Paint It, Black – The Rolling Stones
At the start of THE LAST SUNDAY IN MAY, Mack is so close to getting everything she’d ever wanted, but she quickly loses her shot at her racing dreams. Circumstances and her own choices lead her to a dark place. She’s angry, she’s hurt, and she’s lonely.
I look inside myself
And see my heart is black…
Maybe then, I'll fade away
And not have to face the facts
It's not easy facing up
When your whole world is black
More than anything, Mack is full of self-loathing, and I think this stanza from “Paint It Black” perfectly sums her internal state for most of her twenties. She hates herself for the choices she made, she hates the things that happened in her life, but most of all she hates that she still longs for the things she thinks she can’t have.
Living the Dream – Sturgill Simpson
Time and time again Lord I keep going through the motions
A means to an end but the ends don’t seem to meet
Walking around living the dream anytime I take the notion
Til the truth comes bubbling up so bittersweet
I can imagine Mack rage cleaning while blasting this song through her headphones. She’s going through the motions, running a family business, parenting her daughter, and making sure her dad takes his many medicines, just trying to survive from one day to the next. Nothing is wrong, but nothing is right either. She wants to be racing, but she feels so guilty about that.
Hurts So Good – John Mellencamp
Sink your teeth right through my bones, baby
See what we can do
Come on a make it
Hurt so good
Mack and Leo sing this song as a joke during training, but it also sums up how Mack feels about her early relationship with Leo. She doesn’t want to be hurt, doesn’t want any kind of relationship (or situationship) with him, but being with him feels so good…even though she knows it will eventually hurt her.
(Also, you can’t write a book about southern Indiana without including Mellencamp!)
Tonight, Tonight – The Smashing Pumpkins
We’ll make things right, we’ll feel it all tonight
We’ll find a way to offer up the night
The indescribable moments of your life
The impossible is possible tonight
Believe in me as I believe in you
Tonight
Tonight, tonight
This Smashing Pumpkins classic — soundtrack to my own youth — is the perfect song for driving around on a clear Midwestern spring evening with a crush. I like to this this song is playing in the background on the night Mack and Leo spend cruising around Indianapolis. There’s something about driving with the windows down when it’s dark outside that makes anything feel possible, even an ill-advised attraction to a teammate. Leo knows he can’t ask Mack for anything more, so all he can do is promise her tonight, tonight.
Back Home Again in Indiana – Jim Nabors
Have you even written a book about the Indy 500 if you’re not listening to “Back Home Again in Indiana”?!? The Indy 500 is all about tradition, and “Back Home Again” is my favorite part of the pre-race ceremonies. For decades (and my entire childhood), Jim Nabors sang the Hoosier anthem, but now the brilliant Jim Cornelison nails it every year. I get chills watching him grab the microphone, knowing what’s coming. There’s nothing quite like singing the state song with 300,000 other fans.
I haven’t lived in Indiana for twenty years, but going back is going home. I look forward to the Indy 500 every year, for many reasons, not the least of which is going back to the place that made me.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash
Then I long for my Indiana home
She’s a single mom, a devoted daughter, and an Indy 500 hopeful daring to dream in an exhilarating and emotional novel about family, ambition, and second chances.
Mack Williams was the next big thing in motorsports. Until her wild ways forced her to leave racing in her rearview mirror. Ten years later, she’s a single mom in rural Indiana, with a struggling family business and a dad who needs full—time care. The fastest woman on four wheels now drives car pool, her dreams turned to dust.
But Mack’s childhood idol, Janet Joyner, still sees the spark. Famed for breaking gender barriers on the track, Janet gives Mack a last—ditch chance to qualify for the coveted Indy 500. Mack thought her days of impulsive choices were over, but she can’t say no, whatever the risks—moving in with her estranged sister, facing down her daughter’s absentee father, and working with Mack’s new teammate, Leo. He’s gorgeous, supportive, and every kind of distraction Mack can’t afford.
Juggling her personal life with a professional dream close within reach, Mack won’t let a second chance slip away again. Win or lose, the stakes have never been higher.
Women's Fiction Family Life [ Lake Union Publishing, On Sale: May 1, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662533525 / eISBN: 9781662533532 ]
Kate Clark Stone is the author of The Last Sunday in May, forthcoming from Lake Union Press in spring 2026. Her fiction features strong and vulnerable heroines, a lot of heart, and endless love for flyover states.
Kate attended her first Indianapolis 500 at six years old and wrote her first book at eleven. A former attorney, Kate relishes watching fast cars, swimming and paddling sports, the Oxford comma, and traveling here/there/everywhere.
Kate lives in southeastern Tennessee with her husband, children, and two very good dogs.
While Kate has lived in the South for decades, she is and will forever be a Hoosier at heart.
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