Hard Driving: The Wendell Scott Story

by Brian Donovan, Joe Posnanski Narrated by Kiff VandenHeuvel

Overview

The only book-length account of the life of Wendell Scott, the one-time moonshine runner who broke the color barrier in stock-car racing in 1952 and, against all odds, competed for more than 20 years in a sport dominated by Southern whites.

Hard Driving is the story of one man's determination to live the life he loved, and to compete at the highest level of his sport. When Wendell Scott became NASCAR's version of Jackie Robinson in the segregated 1950s, some speedways refused to let him race. Scott appealed directly to the sport's founder, NASCAR czar Bill France Sr., who promised that NASCAR would treat him without prejudice. For the next two decades, Scott chased a dream whose fulfillment depended on France backing up that promise. France reneged on his pledge, but Scott did receive inspiring support from white drivers who admired his skill and tenacity, such as NASCAR champions Ned Jarrett and Richard Petty.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In this excellent biography, Donovan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper reporter and seasoned race car driver, recounts the overlooked life of Wendell Scott, the one-time Danville, Va., moonshine runner who broke the color barrier in stock-car racing in 1952 and competed for more than 20 years in a sport dominated by Southern whites. Scott, despite never having the backing of big automakers to put him in a top-notch car, finished many NASCAR races and season standings in the top 10. He won a Grand National event in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1963, a race in which officials initially tried to deny Scott the trophy because it meant he would be entitled to kiss the white race queen. Scott survived with soft-spoken manners, avoiding confrontation with those who resented him by driving conservatively to avoid collisions that would have raised the ire of white drivers and fans. He was an excellent mechanic who cobbled together subpar engines as best he could and often lived on the edge of bankruptcy. Donovan's writing is well-paced and measured, clearly depicting the complex atmosphere of race relations in the segregated South. His extensive reporting, including interviews with Scott before he died in 1990, combined with his descriptive and enjoyable prose about racing, make this book a deeply compelling story. (Aug.)

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Library Journal

Wendell Scott broke the color barrier in stock car racing in the early 1950s, when the sport was firmly rooted in the South and America was still largely segregated. The racing establishment did little to encourage Scott and at times was antagonistic toward him. Unlike other sports, in which teams or organizations supported those crossing the racial divide, Scott regularly faced blatant bigotry, countless injustices, and chronic underfunding for his cars. Yet he persisted owing to a strong will and considerable talents as a driver and mechanic. Ultimately, he became a fixture in NASCAR racing in the 1960s and was not only popular with many fans but also achieved what by most measures would be an admirable racing record. This work by race driver and journalist Donovan is a thoroughly researched account of Scott's 22-year racing career, compiled from published sources as well as interviews with Scott, family members, and racing cohorts. What makes this compelling is the human drama interwoven with the racing narrative. We learn, for example, of the passive demeanor Scott felt he had to maintain around the racetrack to keep from inflaming any hostility around him, and of the rage he felt and acted upon whenever he thought members of his family were endangered. This important book is highly recommended for both motorsports and civil rights history collections.
—David Van de Streek

Kirkus Reviews

Pulitzer Prize-winning Newsday reporter Donovan, now retired and a race-car driver, follows the hard-luck career of a man who challenged NASCAR's racial barrier in the 1950s. Growing up in the Deep South, Wendell Scott parlayed his early years as a police-dodging moonshine runner to become one of NASCAR's best, most reliable drivers. If he didn't finish with roomfuls of trophies to show for his two decades as a driver, it's only because he labored under incredible disadvantages, most notably a lack of financial support from either NASCAR officials or the major car companies that poured millions into the sport. He was forced to drive a beat-up old car that he often had to repair mid-race-and that was when he was even allowed to the starting line. In the South, where stock-car and auto racing had its roots, Scott was routinely banned from entering racetracks like Darlington and Talladega. When he was allowed on the track, bigoted drivers often intentionally wrecked him while fans harassed him with racial slurs. His fortitude and persistence knew no bounds. Using his sons and friends as pit crew, he competed for more than 20 years until a wreck nearly killed him in 1973. It was typical of Scott's bad luck that the wreck occurred in a brand-new race car that it took him 11 years to pay for. Donovan does an excellent job recounting the numerous roadblocks that were placed in Scott's way. Even when he won his only Grand National race (now the Sprint Cup series), officials initially awarded the checkered flag to someone else; he didn't receive his first-place trophy until a month later. Following the many other races in Scott's long career may prove less fascinating for the casual reader, butDonovan provides additional interest with his portraits of such major players of the period as George Wallace and NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. A memorable tale of an unsung American hero, and a worthy history lesson as well. Agent: Robert Guinsler/Sterling Lord Literistic

From the Publisher

"Donovan shows how Wendell Scott's career was every bit as groundbreaking as Jackie Robinson's feat of breaking baseball's color barrier. Perhaps even more so." — Tampa Tribune

"Donovan tells it like it was. . . . A copy of [this] masterpiece should be in every library in the country, inculding schools." — Morris Stephenson in The Franklin News-Post

"Both a history and a sports classic." — Detroit Free Press

"A fascinating book . . . a wonderful story about a really interesting guy." — Toronto Star

"One of the most compelling sports biographies of this or any year. A must-read for NASCAR fans." — (starred review) Booklist

"Donovan's writing is well-paced and measured, clearly depicting the complex atmosphere of race relations in the segregated South. His extensive reporting, including interviews with Scott before he died in 1990, combined with his descriptive and enjoyable prose about racing, make this book a deeply compelling story." — (starred review) Publishers Weekly

"Talk about a necessary sports biography. Hard Driving is unquestionably a winner." — Robert Edelstein, author of Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner

"A surprisingly moving and powerful account of Wendell Scott’s utterly American Odyssey. It offers a window into a world not that far removed from our own, as we struggle still to judge each person, as Dr. King said, on the content of their character–not the color of their skin." — Ken Burns, filmmaker, winner of three Emmy Awards, including one for Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

"Wendell Scott was to NASCAR what Jackie Robinson was to baseball. The difference was that Robinson played in liberal Brooklyn and had the backing of Branch Rickey, and Scott raced in the segregated South and had—nobody. The hard-working, dauntless Scott, like Robinson, should be a national hero. Until that day, he has Brian Donovan’s moving biography as his legacy." — Peter Golenbock, author of Miracle: Bobby Allison and the Saga of the Alabama Gang

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177386928
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	08/03/2021
Series:	Truth to Power
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Foreword
I’m not entirely sure how old I was when I first heard the story of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier — four or five, maybe? — but it utterly captivated me from the start. I cannot tell you how many times through the years I have thought about what it must have been like for Robinson, alone, defiant, playing baseball with the weight of history on his shoulders. Baseball had been segregated for more than half a century.So many forces were lined up against him. So many people wanted him to fail.
And so many people needed him to succeed.
Through the years as a sportswriter, I have spent countless hours talking to people who knew Robinson, played with him, played against him, and that is the question I ask each of them: What was it like for him? They try to answer, but they can only tell me so much. Only Robinson really knew.
And so it is astonishing to me that in so many ways I feel like I learned more about what it was like for Jackie Robinson by reading a wonderful book about . . . a race car driver.
Wendell Scott had it much rougher than Robinson, there is no question about that. As Brian Donovan explains, Wendell Scott really was alone as he did the impossible: integrated nascar as the civil rights movement took flight. While Robinson was signed by a baseball legend named Branch Rickey, Scott had to make his own way. While Robinson won over many of his white teammates (who then became some of his most devoted supporters), Scott had no racing teammates, just competitors who would enthusiastically crash him (or anyone else) into a wall to get to the checkered flag first.
While Robinson was based in Brooklyn and played all of his games in big cities (and none of them in the American South), Scott raced just about every time in the South. He raced in Birmingham weeks after Martin Luther King wrote his famous letter from a jail there. He raced in Augusta, Georgia, just before riots broke out. He raced in Charlotte at the same time that the homes of various civil rights leaders were bombed.
Wendell Scott — Brian Donovan tells us — always carried a .38-caliber revolver. And was sure to keep it loaded.
This book in your hands, this new release of Hard Driving to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of Wendell Scott’s birth, is something very special. For one thing, it is a work of passion by the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Brian Donovan, who was something of a legend himself. He was a relentless reporter, someone who would not stop until he got the story.
He was also a race car driver himself, which is part of what drew him to Wendell Scott. It is telling that the two men didn’t fully connect until Wendell needed to break loose a bolt and Brian, without request, handed him the proper wrench for the job.
The relationship between Brian and Wendell gives us a raw, uninhibited, and unapologetic look at what Wendell Scott endured to do what he was always meant to do: race cars. The book doesn’t hide from Scott’s flaws; nor does it romanticize his extraordinary accomplishments. The truth is powerful enough.
“I heard this same observation again and again,” Brian writes. “During the 1950s and ’60s, as civil rights conflict roiled the South, the first black person that many white southerners came to admire was the driver who’d integrated their beloved sport of stock car racing.”
Wendell Scott died more than thirty years ago, in 1990. Brian Donovan died in 2018 after a battle with Alzheimer’s. It took Brian many years — decades, actually — to bring this book to life, and we should all be grateful that he did because inside you will find a rip-roaring story of a man’s tireless and fearless pursuit of the checkered flag, even when the race official refused to wave it.
Yes, you’ll get that remarkable story in here, too.
I personally know almost nothing about cars or racing, but through a series of poor editing judgments I have found myself often writing about nascar and spending time with some of the legends of the sport. Once I was with Junior Johnson in his North Carolina garage, he was drinking coffee that was stronger than gasoline, and I asked him about Wendell Scott.

“That man could drive,” Junior said, the ultimate compliment. If you know something about Wendell Scott, this book will help you feel some of what he felt as he made history. And if you don’t know anything at all about Wendell Scott, I envy you. You’re about to meet one helluva man.
Joe Posnanski
December 23, 2020
Charlotte, North Carolina

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