Hot Rods and Racing Cars #42

Ray Murphy, a mechanic with formal engineering training, has had enough of being pushed around by Skee Switski and the other local racing hotshots who dominate Middlemont's stock car circuit. When Skee finally offers him a shot at partnership if he can beat him on the track Saturday night, Ray accepts the challenge—and takes to the race in his unassuming street car, fenders still on. What unfolds is a battle of skill and cunning as Ray proves just how much he knows about getting the most out of an automobile.

Leo Blattner, a farm boy stuck without a car while his high school classmates cruise around in sleek hot rods, finally takes his father's challenge to build something himself—rescuing an old Ford Model T and installing a massive Chrysler V8 engine. As Leo transforms his clunker into a real rod over months of dedicated work, he discovers that having the car opens doors he never expected, especially when it comes to fitting in with his peers.

Clint Curtis puts his driving skills to the test when a hunting accident leaves a local merchant critically injured at a remote lake accessible only by a treacherous, boulder-strewn road. After another Road Knight member attempts the dangerous route in an unsuitable car, Clint takes the wheel with a doctor aboard and must navigate the rough terrain and an overflowing stream to reach the injured man in time. It's a high-stakes lesson in judgment and skill that proves the best driver—not the fanciest car—can handle the real obstacles that matter.

Link Burney's a scrappy driver stuck racing underfunded cars against European factory teams with every advantage—until a racing fan named Monsen offers him a shot in a car of his own design. With everything on the line for both of them, Burney prepares obsessively and takes on the Grand Prix of Belgium against the best drivers money can buy, determined to prove he's more than just another racing bum.