Fast N' Loud: Blood, Sweat and Beers

The breakout star of Discovery’s hit automotive restoration show Fast N’ Loud takes readers on an entertaining ride through his wild life and behind the scenes of his hit show in this memoir and automotive handbook, revving with outrageous details and jaw-dropping stories, and injected with the quick-witted, foul-mouthed charm viewers love.

“If we’re gonna have fun, it better have a motor!”

In Fast N’ Loud, Richard Rawlings pushes into high gear, sharing the story of his rise to success, his show, and the automotive know-how that has made him famous. He begins with his own story―how he went from flat broke to a seat at the table with some of history’s most iconic car guys. His road to the top is full of dangerous twists and hilarious turns, with a few precipitous cliffs in between, including getting shot defending his beloved 1965 Mustang fastback from carjackers, blowing out of town Fear-and-Loathing style, and picking up chicks and vagrants along the way.

Rawlings then takes readers behind the scenes of Fast N’ Loud, the series, sharing details on everything from the toughest car to restore to the easiest, his favorite restorations, travel and war anecdotes, and the best and worst cars to make it to the small screen. He finishes with a handy guide for classic and antique car enthusiasts that includes insider tricks of the trade. Want to know how to find a Model-T in mint condition? Need a carburetor for your ’73 Ford Mustang? Want to meet other ’60s Porsche owners? The answers are all here.

It’s his life story, unfiltered, with all the high-octane details you’d expect:

• From Broke to Baller: The story of how Richard Rawlings built his empire from the ground up, proving the American dream is alive and well—and running on high-octane fuel.
• Behind the Scenes: All the jaw-dropping stories from the set of Fast N’ Loud, including Richard’s favorite builds, toughest restorations, and what really happens when the cameras stop rolling.
• Life in the Fast Lane: Outrageous and dangerous tales from the road, from getting shot defending his ’65 Mustang to breaking the legendary Cannonball Run record.
• The Gas Monkey Playbook: An automotive handbook packed with insider tricks for finding, buying, and flipping classic cars for serious profit.

Richard Rawlings, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, developed a passion for automobiles from an early age, attending professional car shows with his dad and buying and selling multiple vehicles in his teens. A veteran of transcontinental road rallies, he has won the Gumball 3000 and the Bullrun twice, and he broke a world record in the Cannonball Run that had stood for twenty-five years. He is the owner of the world-renowned hot rod shop Gas Monkey Garage and the star of Discovery's hit series Fast N' Loud.

MARK DAGOSTINO is a New York Times bestselling coauthor and a former senior writer at People magazine. Although he's never competed in a road rally or built a hot rod, his very first car was a Chevy Camaro, and his favorite road trip ever was a solo cross-country drive in a Porsche he purchased for $5,000.