The Last Open Road

A masterful and hilarious novel of open road sports car racing and falling in love with the boss's niece in 1950s America

In his first novel, Burt Levy captures the atmosphere of a more innocent era in America, the early '50s -- a time when the horizon seemed open and anything was possible, when enthusiasts raced European sports cars in open-road races in Bridgehampton, Elkhart Lake, and Watkins Glen, races that crackled with excitement, fun, adventure, and an omnipresent danger.

Levy tells the story of Buddy Palumbo -- a year out of high school and working as a mechanic at the Sinclair station in Passaic, New Jersey -- as he discovers the twin loves of his life: Miss Julie Finzio and sports car racing. Surrounded by a Dickensian cast of characters exuberant with life, Buddy is caught up in a series of adventures that rival those of Augie March -- as he learns what it means to be a man in an America that seems almost unrecognizable today.

Fast-paced, funny, and utterly absorbing, Buddy Palumbo's story will enchant readers with a vision of being young in America's last age of innocence.