This may or may not interest you, but I am an big car fan, and admire many forms of racing.  Sorry NASCAR fans, that is still not racing, and is boring as shit to watch.

Anyway, there are two things I would love to do, drive coast to coast, and race competitively.  One of the two I will do, but alas, I do not see myself racing competitively anytime soon.  Alex Roy is a somewhat of a cult icon in the Rally scene, having unofficially won seven championships (technically one cannot win a rally since it is technically not a race).  Now before I continue, I do not condone the act of racing illegally and putting the lives of innocent others in jeopardy for the sake of going somewhere fast.  

This past October he released a book called " The Driver."  I picked this up the day it came out, which for me to do for any writer not named Nick Hornby, Max Barry, or Chuck Palahniuk is rare.  It was a fascinating piece of non-fiction starting with his childhood and going into painstaking details about his relationship with his father and his need to accomplish something his father always wanted to do but could not.  From there we follow Alex as he runs several Gumball Rallys.  Over those pages we get a glimpse of a rarely scene world of extravagance, including million dollar cars, exotic locations, and what you could potentially be part of if you had the money, and more importantly time to do so.  You learn of the friendships and rivalries he builds though-out his rallying career, all leading up to one challenge, make it from New York to LA in less than 32 hours and 7 minutes.

During his record attempts, like the rest of the book, you feel like you are a passenger in his BMW M5 worrying about speed, fuel consumption, the police, and the safety of others.  All the hours countless hours spent planning an excruciatingly detailed route can quickly mean nothing if a deer decides to cross the road at the wrong time.  One of the rare times I had white knuckles reading a book.   Their final time, 31 hours and 4 minutes. 

Again, I am not saying it is a smart move (something the writer also agrees with), but regardless of what your thought is on the idea, it is still a fun read.  If you, have, or know car enthusiasts, you should gift this book. 

Back to the subject, why am I recommending this book almost three months after it was released?  Well, quite frankly I have been meaning to, but I can be lazy, so I put it off.  It was prompted by his recent appearance on David Letterman.  He is a fascinating guy, so if you have a few minutes give it a shot.  You can read a great deal more about his adventures in this great Wired Magazine article.