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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.72092
EAN num: 9780061227936
ISBN number: 0061227935
Label: HarperEntertainment
Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: October 01, 2007
Publishing house: HarperEntertainment
Release Date: October 16, 2007
Sale Popularity Level: 104039
Studio: HarperEntertainment
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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 very 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 postCannonball 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.
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Rated by buyers 
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All i can say is that this guy is my hero! The book is well written and very easy to read. I really wish it was longer though...
Rated by buyers -
A myriad of enthusiastic book reviews tout this book as "the best frickin' book ever" and, suffice it to say, I agree. Wholeheartedly. Thus, to avoid duplicity, I wanted to comment briefly on a less-reviewed aspect of "The Driver," one that seems to often take a back seat (pun intended) to the racing/high-speed/gumball-rallying/party-all-night theme that is the subject of innumerable other reviews: the author's endeavor to answer some big questions in a car.
Clearly Mr. Roy can drive. Obviously he is a brilliant strategist. It is axiomatic that he is insane. But some of my favorite scenes in the book did not take place in the lovely M5.
Thus, for those who are thinking of buying this book and, also, in response to those who have taken the time to pontificate, often so carelessly, about Mr. Roy's life, and to judge, all too easily, his passion for racing and the actions he has taken in the exploration thereof, I humbly offer this.
To understand what makes this book so special, it is important to read and understand those passages that do not relate to the garmins, radar jammers and police outfits that otherwise make Team Polizei the wonderful and ridiculous phenomenon that it is.
Indeed, when read holistically, "The Driver" is a fast-paced journey through a world of insane cars, playboys and rally-racers just as much as it is a window into the driver's personal search for that which money can not buy. Meaning. Answers. Passion. "Cadillacs."
Rated by buyers -
On the whole, a very good book.
The best parts are the recounts of the Gumball battles and the road racing. However, I think Alex felt the need to tie all the events in the book together with a single underlying storyline - one that I think is fictional. To me, it's too incredible to believe, and I don't think Alex would have believed it at the time either.
This book is really a must for Gumball enthusiasts. While it is accessible to those not familiar with Gumball, I would say it's most enjoyed by those in the know. An excellent accompanyment to any DVDs you have, as it gives amazing tales of antics not seen in the documentaries - both off the road and on!
Some of the stories are so enthralling I didn't want them to end, and this was one book I couldn't wait to pick up again after work.
Rated by buyers -
This book is the best book I have ever read, A lot of information in it and still written in a way its easy and fun to read!
Anybody who is remotely interested in reading just has to read this book!
Rated by buyers 
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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.
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