[Lee Janotta]

What is racing?

Racing is one determined, skillful driver doing everything in his power to put his car ahead of the driver in front of him, and that other driver doing everything in his power to keep his opponent behind him.

Racing is what raises a driver's hearbeat, narrows his vision, and slows his perception of time... Nothing exists but the track, the drivers, and the cars... The rest of the world simply fades away.

Racing is watching the driver in front of you for any sign of weakness... Throwing your car across the track to cut off the driver behind you... Pushing your car that little bit further... Conscious thought disappears, you're working on instinct alone... You feel everything your car's doing, every tiny undulation of the road surface, searching for that tiny advantage...

And then it happens. You come out of a slow corner heading into a fast, winding, flat-out section of track... You get on the throttle just a little bit early, _barely_ keep your car on the track, using every bit of the outside curb... You've got a run on him.

You've got to make your decision NOW: How much is that position worth? For a real racer, there's no decision to make... Nothing else matters but the battle. You draft off your opponent through those flat-out corners... Get up as close as you can... Then just as you're about to touch, you dive off the racing line, and pull alongside of his car... You go side by side into the braking zone... Who's going to get on the brakes first? You wait as long as you possibly can, lock up a wheel trying desperatly to stay on the track... Then you dive back towards the racing line, cutting off the inside-out re-pass...

No need for a big advantage in pace. No need for the other guy to make a mistake. You just beat him on skill, courage, and nothing else. Next lap, the battle will probably start all over again. But in this moment, you couldn't possibly imagine a feeling better than this outside of your bedroom.

And it's something that's sorely lacking in today's drivers, who're hampered even further by cars that negate much of their skill by covering up the failings of other drivers through things like traction control and automatic gearboxes... Or cars so dependant on downforce that drafting off the car in front is more a handicap than an advantage... Or circuits which simply leave you no opportunity to set up a pass.