The Last Open Road — Burt S. Levy

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. Levy's colorful cast of characters interact with the real-life people and events of the time, and it's all 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. A self-published book that made it big (now in its eleventh printing!), rave reviews everywhere, a true cult classic, and has been used in high school and college-level English Lit classes.