It’s probably safe to say that we’ve all exceeded the speed limit at one point in our lives in the hopes that we’ll get to wherever we’re going just a little bit quicker. Likewise; we can all relate to the feeling of anxiety as we crest a rise in the highway while going faster than we should, hoping that there won’t be a cop sitting in the median below. Now imagine this same feeling as you drive 3000 miles while averaging just less than 100 mph. In a word, exhausting; in two words, holy $hit.
(above) myself and @berkmd during our own LA -> Columbus rally, circa January ‘09
Ok, enough with the formal book reporting (Tessa’s proven that she’s way better at it anyways). Basically, The Driver is about some bald dude who’s got a lot of cash and decides to enter these “rallies” where they drive insanely expensive cars at insanely high speed on public roads. These “rallies” are usually a week long with the drivers stopping each night at a high class hotel where they get shitfaced each night and party like rockstars (some of them are rockstars, neat!). The locations vary from year to year; San Francisco to Miami, Paris to Cannes, etc. The most famous of these “underground” “rallies” is undoubtedly the Gumball 3000. Currently in its 11th year, notable “Gumballers” have included Rob Dyrdek, Matthew McConaughey (alright alright!), the crew of Jackass, and John Mayer.
After a while, said bald dude gets tired of the organized events and decides he wants to go more authentic by breaking the world record for driving from New York to Los Angeles. He then loads enough electronics into his BMW M5 that it could be considered a nuclear sub on wheels (this was by far my favorite part of the book, imagine that). Additionally, he even coerces a pilot friend (who doesn’t have a friend with a plane and pilot’s license?!) into flying ahead of the car and scouting for cops on the highway. I won’t give away the final ending, but the book rocked. It’s only a couple bucks on Amazon and afterwards you’ll want to get in your car and drive like you’re Dale Earnhardt in turn 4 at Talladega.
I’d also like to point out that McCon has recently dropped the hammer on our “book club” and required that our posts be up by noon on our assigned days. That being said, I think my day moved to Thursday? But Mick posted today? What’s up with that? Anyways, I’ve quickly thrown my article together in attempt to appease Hey Arnold McCon. I also threw in some cool, somewhat related videos for those that can’t read.
(above) Team Polizei (the author’s “team”) during the 2003 Gumball.
(above) Audi R8 modified in similar fashion as the M5 featured in this book, bald guy is the author.
-MS
