On March 31, 1929, seventy-seven men began an epic 3,554-mile footrace
across America that pushed their bodies to the breaking point. Nicknamed
the "Bunion Derby" by the press, this was the second and last of
two trans-America footraces held in the late 1920s. The men averaged
forty-six gut-busting miles a day during seventy-eight days of nonstop racing
that took them from New York City to Los Angeles. Among this group,
two brilliant runners, Johnny Salo of Passaic, New Jersey, and Pete Gavuzzi
of England, emerged to battle for the $25,000 first prize along
...