Wheelboys is an emotional, action-packed novel that follows a summer for three Alabama families entangled in youth racing – a winner of the 2020 Readers’ Favorite awards and the 2020 eLit Book Awards.
When his best friend is in a tragic car crash, Chad Gibbons finds his plans to graduate from competitive go-karting to auto racing with the legendary Kilgore racing family are put in jeopardy. Elle Dillanger struggles with criminal charges against her son, but the truth about her son’s accident unfolds as the detectives investigate. Monroe Kilgore and his wife Uma see their racing world very differently, and Uma is haunted by it. In this pivotal summer after high school, Chad meets a smart girl racer, Jessica, and together they are hurled into their future at a national competition – Rodeo Kart.
More than a coming-of-age story, this book challenges society’s complacency with the exploitation of youth and explores the distinctions between feeding young people’s dreams and the ones who feed on those dreams. The journeys faced by these three families are universal and resonate for any reader: overcoming grief, finding one’s path, and discovering love.