a journalist, and in the 1970s became an author. He mainly wrote fantasy, science fiction, and American Westerns aimed at children and young adults. He wrote 37 books, including "Les Ferrailleurs", which was apparently based on his experiences as a stock car driver, and "Mémoires d'un sauvage", which was apparenly based on his childhood among the Iroquois people in the Yukon territory.

It is the author biography sections of his books that appear to be the sources of the incorrect information about him.

References - fr.wikipedia.org, joestf1.blogspot.com, amazon.fr.