Book Review: Winning is not enough - The autobiography by Jackie Stewart

What is enough? This is the question Stewart asks at the beginning of the book, but even at the end, can’t provide a definitive answer. Most would think that becoming the Formula 1 World Champion three times during the most dangerous era in the history of the sport is enough for a lifetime. Not for Stewart though. In fact, details about his racing career don’t even cover half of the book. He very clearly lays out all other important things in his life, namely clay pigeon shooting, his business relationship with sponsors, friendly relationships with prominent people, his dogs and last but not the least, the most important – his family.

The author – Sir Jackie Stewart is not the actual author as a matter of fact because he has learning and reading difficulties being a dyslexic – starts by describing Stewart’s early life struggles due to dyslexia and how he overcame the disappointment from the innumerable taunts he got from friends and teachers alike, by achieving huge success in the world of clay pigeon shooting. The story then slowly moves on towards his racing career and how he landed his first professional drive when a customer came to his garage.

The best, although equally sad, part is how the “wee” Scot maintained his composure when friends around him were being killed on the racetrack and all that he could do was to console their widows for the time being. From that, it became clear to him that just ‘winning is not enough’ and he started a safety crusade which became so powerful as time passed that deaths were dramatically reduced since his retirement and there hasn’t been a single death on track in the sport in the last 19 years.

At this point, the storyline starts to really captivate the reader. But just at this point, things go a bit awry. In fact, later in the book, Stewart mentions that he had provided the first three chapters of the book to an eminent journalist to read and the feedback he got was that it would be difficult to maintain the high level throughout. I wouldn’t say that the level dropped suddenly but things could have been better in the second part if more emphasis would be given on some specific and more important events.

For instance, a major percentage of the second part is occupied by how Stewart completed his deals with major sponsors and how he maintained good relationships with some very important people. No doubt, we get to learn some lessons such as how to prepare for an interview etc. – I don’t say that there is anything wrong in that but that kind of deviates from what Jackie Stewart actually is: an ex-driver and an ex-team owner. The Stewart Grand Prix F1 team was a very significant achievement in his life and he very well documents how he convinced the HSBC board to become a sponsor for the team, but he is less descriptive about his another major role after being an ex-driver – an ex-team owner/manager/principal. Maybe more details about how he faced the challenges of running a team and got some decent results, rather than devoting a whole chapter to his dogs, would have a better proposition.

Final Verdict: Don’t get me wrong though, this is one of the best among the various autobiographies/biographies of F1 drivers till now. Whether you are a Jackie Stewart fan or not, you will love how he describes his careers and successes in motor-racing and clay pigeon shooting. My opinion would be to definitely go for it.

Rating: 8.5/10