I wanted to reread a short story I know I have in a single-author collection, but I’ll be damned if I can remember the title or the author.
It was certainly published between 1950 and 1970 and most likely between about '55 and '62-ish.
I’m about 85% certain it was Sheckley, 10% that it was Tenn and about 4% that it was Fredrick Brown. (1% it was someone else)
It was NOT “Prize of Peril” by Sheckley-- Absolutely certain of that.
The premise: Earth is overcrowded. People live 20 to a room. Once a year, there’s a race to get into/through/out of (I don’t remember which) New York. Whoever wins the race gets a plot of land all his own. Our hero is racing and his arch-nemesis (some snooty guy) is there too.
Our hero meets up with a tough (Brooklyn? Bronx?) girl and she helps him get through the race but she either dies or he has to leave her because he’s married and is a Man of Honor (or both–he could have the second conversation first).
Eventually when he wins, he gets a shack in the Badlands or something similar and nobody but his family around for hundreds of feet(?)
Anyone remember this? It’s driving me nuts.