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I am really enjoying this movie - never seen it before - and here I thought I had pretty much seen or heard of every 70's "car" movie:

« Greased Lightning (TV-PG, PG, **) A black man overcomes social barriers and becomes the first African-American to race on the NASCAR circuit.

Playing on Bounce TV right now.

I watched this on net-flix. Wendell Scott was one of the last racers with little or no sponsors. Kind of self funded i guess. He was driving a Cyclone for a while and Revell made a slot car of him in a 67 Fairlane. Very neat story and a fun movie to watch.

The Monogram car had a driver that looked too white to be the famous black racer we all knew about, but what most folks didn't know was that Wendell Scott was very very light in color. When I was a boy running around on the bayou, I was darker than Wendell Scott. I almost never came indoors. Richard Pryor made a great movie, but he was so dark skinned it gives people the wrong idea about what Scott looked like.

I seen both Wendell Scott and the movie.
I've seen him drive at richmond when the track was a 1/2 miler and man could he drive.

Thanks for the videos Bibbster!They really shed some light on a great racer.

Rusty

I wish I knew about Wendell Scott when I fell in love with racing at age 7 after my father took me to a stock car race at the local fairgrounds. Once I got my license and a car I started attending as many races at central NY tracks as I could, often 2 or 3 in a weekend and 90% of the time I was the only black person there. Some people think its odd that a black guy should be an auto racing fan, but ALL the guys I knew growing up loved cars so why not?

My dad was part Native American and about the same shade as Wendell, as a matter of fact they looked enough alike to be brothers. Wendell has been a hero of mine ever since seeing the movie and I wish auto racing today was as diverse as the other major sports. Thanks to Revell-Monogram for making a car in his honor.

Slothead Joe

Thanks Leadfinger1, I appreciate the welcome.

Racing people are great, fullsize or scale, and I have many wonderful stories. Sat next to 2 brothers at a big race in upstate NY and when I mentioned how I always got a hotel room for the 2 day races they said, 'No way', and invited me to spend the weekend. Next thing I knew they'd called all there friends and relatives and I was in the midst of big a cookout and given a room for the night. Plus, we played with all the guys R/C cars and had a great time.

Another time I was running late and just got to a track as the first race was lining up and had to sit way down front. I heard a lady yelling and looked up to the top of the grandstand to see an elderly couple waving me up. They remembered seeing me at every race and were wondering where I was so they saved me a seat.

And the guys I used to race slotcars with - you couldn't ask for a better bunch to hang out with. Sort of like the vibe I get here.

Slothead

I got the same feeling when I first started looking in on HRW. In my mind I could put faces on what people said based on my friends from the early 1960s.