Today is my husband's birthday and in his honor, I promised to post on one of his favorite books, The Driver: my dangerous pursuit of speed and truth in the outlaw racing world by Alexander Roy.
On his deathbed, Alex Roy's father shared a secret with him. He had once participated in the highly-illegal road race that was the basis of (and nothing like) the Burt Reynolds movie The Cannonball Run. He asks his son to find the Driver, the mythic organizer of the cross-country race.
To this end, Roy goes against the better judgment of his family and friends, soups up a BMW M5 and attempts to catch the attention of the Driver by driving a 120 mph lap around Manhattan (ala the 1976 French cult film, C'était un Rendez-vous). Entering this underground society, he competes in the Gumball 3000 and the Bullrun, two of the most infamous rally races in the world. Finally he attempts to set the record for a New York to Los Angeles run. His time? 3000 miles in 32 hours and 7 minutes. Along the way, he uses every means at his disposal (radar detectors, police scanners and costumes) to achieve and maintain speeds up to 200 mph.
Dangerous? Yes. Fun to read? Oh yes. For a time, Alex Roy lived his life in pursuit of speed and truth for himself and his late father and we, his readers, get the shotgun seat on his adventures. Fast-paced and funny, The Driver may just tempt you to open up your engine the next time you see a clear highway ahead.
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