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Learning to Fly
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| Racing schools offer more than a chance to drive fast |
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| Updated |
Jun 10, 2004 22:40:44 |
| Rating |
 16 ( -2 -12.5% ) | | Author | Brian Chee |
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Description:
There's a downhill grade on eastbound California Interstate 15, just before you get to the Nevada border. After hours of desert darkness, when you get to the top of that hill you can see the brassy Stateline casino lights. From there, those casinos shimmer like jewels perched in the middle of ink-black velvet. In between and in the black, however, lies an entirely different reality. Scarcely noticed by the endless columns of vehicles speeding downward and toward the lights and jackpots of Vegas, there is always at least one busted hulk of a car on its back, burned out, twisted and mangled, the victim of a collision between physical space and speed.
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STORY LINKS
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Page 4 of 4: Writer's Notes
A straight downhill run. Good visibility. Yet there is always a sad story at the edge of the interstate.
We Americans, we love to take our chances.
It stretches out throughout our lives, from driving like freaks to hitting on 18 at the Mirage and getting married at the Chapel of Love. It starts young when it comes to our habits behind the wheel. We share a common illusion that we're invincible, that nothing bad will happen to us despite the fact that we drive on roads cluttered with thousands of people who are thinking the same exact thing. The reality is this: We will never drive our cars as fast as they can go. We will never handle roads that push today's vehicle systems to the edge.
We will never beat the machine.
Accidents happen when we're forced to push the limits, when our driving expertise meets the machinery at our fingertips and, inevitably, we tell it to do the wrong thing. We brake too hard, turn too late, go too fast and the vehicle we control doesn't get the chance to do what it was designed to do.
Racing, continued |
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