Stock Car Race – Höllenjagd auf heißen Pisten (1977)

Stock Car Race – Höllenjagd auf heißen Pisten: Directed by Michael Schultz. With Richard Pryor, Beau Bridges, Pam Grier, Cleavon Little. The true life story of Wendell Scott, the first black stock car racing driver to win an upper tier NASCAR race.

“Richard Pryor shows his versatility, in this story of a black moonshine runner who forces his way into the white-dominated professional racing circuit. Iu0026#39;m not sure how historically accurate it is, but the film drew me into the story, right off the bat. When they establish Pryoru0026#39;s character as a WWII veteran, that automatically buys some sympathy, and itu0026#39;s not hard to guess how hard it would have been for a black man to make his mark in the white-dominated south, let alone the white-ultra-dominated auto racing field. This particular aspect of racing, I think, still shows today in the incredibly-low percentage of black drivers in the major leagues of auto racing. I know itu0026#39;s not because African-Americans canu0026#39;t build or drive cars – I believe itu0026#39;s still because of the redneck image of pro stock-car racing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnyway, off my soapbox. This is a great movie. Pryor is very believable and turns in a fine performance as the protagonist. Itu0026#39;s also great to see how the small local drivers started to build up the sport into the massive, ugly organization that is is, today. The film also kept my interest by showing the NASCAR races, year after year, showing their evolution and devolution.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI thoroughly enjoyed this film, front to back – of course, Iu0026#39;m kind of tilted towards car films. But the way the actors played out their characters in this film made them very human. I recommend this to any open-minded NASCAR fan. Thisu0026#39;ll show you where it came from.”