Hot Rods and Racing Cars #86

When Roger meets Bitsie Evans at the library, he's charmed into a date—only to find himself at a hot-rod racing event instead of a cello recital, where her rough-and-tumble friends don't exactly welcome the studious engineering type. After Roger impresses the crew with some practical physics insights that help prepare one of their cars for an upcoming race, he discovers there's more to both the hot-rod world and Bitsie's affection for him than he ever expected.

Race driver Steve Yerby's career takes a hard turn when a spectacular crash at Le Mans leaves him grounded—a vision defect benches him from professional racing for months, forcing him back to his father's quiet hotel on the peninsula. With nothing but VW Beetles and beach scenery to occupy him, Yerby transforms a damaged Bug into something special and dreams up a wild idea: backyard dune races for the hotel guests. What starts as a way to pass the time becomes something that breathes new life into his father's struggling business and gives Yerby a whole new kind of racing to master.

Clint Curtis stands alone after his fellow Road Knights are lured away by the smooth-talking Dick Tator, who promises them drag racing glory and cushy jobs if they'll help him build a machine to finally beat Clint on the strip. As Tator pushes Buck and Alex to exhaustion working on his fuel dragster, the three-round showdown at the track will test whether Clint can reclaim his place—and whether his former teammates will see through Tator's promises in time.