Fast Women: The Legendary Ladies of Racing - Hardcover

Mccarthy, Todd

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1401352022 ISBN 13: 9781401352028

Publisher: Miramax, 2007

Synopsis

In the early fifties, a hot new lineup of foreign cars arrived on the American scene - Porsche, Jaguar, Ferrari, MG, Aston Martin - ushering in a new era of race car competition that would entice not only men but women. Fast Women is the story of exceptional women who competed against the best of the men, asserting themselves in the risky, macho, and highly competitive sport of auto racing. In this post-war period, there was a new culture brewing, a free-spirited bohemia manifesting on both the East and West Coasts. From New York to California, this fiery sorority of women burned rubber and redefined the spirit of the time.
Among this group of daring women was lady of leisure Evelyn Mull. Mull got her start in auto racing after accompanying her husband to a race, then impulsively deciding to enter. She quickly became a leading driver on the amateur circuit in the late 1950s, cutting a dashing and elegant figure on every track she graced.
Unlike Evelyn, Denise McCluggage didn't come from old money. Covering the sport for the New York Herald Tribune, she was a sportswoman with the temperament of an artist. In her Greenwich Village neighborhood, there were two rare MG TCs on the block; hers and the one belonging to a struggling young actor named Steve McQueen. Inevitably the two met and engaged in a brief romance and an even longer friendship. In 1957, Denise began rivaling Evelyn for the top spot among women drivers.
On a frozen lake in Minnesota, plucky Ruth Levy took her first spin in a little race car and then took the rest of the racing world by storm. Adventurous in all areas (her first husband was a bee-bop jazz musician with a heroin addiction), she epitomized the sassy, free-wheeling California 50s scene as she defied fate with her pedal to the metal.

About this title

About the Author

Todd McCarthy is the longtime chief film critic of Variety.

Reviews

Since autos ran on bicycle tires, women have been racing; McCarthy, chief film critic for Variety, covers the rich history of women's racing in a narrative running from the turn of the 20th century until just after 1958, when marketing and sponsorship concerns squeezed out the ladies. Although McCarthy attempts to "strip away every shred of nostalgia" in homage to his unsentimental subjects, he writes with clear, infectious admiration for these unique pioneers. Suzy Dietrich, for example, was an "enormously cute" librarian who broke record after record in her Porsche 550 Spyder. Denise McCluggage, "a plainspoken Kansan," fell in love with an MG and sent regular dispatches from behind the wheel to the International Herald Tribune. Though the impetus for the sport (and the book) came from the wealthy, McCarthy builds his narrative around its only-in-America transformation from aristocratic hobby to populist pastime by way of "an excitedly fluid meritocracy." McCarthy claims early on that "it was a single photograph that seduced me," of aristocrat speed demon Evelyn Mull, smartly arranged in an early sports car with white shirt cuffs, leather gloves and a neat bun; fortunately, 16 pages of such photos are included, making this well-researched text a comprehensive survey of auto racing's first females.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

McCarthy, chief film critic for Variety, sets his sights on a much overlooked aspect of automotive history in this very engaging work. Equal parts social and sports history, Fast Women will be a revelation to those who believe they are on intimate terms with auto racing. Beginning in the late nineteenth century and culminating in the 1950s, when female drivers were at their most popular, McCarthy has gathered together dozens of personalities and personal histories in an effort to provide the most thorough primer possible on women in auto racing. Clearly, McCarthy conducted numerous interviews and did a staggering amount of research; nevertheless, although a selected bibliography is provided, there are no endnotes. Ultimately, the book serves best as an entry into the subject because McCarthy can give each driver only a few pages of notice before moving on to the next. The number of women drivers profiled can be quite dizzying, but readers will appreciate the wealth of fascinating information this dedicated author has uncovered. Colleen Mondor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Miramax
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1401352022
• ISBN 13: 9781401352028
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320