During the race, Wendell makes a pit stop, but rushes his crew and pulls away with three lug nuts missing from one tire. On the day of the big race, Wendell worries that Mary will not come, but she arrives just before it starts. Back in Danville, Cotton, now mayor, works to secure Wendell sponsors so he can compete with major teams. Inspired by Wendell's determination, Hutch quits to rejoin Wendell's team. Wendell goes to the garage of Beau Welles, hoping to buy a used engine and finds Hutch working there. Later, Wendell enters an important race and recruits Woodrow, Peewee, and his family and friends to help him. Mary begs her now 42-year-old husband to retire, but he is adamant about racing. Sometime later, Wendell has a serious crash during a Talladega race, and he is hospitalized. Cotton is running for mayor of Danville, and he wants a picture with Wendell and the family as a de facto endorsement. By 1965, Wendell is a local celebrity, and Sheriff Cotton visits the Scott home. He encourages Hutch join a bigger team so he can better provide for his family.Īs years pass, Wendell joins the Grand National circuit, the highest level of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), competing at tracks in Atlanta, Georgia Darlington, South Carolina Riverside, California Phoenix, Arizona Talladega, Alabama and Daytona, Florida. After the crowd has gone, the race officials admit there was an error, but Wendell is enraged because he is denied the trophy and recognition. Wendell wins a close race, but Welles is declared the winner. A few years later, in 1955, Wendell faces off with rival Beau Welles at Middle Virginia Speedway. At the next race, Hutch's car will no longer run and he is forced to give up, so he joins Wendell's team as a mechanic. A white driver named Hutch accompanies him and they become friends. Barred from racing at most tracks, Wendell finally gets a chance, finishes fourth, and is awarded two steak dinners at a "whites-only" restaurant. Mary does not want Wendell to continue racing, but he insists on following his dream. At the junkyard, he meets a man named Woodrow, who volunteers to be his mechanic. Having discovered his calling, Wendell fixes up his car. During the contest, the white drivers run Wendell off the track, but he manages to complete the race and secure his freedom. Byrnes promotes Wendell as the first black stock car driver and on race day, there is a large multiracial crowd. All Wendell needs to do is cross the finish line. On Easter Sunday, Wendell takes over one of Slack's runs, but soon realizes it is a set-up when he is arrested.īilly Joe Byrnes, the local automobile racetrack owner, makes Cotton and Wendell a proposition: if Wendell agrees to race at Byrnes' track, 12 of the 15 charges against him will be dropped, and he will receive probation. Five years later, Sheriff Cotton has still been unable to apprehend Wendell, but he captures Slack in a raid. He insists that he tried to make money legally and this is the only way he can buy the garage. Although Wendell is thrilled to drive fast for a living, Mary is not happy with Wendell's new profession. On his first night, he discovers his best friend, Peewee, is already working for Slack and they narrowly evade Sheriff Cotton and his men. One day, he sees a bootlegger named Slack and asks for a job. Soon after, they are married and move into a house, but Wendell struggles to make money. Sometime later, Wendell takes Mary to an old racetrack in his new taxicab to propose, and they make love. As Wendell and Mary begin dating, Wendell tells Mary's family that his real dream is be a champion racecar driver, but they do not take him seriously. Later, Wendell tells his mother he does not want to work in the cotton mill and plans to use his muster pay to buy a taxicab, eventually open a garage, and be his own boss. His family welcomes him home with a party and he takes an immediate liking to a guest, Mary Jones. Fifteen years later, Wendell returns to Danville after serving in the Army during World War II. In 1930s Danville, Virginia, an African-American boy named Wendell Scott impresses a group of White boys with his bike-riding powers. The film is based loosely on the true life story of Wendell Scott, the first Black NASCAR race winner and later a 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee. Greased Lightning is a 1977 American biographical film starring Richard Pryor, Beau Bridges, and Pam Grier, and directed by Michael Schultz.
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