“I found Fred sitting in his overstuffed chair, feet up on an ottoman, listening to his old fashioned radio, like right out of the 1940s, but with a slot for CDs.” Original Art by Helena Freilich
Review by Pete Vack
Racing novelist supremo Burt Levy has completed another outrageous project – adapting his first novel, The Last Open Road as an audio book and using actual famous personalities like David Hobbs and Bill Warner as the voices!
He kindly sent me a copy, or let’s say a package of 20 CDs. (You can also order Flash Drives.) Aside from a few edits for chapters, the audio version follows the text and is produced in a very professional manner by Concept One Media.
Audio books are not normally on my bookshelf, but in the past few years, I’ve noticed that some of our elderly VeloceToday correspondents and readers are having problems with their eyesight and have been resorting to them. It happened that I knew a guy right down the street who had more years on his chassis than I, and was having trouble with his eyes. Maybe Fred would like to test drive the Palumbo Tapes (as we came to call them) when I was done with them? “Bring ‘em over,” he said. “If they are on a CD, I can put them into my fake superhetrodyne old-timey styled radio.” I went over and left the rather large CD box with Fred.
A week or so later, I dropped by and found Fred sitting in his overstuffed chair, feet up on an ottoman, listening to his old fashioned radio, the one with a slot for CDs. The voice of Greg Beastrom as Buddy Palumbo filled the air. Fred opened one eye. “Just like listening to Orson Welles Mercury Theater,” he said. Fred was old enough to remember the days before TV, sitting around listening to the family radio. He was also old enough to have been at Watkins Glen in the early 1950s, and was, so he knew when and if Levy was telling the tale right.
“So, what’s better, the book or the audio?” I asked, knowing that Fred would call it like it was.
“It’s been years now since I read The Last Open Road but it’s like a good movie, y’know, the characters never really leave your head.” Fred thought a minute. “But I’m pretty partial to the audio version. Greg Beastrom, the narrator – he’s very good. Add in the voices of David Hobbs as Barry Spline, together with parts read by guys like Brian Redman, Skip Barber, John Morton and a host others, and you’ve got one good radio show.”
I agreed and told him I also liked the sound effects (everything imaginable) and the engine noises of the cars. Levy had made sure they were all correct, thanks to the Vintage Sports Car Club of America members with MGs and Jaguars. Still, there were long spots when little is heard aside from the voice of Buddy Palumbo. It was a good thing that Beastrom was good and there were a lot of stories we all could relate to.
Fred shifted in his chair. “It’s amazing how many people shared experiences with Buddy Palumbo, like getting those pesky S.U.s right, or having to clobber the Lucas electric fuel pump to get it going again. Back in those days, if you drove a British car, you more or less had to be part mechanic. If you were part of the hobby at all in those years, you’ll find plenty of familiar experiences, both good and bad.”
“And I sure knew our share of shady back-lot furrin’ car dealers like Westbridge Motors, who always seems to have the car you wanted on the lot but not the parts you needed in the bin,” I remembered.
Levy also evoked the famous races at Bridgehampton, Brynfan Tyddyn, Elkhart Lake, and Watkins Glen, which actually was the last open road referred to by the title. Buddy found that racing is a disease and you catch the bug and it doesn’t go away, ever, even in the face of tragedy. “You were there –at the Glen in 1952. Was Levy’s portrayal of the event and the characters accurate?” I asked.
“Well, come on now, it’s a novel. Levy takes real and fictional characters and events, blends them into an exciting scenario and does so very skillfully. He gets the tone, the setting, the overall meaning right. But this is not a history book.” Fred was fully mobilized now and slipped into his professorial mode. “It’s good because it’s not just about racing or wrenching or wenching. The Last Open Road is about you, me and everyone who is growing up and discovering the world, having to make decisions about what’s right and what’s wrong, and how they want to lead their lives.”
“Sort of a car enthusiast’s coming of age story…” I guessed. “Well, we’ve read the book and listened to the Palumbo Tapes. A bit of a worn out story now….”
“Yes, but dammit, a damn good old story.” Fred leaned back in his overstuffed chair, closed his eyes and once again listened to the radio, like he did in the old days when Buddy Palumbo was in his prime and discovering a whole new exciting world of fascinating cars and people.
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