Wonder Wheels

This morning, as I threw together some breakfast, the SO and I were chatting (as we do) about a range of topics. Somehow, discussion of a new book led to a reference from Scrubs which led to me remembering this weird subplot about boxers vs. briefs in an old book I'd read one or six times, Wonder Wheels.
So over breakfast, I skimmed this book to refresh my memory. It's about a guy who works at a grocery store, but lives for his time at the roller rink (the book was published in 1979). He meets this girl, and of course they fall in love. I'd remembered that she gets killed by an abusive dad, but no - it's a possessive and crazy boyfriend, who kills himself and her in the car by carbon monoxide poisoning. Whoa. Our grief-stricken hero goes on (and rises above, blah blah blah) to have a fabulous skate to the blessedly fictional song "Calliope Girl", and he gets the skating job he wants.
Anyway, I was gobsmacked when I realized that the author of this little gem is Lee Bennett Hopkins. Hopkins is best known for the dozens of children's poetry anthologies he has edited, so it was startling to see that he'd written Wonder Wheels back in the day.