CHAPTER 7

RACE OR DRIVE?

It was Wednesday.

Tony was sure that Jon had invited him to practice as a cover-up for something bad about to happen. But both of their dads were going to be there, so he decided to go for it.

After school, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed out to the parking lot, where his dad was supposed to pick him up.

His dad pulled up and said, “Hey, Tony!” as Tony got into the truck.

They drove to his dad’s house and loaded the kart into the back of the truck.

When they got to the track, Jon wasn’t there yet. Tony put on his gear. Then he checked over his kart, got in, and started it up. He drove to the starting line.

In a matter of minutes, Jon’s kart pulled up next to him. Jon leaned over and pulled off his helmet. “Hey, Tony,” he said.

“Hey, Jon,” Tony said hesitantly.

“Before we get started, I have a question for you. Do you want to race, or drive?” Jon asked.

“What?” Tony replied. “What do you mean?”

Jon smiled. “Well, I’ve watched you race. You always focus on the driver in front of you, like they’re the next turn or something. I was thinking we could just drive. Not try to beat each other, just spin around the track. It’s more fun that way.”

Tony was confused. “You don’t want to race?”

Jon laughed. “Well, I love racing, but it’s not exactly good practice. With the pre-finals coming up this weekend, I just need some good driving practice. I don’t have my driving permit yet, so I can’t practice on a regular car. Corey and Devin both do. That’s why I wanted to hang out with you tonight.”

“Oh,” Tony said thoughtfully. “I see what you mean.”

“So,” Jon said, pushing his hair out of his face. “You want to drive?”

“Yeah, I do,” Tony said. “Let’s go!”

They both put their helmets on.

Jon held up his hand, counting to three on his fingers.

When he lifted the third finger, they took off!

When they started, at first Tony couldn’t get used to just driving—not racing, just taking it easy and driving down the track.

He kept thinking things like, ‘Okay, if I can get on his left side,’ instead of thinking about how the track lay and what was coming next and how his kart was reacting.

After one spin around the track, though, he started to see what Jon meant.

When he wasn’t concentrating on passing the person in front of him, he could focus on taking the curves at the perfect angle.

He could pay attention to the kart and learn when to accelerate and when to slow down.

Before long, Tony realized that they’d gone around the track six times. Jon started to slow down, and Tony did too.

They both pulled into the pit, where their dads were waiting. As Tony killed his engine, his dad walked over. “Tony, that was amazing!” he said. “That last lap was your fastest time ever!”

Tony felt shocked. “It was?” he asked, surprised. “It didn’t seem that fast.”

Jon’s dad laughed.

“That’s because you were actually having a good time driving,” Jon’s dad said. “That’s what I used to do, when I moved up to a new kart: come out and just drive. And that’s what Jon did too, when he started TAG.”

“And it works!” Jon said.