The Last Open Road

The first book in author/racer "BS" Levy's cult-classic THE LAST OPEN ROAD series, it's a classic coming-of-age story as well as an entertaining and oft-hilarious history of the early days of American road racing during the early 1950s, when upper-class sportsmen and the black sheep of wealthy families raced the latest and fastest new sports cars from Europe--Jaguars, Ferraris, Porsches and MGs--on chamber-of-commerce encouraged, ad-hoc road circuits through and around towns and villages like Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and Watkins Glen, NY. It was an innocent, glamorous, dangerous and sometimes decadent era, and Levy's colorful cast of characters interact with the real-life people, machines and events of the time. Best of all, it's seen through the eyes and mind of a good-hearted/learning-to-be street smart New Jersey gas-station mechanic named Buddy Palumbo, whom several reviewers have likened to Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye. But it's more than simply a "car guy" book. As the reviewer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram put it: "Levy's characters weave in and out of a tale that features classism, elitism and racism; that is about triumph and tragedy and right and wrong. It's a rich, compelling story that deserves a wide audience.