Title: Fast Women: The Drivers Who Changed the Face of Motor Racing
Author: John Bullock
Published Year: 2002
Pages: 187 pages
This is a little different racing than the type I am used to. It is not the current high horsepower racing that most people think about when the concept of racing cars comes to mind. Okay now that I have that point across, I will tell you what this book is about. This book is about women who primarily raced across Europe before World War II during the 1930s. The majority of the stories focus on racing on a track in England called Brooklands. Many of the women who were able to race there moved on to other race surfaces such as Donington Park, Crystal Palace, Montlhery and the famous 24 hour Le Mans.
Included are not just British women, but women from France and Australia just to name a couple other places where these women came from. For a sport that today that does not have a lot of women participating in it at the high level, this book is a real eye opener. I could not believe how many women during the 1930s were racing and how good they really were. Changes in life style during the war and after affected the number of women racing during this time. I am happy that I came across this book because it brought a real eye opener to me about the history of women in racing even if it is not the type of racing that I passionately love. I have no doubt though that during the time of the events taken place in this book I would have loved to jump in one of their cars and run a few laps or even a whole race.
The book includes history as well as encouragement to try something that you have not done or something that is not thought of something for your age, gender or ethnicity whatever it may be. My favorite people written about in this book are the men and families that stood by their wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters to dare to do something different. Totally worth the read, as this part of racing history should be known.
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