Customer Reviews

Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle

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As a die-hard racing fan from the 60's and 70's, I have many books on the sport from those times. While my personal favorite is still Mark Donohue's "Unfair Advantage," Janet Guthrie's book easily ranks right up there with the best, and amazingly she wrote it all by herself, with no "ghost" writer. While I followed racing closely back then, I was surprised at how little I remembered about the details of her racing, especially in NASCAR. Her book is VERY well written and flows smoothly, covering efforts in both Indy racing and NASCAR, and does an exceptional job of explaining the difficulties (and discrimination) she faced. The key to the book, however is how she succeeds in making the reader understand that, in her view, she was a racer first and that being a woman was not the issue to her. She never wanted to be the best woman racer, she wanted to be the best racer, period. Well written, descriptive, and eye-opening about some of the sexism that happened at the time, the well designed book makes this an extremely enjoyable read for the race fan and anyone interested in reading about one person's efforts to just do what he/she loves doing, with help from some good people and in spite of the neanderthal opposing mind set of the times. Good job Janet, and good luck to Danica Patrick, Sara Fisher, and the others still fighting the barriers the pioneering Janet Guthrie helped knock down.

I started sports car racing about the same time as Janet, also had no money, and enjoyed all the years of scratching and clawing for a ride. I could not have written this book, though, because not only did she do something special, she tells the stories so well. I learned more about her in the book than I did at the time, and as a result of the book, feel the shared history and experiences deeply.

As a mutual friend said, "...it's exposed more about her and what she did and how she did it than most (of her comtemporary racing friends) either knew or understood...it's established more of a camaraderie with other racers ..." than was thought to exist at the time.

I wish she would publish the other several hundred pages she had to cut out of this beek, as I am sure I would enjoy it also.

I was in junior high school when Ms. Guthrie ran in the Indy 500, and was wowed by the fact that a woman could make it auto racing. Those who of us who remember the era before Title 9 know how tough it was for female athletes in any sport, but especially auto racing which remains a male-dominated field to this day.

Cheers to you, Ms. Guthrie, for your excellent career, for opening the doors, for your marvelous record on the track, and for an exciting memoir that's as fast-paced as your race car! Five stars!

Janet Guthrie was more qualified than many drivers who had quality rides in open-wheel and stock-car racing. She was a graduate of the University of Michigan (B. Sc. in physics), an aerospace engineer and flight instructor while race-car driving as early as 1963 in a Jaguar XK 140 that she prepared.

But being a female in a male-dominated business made for a career that had a very rough road. Guthrie persevered under very trying times to reach the pinnacle in the sport in 1977, qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 - becoming the first woman to qualify and compete in the event - and Daytona 500 - finishing the race as the top rookie driver.

And after nearly 20 years in search of a publisher and several hundred pages cut from her manuscript, Guthrie delivers an excellent read that covers her life on and off the track.

Guthrie wanted to be known as a race-car driver, but there were too many people who couldn't get past her gender. That was from the boardrooms of potential sponsors to initial tough comments from competitors like Richard Petty and Bobby Unser and workers at venues like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway who were determined to make Guthrie know in so many ways that she wasn't welcome & could never compete financially with the top teams.

Though Petty and Unser eventually gave Guthrie props - Petty saying in 1978 that she may win a NASCAR event with a better ride & Unser stating she has done a good job - there were drivers like Tom Sneva and Buddy Baker and others in the industry who assisted her in reaching for the stars. Even though Guthrie blazed a trail, it ultimately smacked into a brick wall when a lack of sponsorship dollars prevented her from competing in the top events.

In 2006, Guthrie was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. A Life at Full Throttle is a story about struggling against institutionalized gender discrimination and how the road to true equity remains under construction.

I have read many racing books. Most are poorly written and edited not to mention inaccurate. This book raises the bar to a new level that all will aspire to from now on. It has to be the best racing book written in years if ever.
It is also an excellent book that is a commentary that documents where we were and when reflected on where we are today in society standards and womens status in society today. We have come a long way with a ways still to go.
This book should be required reading for all racing fans and college professors developing a reading list for a womens studies or history program. It is that good without exception. I highly recomend it.

I'm a librarian and an auto racing fan, and I've read a lot of motor racing books. This is the best racing biography I've EVER read, and she wrote it all by herself. Whether your interest is the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR, sports in general, or women's studies, you'll find something to enjoy in this book, and you will be impressed by the quality of the writing.

BTW, her opinion of Pat Patrick is hilarious; or at least, it's a lot like mine.

Enjoy

I owned a car that raced against the Kelly Girl stock car. Her accounts of the races and the set backs are so true and fair that it brings back a LOT of memories from that time. Her gutsy personality comes through on every page. Cars from the North with part-time racers were treated almost as rough as green cars with female drivers. Janet was and is so much a lady. I am buying copies for all my former crew so we can remember a wonderful time in our lives. AJ was and is true gentleman. The Woods brothers were also. If you have raced, you need this book.

Janet Guthrie is amazing -- as a racecar driver and writer. Her stories about bumping up against the old-boys Indy 500 club make for fascinating reading. You can see why she was the first lady of racing and why for such a looong time no one else came close. She's a fine writer too -- this text sounds like it comes right from the heart.

It's hard today to believe the sexist discrimination Janet Guthrie encountered and overcame while working her way up to the very peak of motor sport in the 1970s. The disparaging remarks from the media and racers like Richard Petty and Bobby Unser on down must have been almost unbearable. Yet Guthrie clearly was the real deal, she made it to the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 and acquitted herself well. In 1978 she formed, owned and managed her own Indy 500 team and finished ninth. She had an understanding of how to set a car up equal or better than most drivers, she had the determination and feel for a car that allowed her to get the most from whatever she was driving, be it her 1956 XK 140 MC Jaguar, a Mustang at Daytona, Matras, Javelins and Sprites at Sebring, on up to Indy cars and stock cars at the highest level of the sport.
I could have done without some of the philosophical stuff but fortunately there isn't too much of it, the racing stories are fascinating and well worth the read, I kept re-reading bits and pieces. Having purchased too many lousy racing books I have been weeding them out and getting rid of all but the best. This one's a keeper.

This is a five star book that was worth the twenty-year wait for her to get it to the publisher. As other reviewers have said this book can be read on several levels for the race fan or people interested in the struggle of a very intelligent woman in the work place of the 1960s and 1970s.
For the NASCAR fan the book has some very interesting insights into the personality of drivers and owners still prominent in the sport. For me I found her descriptions of how her cars felt on the track were some of the best I have ever heard or read. It made you feel like you were a crew chief on the other end of her radio at the track.
As a contemporary fan of her driving career the book confirmed my feeling, at the time of her exploits, that she was one the best all around Indy drivers to have never won that race. (Robby Gordon and Lloyd Ruby are others on my list) Few drivers can jump out of and Indy car and into a junk NASCAR machine and run up front with the good old boys. As a race driver AND author she has no peers.
Janet, thanks for the memories.