Daytona Teddy Riggs

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. Cast out 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, all through the eyes of the memorable menace Teddy Riggs.

Praise for Daytona Teddy Riggs

“In this raucous debut novel, Drew Buxton gets in the ring with the likes of Harry Crews, Charles Portis, and Barry Hannah. Buxton’s prose is electric, full of language that vibrates on the page. Daytona Teddy Riggs is daringly perceived, psychologically penetrating, and funny as hell.” —William Boyle, author of Saint of the Narrows Street

“With Daytona Teddy Riggs, Drew Buxton delivers an unforgettable new anti-hero to the forefront of America letters. Call him a ‘roided out Ignatius Reilly, a fast-food obsessed Holden Caulfield, a madcap Joe Lon. With taut, propulsive prose, Buxton yokes himself to your eyeballs from the jump, taking a hit of smelling salts and proceeding to drag them with unstoppable momentum through this tragicomic epic toward a climax that is as much beautiful as it is violent. File Buxton between the likes of Harry Crews and Terry Southern.” —Harris Lahti, author of Foreclosure Gothic

“Fall in love with Daytona Teddy Riggs of Texas and find a true home in his adventures. Root for the naive Daytona even as he does the comically unforgivable in this deeply affecting and funny novel that brings to life his determination to become the World’s Strongest Man.” —Laura Albert (a.k.a. JT LeRoy), author of Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

“Teddy is in a downward spiral (think classic losers from Thelma and Louise to Richard Russo’s Hank Devereaux Jr.), but author Buxton allows him to develop as he falls, including a sexual awakening and nascent sense of purpose. These flickers of growth will keep readers rooting for Teddy even when he’s in the midst of irrational actions and complicated manipulations of friends and family members. Part satire, part wake-up call, and all openhearted perspective, this debut promises excellent work to come from its author.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review