Neal Cassady became the well-spring from which the Beat Generation gushed forth due to his close friendships with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg Born on February 8, 1926 (in the back of a car, according to his own fanciful musings). Cassady -- arguably the most famous non-professional automobile driver in history -- became famous as Dean Morarity, the character Kerouac based on him in his seminal 1957 novel On the Road. Unlike Kerouac (and like Ginsberg), he also became an icon of the psych ...[Read Story]