When I was 17 I decided to enter a "Safe Driving Rodeo" put
on by the Jaycees. There wasn't a lot of participation on the
local level so I won that one going away. The win got me
invited to the state finals, though. I'm not sure why I was the lucky
one, it may have been a random draw that got me a cool car for
the road test portion of that event.
Hee hee, I was delighted to be able to drive a Mercury Cyclone!
Lincoln/Mercury was the event sponsor, and they had a pool of
mundane cars, plus this one... Yeeha! Anyway, Most of the driving
was done in a residential area in the vicinity of Princeton High School
North of Cincinnati. There were two "observers" riding along, both in
the back seat, and they were not allowed to speak with me at all, except
to tell me where to turn...
(Yawn) putting through areas of 25mph speed limits... Stop signs,
traffic lights. then I got onto a more main road, but still no use for
the majority of the pedal travel under my right foot. One of the last
turns was onto I-75 Northbound, and it was a day of really heavy traffic.
the car ahead of me was driven by a girl also in the contest. Uh-oh,
she had been driving 5mph below the speed limit in the residential areas!
Just to be "safe", I waited longer than necessary to make the left turn
and follow her onto the entrance ramp. It was an uphill ramp, (highway
went over the road I had been on) and she had driven slowly up to the
merge area. Not me. I sat at the bottom of the ramp (leaving enough
room for several cars to pull in behind me, if they would have come
along. And I waited. She stopped, of course. Ugh! I can't imagine
being a passenger in the back of that car! Before long, she began
slowly driving down the shoulder of the highway, with heavy traffic
zooming by at 60+.
When she had gone down a couple of hundred yards, I looked over my
shoulder, selected my opening, and hammered the big V8!. Of course
I didn't push hard enough to spin the tires, but I did get the pedal to the
floor briefly. Acceleration was brisk. <g> I adjusted my speed to the flow,
and merged smoothly into my chosen opening in traffic. The poor girl in
the other car.... and her passengers... Not a passing grade there, I
wouldn't
think. Back to driver's ed!
I think I finished 13th in the state, primarily because of another section of
the program, but that is another story. Won't ever forget grinning ear to ear
when one of the event coordinators introduced me to my two driving judges
and then pointed me towards the fastback muscle car sitting in the lot. Oh
boy, I thought.... Wonder if it would be worth failing this portion of the
tests
on purpose by having a little fun? Somewhere, I still have that trophy....
Alan Sheidler
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