Levy is an avid gearhead who writes auto racing history thinly disguised as fiction. This is the fourth novel in his the Last Open Road series, following The Fabulous Trashwagon and continuing his lengthy saga of motor car racing in the late 1950s in the U.S. and Europe. It's a treasure trove of auto racing lore, covering stock cars, oval tracks and Grand Prix races; famous cars and drivers; spectacular crashes; and the heady and expensive business of auto racing. All of this racing history is very loosely wrapped in a narrative skein that links one racing anecdote to another. The story is told by Buddy Palumbo, a race fan and New Jersey salesman who follows auto racing vicariously through his race car driver friend, Cal Carrington, and Cal's co-driver, Toly Wolfgang, a ruthless competitor and a playboy celebrity. Once past the mind-numbing mechanic's jargon about gearboxes, overhead cams and carburetors, Levy tells a funny tale of the pair's Trashwagon exploits. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
