I covered racing in the late 60s and early 70s and watched Wendell Scott ply his trade against incredible odds as did, I must admit, drivers with skin color appreciably lighter than Wendell's. But never in my mind did I doubt the odds he faced and this instilled me with an admiration for the man I probably should have taken the time in the intervening years to express to him personally. I didn't and I regret it.

That said, Brian Donovan has captured the story of a unique warrior in the NASCAR wars and I have a two-word review to offer:

Buy it.

HARD DRIVING will open your eyes as to the many injustices suffered by Wendell Scott. You'll discover that many of these wrong doings were perpetrated by or overlooked by officials we have been programmed to believe always had clean hands. Mr. Scott's hands were virtually tied when it came to having anyone in the hierarchy of NASCAR fight for him. You'll also read about the many good guys in the sport who came to his aid. Many (Ned Jarrett, Richard Petty, etc.) believed that he could have been a big star if only treated fairly. Read this great book both from a civil rights and humanistic perspective. I could not put it down!

Mr. Donovan has turned his reporter's eye on a dimly lit corner of the civil rights story and brought it to life. With superb story telling and exhaustive research, Mr. Donovan lays bare the racial hatred and bigotry rampant in the closed world of dirt track racing a generation ago. Jackie Robinson had it easy compared to the daunting wall of racist hatred faced by Wendell Scott. It's a true story that reads like a thriller. A story filled with the grit and determination of one man to overcome innumerable obstacles the only way he knew how--to win races. Its a factual account of a poor black man's rise from obscurity to the winner's circle set amidst the roar of engines and the dust of deeply racist Southern tracks. Through Donovan's voice, we get a whole new meaning of race in America.

I never knew or cared about race car driving (still think it's a waste of precious fuel), but when I was given this book to review, I couldn't put it down. It is the story of Wendell Scott, the courageous and remarkably dogged driver who broke NASCAR's color bar in 1952, and what it took out of him. It should be required reading for anyone of any color who appreciates the human spirit - and especially for teenagers who are too young to remember Jackie Robinson, and don't grasp what the Civil Rights Movement was all about. Read it, give it to your friends, your relatives, your kids' athletic coach. And make sure your library has a copy of the book. Richard Pryor starred in a fictionalized biofilm about Scott called "Greased Lightning" (1977).

Hard Driving is an apt title for the life story of Wendell Scott. Scott, an African American, was determined to race even though his efforts were thwarted by nearly every one involved in the racing industry of the 1950's and 1960's. The author follows Scotts travails from his youth in Danville, Virginia as a daredevil on bicycles and roller skates, through his brushes with the law as a bootleg whiskey runner, to his two decades running an unsponsored effort to race with the rapidly expanding organization NASCAR. Through his in-depth research, Donovan has put together the story of a black mans determination to do something he was very good at, despite the constant roadblocks put in his way. This book, like Scotts life, is inspiring, infuriating, and ultimately a heck of a ride.