Daytona Teddy Riggs

Set in mid-nineties South Texas, Daytona Teddy Riggs follows a has-been high school football star on his quest to become the World’s Strongest Man.

It’s 1996 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Teddy Riggs—call him Daytona—will stop at nothing to win the World’s Strongest Man competition. He spends his days training and downing as many calories as possible. Outcast from his oil-rich family, his main companion is a tape set by self-help guru Pat Dupree that he plays on repeat.

When a Dupree seminar is set to take place in Houston just before a regional qualifying event, Teddy knows the universe is aligning in his favor. But as the seminar approaches, a new relationship with Tammy, a local bodybuilder, brings all his crushing insecurities to the forefront, and he must confront who he really is beneath the muscles.

At once an outrageous comedy, a biting satire of the self-help industry, and an earnest look at the facets of obsession, Buxton’s riotous debut novel chronicles how masculinity, privilege, and mental illness intersect.