How an auto race defeated Hitler

Buckle your seat belt and get ready to join the Book Festival on March 3 as we learn about the death-defying car race upset of all times. In the meantime, enjoy this review of Faster.

By Steve Brazina, JBF Committee member

Faster is more than a brisk new book about auto racing on the eve of World War II. Through Grand Prix racing, we see the seeds of the coming war. Not only a great read of early auto racing in Europe between the wars, Faster puts sports, politics and passion on a collision course. If you liked Seabiscuit and Boys in the Boat, you will find that Bascomb does for auto racing what those books did for horse racing and rowing.

The book nearly sizzles as this true story reveals the spirit and endeavor of humanity. Every turn of every chapter makes your heart beat a little “faster.”

Bascomb has a gift for understanding the main characters and what drives them. His in-depth bios of the drivers capture the camaraderie of the diverse racers giving way to the nationalism and racism building in 1930s Europe. The gripping story reminds us of the power of heroes to inspire during dark times.

Readers might characterize this as a David vs. Goliath story. Hitler’s Third Reich in the 1930s engulfed much of the culture in its geographic sphere, including the Grand Prix racing circuit. Pitted against this Goliath were an American heiress, a top driver banned because of his Jewish heritage, and a down-on-its-luck French automaker. They banded together to challenge Hitler’s dominance in Grand Prix racing. What evolved, almost as a miracle, was a remarkable race that Hitler tried to erase from history. Despite being one of the smallest racing teams of all times, the French car and Jewish driver defeated Hitler’s Mercedes several times; Hitler was outraged.

So irate was Hitler, that as soon as possible after the Nazis took Paris, Hitler’s henchmen — a Gestapo officer and several uniformed subordinates — stomped into the Automobile Club de France (ACF). The cavernous library of the ACF housed all race archives since 1895, an invaluable collection that chronicled remarkable French wins as well as ignoble defeats.

In Bascomb’s own words, “’Bring me all the race files,’ the Nazi ordered the young ACF librarian. The voluminous records were boxed up and brought

out on a cart. While his subordinates hauled them away, the Gestapo officer turned to the librarian. ‘Go home and never return here, or you’ll be arrested.

We will write the history now.’ The tale of René Dreyfus, his odd little Delahaye race car, and their champion Lucy Schell was one of the stories that Hitler would have liked struck from the books.”

Bascomb has created an expertly researched tale of how a band of dreamers risked everything to challenge evil. Faster brings to life the glamorous pre-war era and the sport that defined it. It chronicles one of the most inspiring, death-defying upsets of all times: a symbolic blow against the Nazis during history’s darkest hour.

Wednesday, March 3, 2021 People of the Book event, 7:30 p.m.

Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best by Neal Bascomb

Sponsor: Temple Shalom Men’s Club

Neil Bascomb is the national award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of Hunting Eichmann. Hadassah Magazine July/ August 2020 places Faster in the top five nonfiction Jewish best sellers. It was also a #1 Amazon bestseller. Bascomb conducted some of his research at the Revs Institute in Naples.