I've traveled to a couple races recently to talk about and sell my new racing mystery novel, and along the way, I've had a great time talking to race fans who are also readers about other racing fiction. For the most part, those readers have been educating me about fiction from the 1960s and 1970s that I'd never heard of. So I thought it was time for a review of racing fiction and authors from all eras ... and I hope you'll tell me what I'm missing!
Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain (2009). Quite simply a beautiful novel, with the added benefit of accurate and compelling descriptions of racing.
Sharyn McCrumb, Once Around the Track (2007) and St. Dale (2006). St. Dale is one of my favorite novels about racing. It's a fascinating examination of the impact Dale Earnhardt had on on the racing world, most especially on fans.
Burt Levy, The Last Open Road (1994) and four others in the series. The story of a young man's progression from mechanic to racer in the 1950s.
Alistair MacLean, The Way to Dusty Death (1973). A bit "racecar driver as superhero," but an entertaining racing mystery anyway. (I think I remember someone telling me there was a "howling" inaccuracy in this book, but I missed it, if so. Does anyone know what it is?)
Douglas Rutherford, Clear the Fast Lane (1971), and others. A down-on-his-luck racer does some off-track speeding for this mystery.
William Campbell Gault, The Checkered Flag (1964) and others (young adult). A YA novel of young men building a business and career in regional dirt track racing.
Bob Judd, Spin, Burn, The Race (1992-4; other titles in the UK). I haven't read these yet, but they're on order.
That's what I know of. What other authors and novels am I missing?
I hear Dead Man's Switch and Did Not Finish are very good, but I forget who wrote them.
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