Product Description

On his deathbed, Alex Roy's father dropped tantalizing hints about the notorious Cannonball Run of the 1970s, the utterly illegal high-speed nonstop race from New York to L.A. that was nothing at all like the one portrayed in the Burt Reynolds movie.

Inspired by his father's dying words, and against the advice of his loyal, lifelong friends, Roy enters the mysterious world of road rallies and underground races—trying both to find himself and to locate The Driver, the anonymous organizer of the world's ultimate secret race—neither of which may exist. But in order to get noticed by The Driver, Roy must first become a force to be reckoned with.

In this riveting memoir, Roy straps you into his highly modified BMW M5 and takes you on a terrifying 120 mph lap of Manhattan (his version of the French cult film Rendezvous), then tackles the Gumball 3000 and the Bullrun—the two most infamous road rallies in the world. He creates a character for himself and his car, Polizei Autobahn Interceptor, and they stick out among the Lamborghinis and Ferraris driven by millionaire playboys, software moguls, Arab princes, movie stars, leggy Czech supermodels, gear-heads, and tech whizzes. Out of the hundred-plus rally drivers, a select few—Alex Roy among them—compete as if these are full-on honestto-god road races, traveling from London to Morocco, from Budapest to Rome, from San Francisco to Miami at speeds approaching 200 mph.

With his M5 armed with amyriad of radar detectors, laser jammers, and police scanners, and his trunk crammed with a variety of fake uniforms, the obsessively prepared Roy evades arrest at almost every turn, wreaking havoc on his fiercest rivals, and gaining the admiration of police forces around the globe.

But his rise to the top of the rally-driving world ultimately proves hollow, until he meets a young film producer documenting the obscure post–Cannonball Run races and the holy grail of cross-country racing—the N.Y.-to-L.A. speed record of thirty-two hours and seven minutes set back in 1983. Can that time even be approached today, much less beaten? As Roy reveals in The Driver, there are reasons why no one has tried in twenty-four years. But should he try? Can he do it?

Full of hilarious, sexy, and shocking stories from a life lived at the right-hand edge of the speedometer, The Driver offers a never-before-told insider's account of the fast, dangerous, and unbelievable society that has long been offlimits to most of us. Filled with insane driving and Roy's quixotic quest to win both for his late father and for himself, The Driver is the tale of one man's insatiable drive beyond life in the fast lane.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #225972 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Released on: 2007-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061227936
• BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Review
"...this is more than a testosterone cocktail of a memoir. It’s a joy ride..." -- Los Angeles Times

"…highly entertaining insider’s look at the world of high-stakes, high-octane, high-risk road rallies…. Roy writes with enthusiasm and with a novelist’s sense of pacing and character. The book is so good, so filled with color and adrenaline, that it plays out like a movie in your mind." -- Booklist (starred review)

Review
".highly entertaining insider's look at the world of high-stakes, high-octane, high-risk road rallies.. Roy writes with enthusiasm and with a novelist's sense of pacing and character. The book is so good, so filled with color and adrenaline, that it plays out like a movie in your mind." (Booklist (starred review) )

"...this is more than a testosterone cocktail of a memoir. It's a joy ride..." (Los Angeles Times )

About the Author

Alexander Roy has been driving in international road rallies since 2003. He finished first in the 2006 Gumball 3000 and set a new speed record from New York to Los Angeles, making the nearly 3,000-mile drive in a staggering 32 hours and 7 minutes. When he is not on the road, he lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

A true delight
There have been 3 books in my life that were so captivating that putting them down was unthinkable, The Driver just pushed that number to 4. Having been a long time fan of Alex Roy, it was intriguing to read about the details of what has only been rumored until now. Describing his early life, his reasons for following a life of driving, and documenting a truly remarkable accomplishment of the US transcontinental land speed record; this book keeps the reader engaged.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever stared at an open road and wondered what might be possible.

Live vicariously, if disapprovingly.
As much as I disapprove of what Alex Roy does (and I truly do), I couldn't help but get a guilty, vicarious thrill reading this book. Alex Roy participates in road rallies and cross-country runs for speed, often clipping along at speeds well into triple digits (how does 175 mph strike you?) on public roads. No matter how many safety precautions you take, that's putting the lives of non-participants at risk and there are plenty of legal ways to get your car onto the track if you want to drive fast safely. Lecture over, my immature half will now commence the review.

I stayed up late reading this book despite writing that is disjointed and frequently hard to follow because I just loved hearing about the antics of the guys who drive these rallies. I am always curious how these guys get away with driving the way they do, how frequently they get caught and what happens when they do. This book answers those questions.

What was unexpected for me was the level of technology and preparation that Roy and a couple other drivers put into these rallies and cross-country runs. Roy's penultimate achievement is setting the record for driving fastest from New York to LA in just 31 hours and 4 minutes. He uses police scanners programmed with the frequency of each state's highway patrol, infrared cameras for night driving, gyroscope-stabilized binoculars and a spotter plane - yep, a plane.

If you've harbored the same questions I have about how and why these guys rally, if you like technology and planning, if you have a kernel of resistance to authority in your personality, if you like cars a little too much, you too might find yourself staying awake too late into the night reading this book. Even if you do disapprove of what these guys do.

The "Hoosier" underdog story of this decade!
5 STARS - This is the best book I have ever read! Alex Roy uses compelling story telling ability, and colorful detail to pull the reader through the pages of his book and into the flickering cockpit of his performance BMW.

This is the "Hoosier" underdog story of this decade, and compels one to look at personal goals and the roadblocks that may stand in their way. This is NOT just a book about driving fast, rather one of self discovery and living life with purposeful determination.

Reading time start to finish was 6:42.10, and my heart rate never dropped below 140bpm. Thank you Alex for my first ever cardio read.