Book Review: Confession of a Fast Woman

Published in 1992

Cars have been an important part of socioeconomic status, as well as a necessity, in the United States since the 1920s. At some point in their lives, most people in the United States own or operate a car due to the country’s geography and infrastructure. Public transportation is not widely available in many states, particularly in rural areas.

Given this context, it is not surprising to find books about cars in the United States. However, it is somewhat surprising to find a book about fast cars written by a woman who, by her own admission, identified as a feminist and an environmentalist in 1992.

Lesley Hazleton was writing about politics for The New York Times when she began writing for Lear’s Magazine about race cars. Lear’s Magazine was founded by Francine Lear, a three times divorcee, and focused on targeting women over forty-five as its readership. It is not clear whether the magazine achieved its mission, as it closed after six years. Hazleton’s column about her experiences driving race and fast cars ran in Lear’s Magazine from 1989 to 1991. In 1992, Hazleton published her book, Confessions of a Fast Woman, to recount her experiences and provide a picture of her conflicting feelings in a reflective, and at times overly romanticized, manner. Even today, the book has a limited appeal to women as a broader audience.

Hazleton, in her forties, was writing for the targeted audience of women in their forties in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The idea was that women can enjoy driving fast cars just as much as men and can experience the same level of thrill and exhilaration. To prove her point, Hazleton went so far as to take a job in a car shop as an apprentice mechanic. She learned the detailed workings of car repair and how an engine functions.

Were women interested in cars in the same way men were interested in cars during that period in history, or was Hazleton’s column an attempt to create that interest? Or was it an attempt to present a picture of a woman as a representative of all women in an alternate narrative?

Let’s be honest: women are not as broadly interested in cars beyond their function and, perhaps, their aesthetics. If a car is expensive, it may even be more appealing to some women. In 2026, I have yet to see a single woman working as a car mechanic. Car dealerships still have very few women in sales roles; however, receptionists at these dealerships and shops are often women.

I do not believe anyone is stopping women from becoming car mechanics. I think women are generally not as interested in becoming mechanics and/or race car drivers. I doubt the situation was any different in 1992, when Confessions of a Fast Woman was published, or during Hazleton’s research from 1989 to 1991. From 1951 to the present, only five women have competed in Formula One racing.

Hazleton was a hopeless romantic in many of her works, and Confessions of a Fast Woman is no exception. She romanticized fast cars and created analogies and metaphors between driving fast cars, feeling powerful, feeling excited, and even experiencing sexual gratification. She described cars, and their impact on the male psyche, as empowering, status-elevating tools associated with masculinity. She suggested that cars and their drivers (usually male) can become psychologically merged, with the cars’ horsepower symbolizing the drivers’ own power.

She also compared these ideas to her own experiences driving fast cars as a woman, describing how, in one instance, she not only felt exhilarated but also experienced a peak emotional and physical response while driving. She equated fast cars with machismo, power, and heightened sensation, and explored how women might experience similar feelings through their own engagement with driving.

Much of her work focuses on how drivers of fast cars may self-identify with their vehicles and internalize the power of the machine as an extension of themselves.

"By dehumanizing others, we dehumanize ourselves." As Hazleton attempted to provide a more refined exploration of the relationship between humans and machines, calling it machine/I—particularly themes of power and dehumanization through identification with technology—she also drew on historical references, including Nazi Germany. In doing so, she highlighted information about one of the most well-known automakers, Porsche, that may not have been widely known by the general public: the role of the company’s founder during World War II and his involvement in supporting Nazi Germany.

“Hazleton did a great job of analyzing different genders’ approaches to cars and the impact of gender roles, femininity, and masculinity on how cars and their drivers perceive themselves, as well as on the culture of macho men. She stood firmly against the rigid gender roles of the time. She stated,”

"It is simplistic, even crude, to say that a refusal of sexual stereotyping means that I am trying to be male."  

She wanted to portray the idea that she could be just as interested in cars as the next guy. However, she contradicted herself when she told the story of older men taking turns sitting in a fast car and how she felt it was silly to do so. This suggested a lack of interest in cars compared to male interest in general. She also explained how the people around her—those in her social circle and class—were very curious about and supportive of her efforts to drive very expensive and fast cars, yet the same people were judgmental about her interest in working in a car shop as an apprentice mechanic. She explored ideas of status, cars, jobs, gender, gender roles, and the environmental impacts of cars.

Her comparison of her first car,  deux chevaux, to the fast cars, Jaguars, Porsches, Mercs, Lamborghinis, Corvettes, Alfasa and Range Rovers,  she later drove for her job, rang a drastic contrast to her feelings about what these cars represents in general. She emphasized the Frenchness of deux chevaux and what this car meant to French people.

 She continued her analysis with the risk taking by drawing similarities between driving fast cars and the bungee jumping. She believed car racing was a risk filled activity and was an abnormal behavior. 

Hazleton tried and drove these fast cars to understand the feeling behind it. She perfectly described the speed and its physical and mental impact on the driver. However, was she taken seriously by others as a speed driver? She stated in the book that some of her instructors suggested she should become a race driver. The book gave me the impression that the male instructions were being kind in the way of men. Men will encourage women when they feel a sexual tension or when woman comes across sexually forceful. Hazleton in her mid forties was an attractive, sexually confident, flirtatious, white woman. I don't believe for a second the men truly believed she should become a race driver.   

Lesley Hazleton (1945-2024)

She also compared her sexual gratification from fast fossil fuel cars to the electric cars which she perceived as the cars of the future.  She doubted her own convictions and loyalty to the cause of environmentalism and the impact of fossil fuel cars due to her obsession with speed and fast cars at the time. She thought of the speed as something demonic which had a hold of her. 

There is so much to unpack in this book. Did she fall into the trap of having the opportunity to have access to fast cars and completely forgot her own principals for a while?  She had to remember she was an environmentalist and against the fossil fuel cars.  

The book manifests a couple of very powerful points: It shows given the opportunity anybody can sway from the right path. Hazleton was an environmentalist yet she became obsessed with fast cars. She promoted these cars passionately in her columns and in this book, there is a glorification of fast cars. Her writings influence regular woman to think it is seductive, powerful and sexually gratifying to drive a fast car. The Lear's Magazine's owner, Frances Lear and Hazleton, both, believed that women's liberation depended on women's practice of male activities and being accepted in male dominated areas, jobs and cultures. This book is a testament of an era where women try to do the things men liked to free themselves from men.

Hazleton successfully covered, compared, analyzed many aspects which included, gender, social norms, power, status, technology, changes, personal conflict between what is wanted and what is needed, etc. The book is an enjoyable book. Hazleton uses a basic language and romanticizes with concepts. The book is available free of charge on Internet Archive, a free online library where the books can be checked out for fourteen days each time. 

Hazleton, L. (1992) Confession of a Fast Woman. Addison-Wesley. https://archive.org/details/confessionsoffas0000hazl/page/40/mode/2up

Schraff, A. (2001) Secrets in the Shadows. Townsend Press.  https://historicalmenwomenplaces.blogspot.com/2025/07/book-review-secrets-in-shadows.html