Let me know what you all think:

Drag

John sat leaning against the rear slick of his dragster as the world slowed around him. The thunderous roar of the crowd and the high pitched whine of the sirens faded away. He was dazed and unsure of how to react to what had just happened. His mind played the last few minutes over again, as if he was watching a movie of himself.

Calm and cool as always, John sat in the cockpit thinking to himself while his crew was busily at work. John slid his gloves on, careful not to pull off the rag taped to the back of them. He got a nasty hot oil bath during his last trip out and he needed to be ready to wipe his goggles clean should it happen again.

His fire suit was very uncomfortable. The *** thing was as crude as they got. Further up the lanes, a grenaded engine from the race ahead of him took his mind off of his lack of comfort. The oil down caused an annoying delay, which only increased the tension. John watched as the track personnel cleaned up the mess. It happened in his lane and he hoped they would clean it well. John was up next; it was almost time to unleash the beast.

John’s crew rolled the dragster into the starting area. It was time. John's heart beat quickened and became a powerful thud against his chest as he ignited the 3000 horsepower monster. The gauges rose to life and bounced around. All looked well. The entire cockpit rocked violently as the powerful machine screamed and roared, crying to be fed its precious nitro. The ground shook as John lit the tires halfway down the track. Smoke rolled over the front of the dragster as he slowly backed up. The staging lights on the tree flashed yellow one by one as he rolled over the line in reverse. The crowd eyed him, eagerly wondering what might happen when he cuts it loose. Not many of them, ever in their lives, would experience the true, unexplainable freedom he feels, as he pilots his dragster down the track.

Allen, in the far lane, was already staged and waiting. John slowly crept up to the line. His mind was one of complete and uninterruptible focus. Nothing else existed and nothing else mattered except for this one moment. The first set of lights turned yellow. He crept a little further. The violently rocking dragster continued to shake with excitement. Then, the second set of yellow lights came on. The two drivers were now staged and the incredible power of their engines was about to be released. When two 3000 horsepower dragsters take off, it feels like the world is being torn down to a violent end. The thunder of the engine is so powerful, you can feel it deep inside your bones, and in your soul. A quick flash and then it’s over. If you blink then you will miss it. It is a moment like no other.

John smashed his foot to the floor the split second he saw the tree light up. The engine sent off a terrifying scream as his body was slammed into his seat. He felt the familiar lurch as his rear tires started losing traction. He quickly back peddled the throttle and again floored it. He was now flying down the track. In an instant, John was blinded by burning hot oil as his engine began to whine and rip apart. John was not sure where on the track he was at that second, but he kept his foot in it. He had to win this race. Trying not to panic, he wiped at his goggles just enough for him to see. John crossed the finish line and instinctively reached to open his chutes. The comforting tug and loss of speed when the large chute catches the air was not felt. He tried it again. The *** thing was stuck! John braced himself for a rough stop in the sand pit, at the end of the track. With a hard jolt, John hit the sand and his dragster came to a hard stop.

John had no idea who won. As he unstrapped himself, he was able to turn around and look at the mangled wreck that was Allen’s dragster. The guy had crashed hard! Pieces of engine and dragster littered the track. The ambulance and track personnel made a frantic dash towards the wreckage. John felt strange, and sat next to his dragster.

“What is it that keeps me coming back to this *** week after week?” He thought to himself. But he already knew the answer to that question. It was pointless to ask such a thing. If you had to ask then you would never understand. It was the same reason that man created the air plane and then the space shuttle. The same reason Neil Armstrong landed on the moon just a year before. The same reason Chuck Yeager broke through the sound barrier not knowing what would happen. It was same reason all the others try to go faster than anyone else.

John felt that some are truly only happy when they are pushing the limits of mankind and doing what nobody else has done before, or doing it better. There is an internal drive to achieve something and expand upon the limits and boundaries that hold back most others. John definitely had that drive, for better or for worse.

John stood up and started walking up the track. He could see that Allen had climbed from the wreckage and looked to be ok. It was just another racing weekend. John already started to miss it. He thought about next Sunday, and smiled.

-JP