Dangerous Driving
by Kai Shimojo
VROOM! I can still feel the wind crashing against my face as I stomped on the accelerator on the racecar. I gritted my teeth as I glared at the road ahead. My heart felt as if a hammer were pounding my chest. Thump…thump…thump. My buddy Henry, who was riding shotgun, was coaching me by telling me where to go. From my opinion, I think that the yelling and screaming was doing no help at all. All this screaming made me nervous and scared with no confidence that I could make it through one lap alive. “Go Left! Left!” shouted Henry. I steered the steering wheel with too much strength and we crashed into the side wall. I pressed onto the accelerator and managed to get back in the race. Henry yelled, “Speed up! Cars are coming from behind!” I was so scared I wanted Henry to take the wheel. Ughhh! I was strapped into the driver’s seat.
Finally, we got to the end or so I thought. All of a sudden, a huge, scary, mean looking guy walked very slowly up to me and started yelling at me for ending to quickly. I had no idea that we had to more laps to go! I was really embarrassed and wanted to jump out of the cart and start bawling. But before I could, Henry yelled, “C’mon! Hurry up! Cars from behind are passing us!” So I sped up and started another lap. I was going so fast everything was a blur. I approached two other cars and passed them while making a nice successful turn. I thought, I wonder what Henry thought of that! Then, expressing my happiness, I faced Henry and snickered at him paying no attention to the long sharp turn ahead. Thump! I bumped into the side of the wall. Before, I thought racecar driving was so easy. But now I realized that it takes a lot of hand-eye coordination to do it successfully.
When it was the last lap, I tightened my grip on the steering wheel doing my best not to crash. I knew I could impress him on this last lap. These experiences just boost up my confidence a lot. I was so confident I was sure I could go by myself next time. I also realized that it is not that scary, it was actually very fun. I loved the texture of the steering wheel and the sound of the motor of the racecar. Yes! I could see the parking zone straight ahead! But at the last second I lost grip of the steering wheel and the car swerved to the left. I immediately regained control and entered the parking zone safely. Henry sarcastically said, “Nice driving, Kai. I would of never done as well as you did.” I replied, “Next time let’s see you drive. And thanks for influencing me to yell when I want you to do something when you drive.”
I can still remember the grip of the steering wheel, the sound of the motor, the feeling of victory… well… almost a victory and most of all… of course, the sound of Henry’s yelling. But it’s not about what you remember, it’s about the experience. The experience of even getting to be in a racecar and feeling like I was the only one who drove one in the world because I had too much fun.