How old is Racer?
I'm old enough to know better, but too young to resist.
At 5 years of age I had my first car accident. My little sister and I were 'driving' my grandparents 1956 Chevrolet. It was parked on a driveway that sloped away form their house toward the street.
The 56 Chevy had a hand brake that pulled out horizontally toward the driver, under the steering column. This car also had a manual transmission, 3 on the tree.
I was doing the 'driving', my sister was riding along. I released the brake, and fiddled with the shifter.
Next thing I know all the grown ups are standing around, agitated, excited, concerned.
Scared.
My sister and I are in the arms of mom and dad, smothered with relief that we were not injured.
Grandad's Chevy shoved a '58 Buick over the curb, across the planting strip and sidewalk, and halfway across the neighbor's lawn.
I got to drive about 150 feet or so.
Now I had 'driven' the family car, albeit on dad's lap, many times. But after the accident I was on probation or something. We didn't have car seats in those days, heck, seatbelts hadn't been invented yet. Even race car drivers didn't wear them. So I suddenly found myself sitting in the back seat more than usual.
The next thing I drove was a Massey Ferguson tractor on a farm when I was 12. A few days later I know the probation was over, when dad let me drive his 1965 Chevy pickup around the farm we lived on for one summer. Another 3 on the tree, with the same parking brake layout.
But no curbs to shove Buicks over though.
After that I couldn't get enough. I drove anything anyone would let me, tractors, cars, pickups, trucks, motorcycles, go karts. You name it, if it had an engine and an accelerator or throttle, I wanted to make it go, or at least get a ride.
I have driven race cars at 3 times the national speed limit. A 2.5 mile road course with a 3,000 foot front straight gets real small at 170.
I have logged over 800,000 miles in a big truck, moving all manner of flatbed freight visiting all of the Lower 48 and 6 Canadian provinces.
Add to that the 40,000 miles or more a year I have been driving over the last 43 years, and I'm 'high miles' at a tick over 2.5 million miles.
Funny, I don't feel that old.
Well, after a cup of coffee and two aspirin.
And some ibuprofen.