THE MUDGE POND EXPRESS

A very fine biography of a race car driver. Posey began life as a fat boy who had everything (money, good schools, travel) but never won anything until he got behind an Alfa Romeo at Lime Rock. From then on, it was the amateur sports car racing circuit--Can-Am, Trans-Am, Formula 5000, Le Mans, Daytona, and Indy. But he never won the big ones, or realized his dream of driving in the Grand Prix: the car always ran out of gas, or the brakes blew on the final stretch, or someone forced him into a crash or spin. Posey quickly conveys the frustrations and complexities of this most expensive and dangerous of all sports: the corporate wheeling-and-dealing to get sponsorship; the considerations involved in picking the right team, and choosing an engine or car design. Especially appealing is his disarming candor--he is still in awe of some of the more famous drivers he races against--though one suspects that his sense of humor about both his career and private life may ironically be the very thing that keeps him from the kind of single-minded determination that top winners need. The man has charm and talent--even when he's not behind his easel painting or in the driver's seat of his accelerating car.