Doug, Paolo, and their friends, members of the support crew for the Orly Mann Racing Team, attend a drag race and a stock car race in California, and depend on their faith in God to deal with various people there.
Gr 7 Up-The members of the Thunderfoot Ballet Company who service the cars for the Orly Mann Racing Team use their off weekend from the Winston Cup series to fly to Pomona, CA, to attend the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) drag races. In this third book about Doug Prescott and his associates, they meet a talented drag-racing driver named Loren Janine, who has become drug dependent in an effort to battle her fears on the track. Blamed for an accident, she is fired and the friends decide to help her. The Christian focus of the story guides the plot and is most evident when a young gang member ransacks the friends' hotel room and then is befriended by them and encouraged to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Loren's problems are similarly solved but in a less simplistic way. A second plot involving a possible sale of the oil company that sponsors the team introduces a new character, Hildy, to the group and she becomes a love interest for Orly Mann. The technical details of the racing make this book an absorbing read for stock-car and drag-racing fans. The author's 15 years as a racing crew member provide the accuracy and style that firsthand experience yields.
Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.