Ready Set Go!
"Sorry, I thought I had one more lap to qualify."
"The time trials are over, you did good!" Said the race chief behind the chief mechanic. "And what are you worried about anyway?" "You always get 1st place, or close enough."
"Close enough isn't good enough." Pouted the driver
"Right, right." Just get the car into the garage and lets go get some lunch." grumbled the race chief
"I'm not hungry, besides i'm supposed to go meet a friend back at the hotel." Said the driver.
"Alright, suit yourself." And both the race chief and chief mechanic walked out of the pit lane, arms behind each others backs like old chums. The race driver grumbled some words to himself, then gave some shifty eyes to his race car. "If only I could make it go faster." He thought to himself. "I just need more time."
But he didn't have anymore time, the race was tomorrow, so he went back to his hotel and had lunch with his friend.
Race day!
"You ready?" Asked the race chief to the driver.
"Sure, sure" Said the driver with a worried expression on his face. His stomach was making all sorts of funny noises, he was so dizzy that he thought he was going to faint.
"You sure your ok?" Asked the race chief to the driver again. The drivers face looked pale white.
"Yup, i'm fine." Said the driver with his thumb up in the air.
"Ok, lets go!" "Race starts in five." Yelled the race chief. The driver put the Ford into gear and waited for the crew and chief mechanic to signal the "a, ok." The driver got the signal and launched the car forward and parked it into his position, third, and waited.
A couple of minutes later, all the cars engines had been turned on. The driver could barely hear anything above all the grumbling and revving of all the other cars engines. All of the drivers eyes were now all fixed at the man with the green flag. "One more minute!" Said the race chief to the driver through the drivers headphones. The driver started to rev his engine. froom, froom, froom. "One, two, three, go!" The man with the green flag started waving it frantically. "Go, go, go!" Yelled the race chief to the driver excitedly.
"Yeehaaw!" Yelled the race mechanic. "Hows that engine running?"
"Pretty good!" Muttered the driver. He couldn't really concentrate on anything else, but his driving. Round and round he went, still in third place, he came to the pit and was given some instructions. Once in his pit box, the race driver grabbed for the nearest water bottle handed to him by one of the pit crew and gulped it up letting out a huge sigh afterward. "Ok, take it easy." Said the race chief to the driver as the last of the cars tires were being put on and the hood was being brought down.
"Number 23!" Yelled the sportscasters about the drivers car number. "Now in eleventh place and almost a lap down from the leaders." "He is one of the first to pit."
"Don't worry they'll all need to pit soon also, just take'er easy, Ok?" Said the race chief, trying to calm the driver down. The driver was gasping for air as sweat pulled down his cheeks. "Only 200 to go!" "Go get em!" Froom, froom! The drivers Ford squealed out of the pits. By lap 300, he was in first place. "Just one hundred more, just one hundred more!" Yelled the race chief. "Come on you can do it!" "Just remember to keep'er steady."
About thrity minutes later.....
"Just three more laps now." "Your running out of fuel and your tires are almost burnt out." "If you go too fast they will blow and we'll need a good cleaning crew to scrap you off the wall." Said the chief mechanic to the driver
"Just three more laps now." "Your running out of fuel and your tires are almost burnt out." "If you go too fast they will blow and we'll need a good cleaning crew to scrap you off the wall." Said the chief mechanic to the driver
"Thanks that's comforting to know." Said the race driver sarcastically.
"Just keep'er steady."
"I can't, he's right behind me."
"Ok, we can maybe take fifth place, if you slow down and keep a good pace." Said the race chief. "It will be good for the points, a great start to the season."
"Alright, but I wanted to take first place." Pouted the driver.
Just then.....
"There has been a spin, a car is stuck in the middle of the track, right at the corner of turn two, caution flag is out, slow down." said the race chief. "There's going to be a pile up if somebody doesn't get that car moved out of the way." Said the sportscasters. "The race is probably going to end under a caution." "There has been a oil spill reported on the track, right at the corner of turn two, right where that car has just spun out." "It doesn't look like there is going to be enough time to clean it up."
Right after the sportscasters had finished talking....
"The race is going to end under a caution." "A oil spill has been reported at the corner of turn two." There's not going to be enough time to clean it up." "You won the race!" Yelled the race chief excitedly through the race drivers headphones.
"There has been a spin, a car is stuck in the middle of the track, right at the corner of turn two, caution flag is out, slow down." said the race chief. "There's going to be a pile up if somebody doesn't get that car moved out of the way." Said the sportscasters. "The race is probably going to end under a caution." "There has been a oil spill reported on the track, right at the corner of turn two, right where that car has just spun out." "It doesn't look like there is going to be enough time to clean it up."
Right after the sportscasters had finished talking....
"The race is going to end under a caution." "A oil spill has been reported at the corner of turn two." There's not going to be enough time to clean it up." "You won the race!" Yelled the race chief excitedly through the race drivers headphones.
"All right!" Yelled the race driver excitedly waving his fist in the air.
"Good job!" Yelled the race chief. "Pull her in lets celebrate!"
Joining Josie Two Shoes in her Two Shoes Tuesday, click the link to join in and see other entries. http://www.josie2shoes.com/
Joining Josie Two Shoes in her Two Shoes Tuesday, click the link to join in and see other entries. http://www.josie2shoes.com/
Wow Joseph, your stories just get better and better! You did an excellent job of conveying both the action and the emotion, I could feel the tension building as the race neared the end! Really great read for Two Shoes Tuesday, and your illustrations are delightful, they always make me smile! Thanks, Joseph!! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, I tried to add some excitement! : )
DeleteNo doubt about it, you really put the reader in the action.
ReplyDeleteThanks! : )
DeleteThank you for visiting my blog Traveling Cats. Have a lovely day.
ReplyDeleteSure, I enjoyed reading it! : )
DeleteThat was exciting, Joseph. I enjoyed it and could feel for the driver. It reminded me of my racing days back when we had a 1934 Ford Coupe running Modified Stock class. It would win the "B" Feature race but hardly ever the "A" Feature. So generally we held it back in the heat races so we would be entered in the "B" race. Once in a while I drove it but most time we had
ReplyDeletea very good and experienced driver.
You asked, thank you: Yes, I grew up in Nebraska and we had a lot of snow there. We lived about a mile from grade (1-8) and so I walked or rode a bike to school there. Then for high school I rode my horse for the first two years. Then I went to Tekamah High School, the town in my snow pictures.
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Grades 1-8 were in a country school about a mile away. Grades 9 and 10 were in a country school about three miles away. Grades 11 and 12 were in Tekamah, about 14 miles away and I drove my dad's pickup truck to school.
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Cool, that must have been fun! I used to want to be a race car driver and thought alot about becoming one once I left high school, but then I realized that there were other things that I wanted to do. I just thought that I would get tired of being a race car driver after a while of driving on the same tracks. I would like to race unprofessionally sometime, just for fun!
DeleteNebraska! Must have been a fun place to grow up. I don't know if you can ride horses to school anymore, but that's pretty cool that you got to. Alot less energy than riding a bike. Thanks for sharing! : )