Webster’s dictionary defines Speed as the fallowing: the rate of change of position along a straight line with respect to time over a set distance. In other words, the quicker you can get from one place to another. The question is what do you, do when your family has spent the last two generations in search of ways to accomplish this goal faster and faster. Would do you do when the family business is the search for more Speed. For Robert ‘Robby’ McGuire the answer is easy. You grab your sister and strap on a pair of Formula One race cars then go for broke.

---

Chapter 19
Friday afternoon, Baku, Azerbaijan

Even as my thrown helmet slams into the side of the cargo hauler my scream echoes off the walls of the garage area. Chiefs Hail and Marks both look at me like I’ve lost my mind. Kelly, just shakes her head and sighs while mom and dad give me worried looks. The rest of the team just let me bitch and hell getting the frustration out of my system. Not that they blamed me for being pissed off after the way I’ve performed for the past few days.

“ROBERTA LEE MCGUIRE!” Mom yelled at me once I finally calmed down enough to be reasonable. “Care to explain to your father and me just what the hell that was all about? What’s got you so pissed?”

“Sorry, momma.” I let my head drop and sighed. “I’ve been out there for every practice run. Each time the car has handled like it was driving over marbles. It’s either too loose or too tight in the fucking turns. It handles like grandma’s caddie on the straightaways. For some reason the car went from a beautiful handling piece of engineering to a total piece of shit.” The scream that ripped from my throat was one of pure frustration.

“I should be out there tearing great big chunks out gne that course. Then eating those chunks, shitting brass trophies and pissing Champagne showers. Instead I’m fighting the car at every turn and on each straightaway. I would be better off with my Judge out there!” There it was out in the open. What was really pissing me off and throwing off my timing. Jake had given me the bad news Tuesday morning before we left South Carolina. My beloved Pontiac GTO was nonrecoverable.

Whatever those thugs had used to set the fires had a chemical compound that burned hot enough to fuck up the frame. The arson investigator said it wasn’t gasoline and alcohol in a glass with rag stuffed down the neck alone. Someone had gotten high-tech with those Molotov cocktail. They had found of the formula for one of the original mixes. One that was designed to destroy tanks.

Well the mix certainly destroyed mine and Beth’s cars. After Jack and the guys over at his garage went over them with a fine toothed comb the verdict was in, totaled, nonrecoverable. Beth’s Charger was little more than a parts car now. As for my custom restored GTO not even the Gods of car restoration could save her.

The engine block was cracked, and the transmission housing had spilt. I won’t even go into what the heat did to the gears. The frame had twisted while the heat crystallized the metal. The unknown element in the mix had caused massive fracturing of the rubber and plastic components. As for the few computer components they were turned into slag. The only saving grace for me was the NOS tank didn’t blow. If it had gone, I figure the rear end of my car would have landed in Myrtle Beach.

The Insurance Agent called the next morning as we were boarding the plane. I was more than a little surprised when he told us that he would be writing checks for the full on the policies. I figured that he would have done all he could to weasel out of paying a penny. I still think that Jack and Knights had something to do with getting the man to pull out the checkbook.

I was brought back to the here and now by mom. “Honey, just tell us what you need out there to make the car work for you. Remember we got two of the best Crew Chiefs in the business.”

“Set the car up like my Judge. Can you do that? No, you can’t. The Marshals will find something to bitch about. I won’t break the rules mom. Not even to get a decent running car.” I snapped.

“You remember the specs Bobbie?” Chief Marks asked. I gave him a look that could kill. Of course, I remembered the specs. Not that it mattered. I couldn’t used them on a Formula One racer. “Before you go thinking we can’t use the specs for your GTO don’t.”

“Okay, why?” I almost demanded. “My GTO is a totally different style of car. There is no way you can put my GTO’s setup on that car over there. If you could have done that. I would have had you do it weeks ago. I mean fuck Chief. I could have gotten more than twice the performance out of the car.”

“Bobbie, if you want that car to handle like your GTO, a Mustang Cobra just tell us, kiddo.” Chief Hailee threw his hands in the air. “Fuck! We don’t care what those factory cocksuckers want. We want you and Beth safe out there. Just tell us how to setup the cars. We’ll set them up how YOU want. This isn’t some crazy assed idea for us Bobbie.” Chief Hailee puffed out his chest and a in deep gravelly voice shouted. “This is MRDI!”

The stupid Spartans reference was just the thing I needed to break me out of my shitty mood. I started to giggle then laugh out load. Chief Hailee’s act of silliness brook the tension that had been hanging over the pit area. “Okay, Chief Hailee.”

“Good. Now talk to us Bobbie. What do we need to do to get that car just right? I don’t mean what the Marshals want but what you want. More down force on the nose, tighten it for the turns. What?” Chief Marks asked me with a smile.

“I don’t know about Beth. But if we set the car up as close to a street racer as we can get away with. I just might be able to do something with it out there. I won’t promise you anything though.” I had to be honest with them both. I knew that you can only do so much with the suspension of an F1 without a total rebuild.

“I agree with Bobbie. Give me anything you can as close too my Charger’s suspension and aero package. I’ll be happy.” Beth told them with a happier look in her eyes.

The two Crew Chiefs turned away from us and began barking orders. Four guys and two girls from the pit crews ran to push our cars over to the garage area. The rest were running around grabbing tools as they were called for. Beth and I were pushed out of the way as our pit crews went to work. I watched as the two Crew Chiefs broke out their laptops and began going over the aerodynamic specs for the two cars.

“Bobbie, Beth, could you girls join us in the trailer?” Mom called.

Not knowing what the rents wanted Beth and I joined them in the car hauler. Inside we found Karl Benz, and Wilhelm Maybach. The two owners of Mercedes-Benz both with worried looks. I knew that something was up and it smelled shitty. Benz could tell that I knew they had bad news for us. I will give the man this much. He didn’t send some flunky to do his dirty work.

“Fräulein McGuire, it has come to our attention that you are currently in an inappropriate relationship with one of your crew members. Is this accusation true?” I blinked at the man and cocked my head trying to figure out what he was talking about. “Is it true that you and the lovely Fräulein Ringwald are engaged?”

“Um… yes sir. May I know why that is a concern for your company sir? After all this is a privet matter.” I thought I had the man dead to rights. That was one of the conditions in my contract. So long as I didn’t make an ass of myself in the papers and lived my public life as a woman, they stayed out of my privet life.

“Congratulations!” They both yelled at the same time. I was sure they were here to fire me or something. They both began shacking my hand, with Karl Benz saying for the both of them. “When is the happy occasion? There are plans must be made. All the little details that young ladies love for their weddings.”

I blinked shook my head and gave the two men a look of confusion. “Okay. I thought you were here to fire me.”

Both men chuckled. Maybach placed his hand on my shoulder. “Not hardly, Fräulein McGuire. Why if we were to do such a thing? Our Fräus would kill the both of us. We were merely verifying our facts. This way all of Mercedes-Benz can take part in your wedding. You and your family are now a part of the Mercedes-Benz corporate family. We wish to help you lovely young ladies celebrate.”

The minute I heard that the Mercedes-Benz owners wanted to help with our wedding I know I had a problem. Especially if Kelly ever found out. I think she would cut my last remaining vestige of manhood off at the base. I knew that if I didn’t get ahead of this, I would be a dead man by nightfall.

“Herr Benz, and Herr Maybach, please before we start getting ahead of ourselves, I really need to talk with Kelly.” I told them holding up my hands. “If you thought that your wives would blow their tops with you. Then you have never dealt with a Southern Bell who has dreamed about her wedding from the time she was six.”

Beth jumped in on my defense. Only she was waving her arms over her head and acting a fool. “Good lord! You want to take over the planning of Kelly and Bobbie’s wedding?! ARE YOU NUTS? Our Civil War was fought over less dangerous subjects. Do you realize what would happen? You would cause global flooding, earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, plagues of biblical proportions, all manner of untold disasters. And that gentlemen is just dealing with her. I won’t even go into what would happen when her mother gets involved. Why the very Saints, and Angles would weep at the sheer volume of disasters. I won’t even talk about the dangers of not dealing with two mothers of the brides. Not even the holocaust could match the total death count that mistake would bring about. The sheer blood letting would overflow the banks of the Shenandoah River. The gods of racing and engineering would descend upon us leveling all manner of curses.”

Mom just glared at Beth the whole time. Me and dad just started laughing at her from the start. Right along with all the other people in the trailer. The harder we all laughed at her the more Beth hammed it up. She let her smartass bone shine for the enjoyment of all those present. It took us all a good ten minutes to regain our professional composure.

Not that I was feeling too professional right now. My mind kept going back to how I was going to tell Kelly that my corporate sponsor want to get in on our wedding. How they wanted to used it as a promotional gig for their cars somehow. I could see it now. They would have us coming out of our wedding and climbing into a Mercedes-Benz limo to head off for our honeymoon. Thankfully I was rescued by my mother.

“Gentlemen as much as it would delight us. We cannot in good conscience allow your company to plan any part of the girls’ wedding. If only to save the peace and harmony of our family.” The lie that mom told the corporate suites was a whopper. A diplomatic whopper, but a whopper none the less.

“But Frau McGuire, this is a momentous occasion for our company and yours. Please allow our corporate family to help celebrate the Fräuleins’ wedding.” Maybach almost pleaded. “We could use the wedding in our upcoming commercial for the new AMG GT-C Roadster. Which will be a gift to replace both of the destroyed cars that once belonged to the girls.”

“And that is why you’re not going to help plan our wedding.” I growled out. “This is a privet matter. I will not allow ANY outside influence. That covers the paparazzi, and anyone else that wants to exploit my wedding. To include you.”

“We had hoped that we would not have to used this. There is a clause in your contract that would allow us to participate in the wedding. It falls under the ‘public image clause’.” Daimler said.

That was all I needed to hear to go from carefree teenage driver into full-blown bitch. “BACK OFF SHITHEADS! You do not want to go there. You do and you’ll be looking for a new driver!”

“She won’t be the only one that you’ll need to replace. I’ll be right behind her.” Beth snapped. “If you think we can’t get another ride. You’re sadly mistaken. I know of at least four NASCAR and three Indy car teams that’ll hire us in a second.”

The two men’s faces both turned white at the thought of losing the McGuire girls. The lose of that profitable team going out the door was not one they could stand. Not after the way the girls had been preforming so far this season. Two individual wins, and a team in first place with the prospect of more wins. The threat was one that they couldn’t ignore. Besides they knew that the McGuire girls never made idle threats.

Once again mom can to our rescue. “Gentlemen if I were you, I would back off. They are not in a good mood. Also, I doubt that your company could replace their cars. I doubt that anyone could.”

“Gentlemen, you have to understand that those two cars were special to our girls. They had poured their hearts and souls into those cars. Each one was customized to their individual style of driving. I know that Bobbie put more than forty-thousand dollars into her GTO. As for Beth, she financed sixty-thousand for her Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. Which she has sense then paid off.” Dad told them with a shrug at their looks of confusion. “They love their cars fast and mean.”

“You better believe they do. I got more than a few looks under that GTO of Bobbie’s. That was one mean piece of Detroit steel. How she was ever able to get that monster to perform the way she did is beyond me. I can only say that I would need six months to figure out all of its secrets.” Chief Hailee cracked.

“Just six months? Give me a break Hailee. It would take you and me both working on that GTO at least a year to crack that car’s secrets. That Judge was a true beauty of engineering.” Chief Marks said with a smile. “The sad part is there is no way we can replace either the Judge or the Charge. No with what the insurance is going to pay. Not even if we combined the two payouts. That is how specialized the two cars were.”

“Are you saying that between the two cars their worth is over a hundred-thousand dollars? How can that be possible?” Maybach asked is shocked. The idea of American Muscle cars having as much value as one of their high end sedans didn’t make any sense.

“The GTO’s resorted worth was close to seventy-nine-thousand dollars. When you add in all of Bobbie’s little personal touches. It jumps to over one-hundred-twenty if not more.” Chief Hailee began listing off the value of the two cars. “Then there is Beth’s Charger. Blue Book value alone on it was fifty-five-thousand. That doesn’t include her personal touches that would bring the value to well over eighty-five-thousand.”

“Mein Gott! I never realized the value in street cars such as the ones belonging to your daughters.” Daimler said bluntly to mom.

“That is just the dollar value Herr Daimler. It doesn’t even bring in the emotional value of those cars. Both of those cars were something very important to American teenagers. They were they’re the first cars ever bought with their own money.” Mom told Daimler with a sad smile.

The two men walked out of the trailer talking in hushed tones. I turned to mom. “Thanks for putting a stop to them interfering Kelly and mine’s wedding plans mom.”

“Not a problem dear. Your father and I know about your feelings on a lot of the publicity. There is no way in hell that we were going to let Mercedes-Benz use your special day in a publicity stunt.” Mom pulled me tight into her hug. “Sorry about not getting them to replace your cars though.”

“Don’t worry about it, mom. This is one time that I doubt anyone can find a replacement for my Judge. We can always go back to Dodge for a new Charger for Beth. I’ll just have to take my time and find me a new car at the end of the season.” I figured that it would be best to be honest with my parents.

“She’s right mom. Pete Love Dodge over in Florence called me just before we left. They offered to replace my Charger with a brand new one already. All I got to do is drop their name in an interview or something like that.” Beth giggled. “Just because I drive for Daimler doesn’t mean I have to own a Mercedes-Benz.”

“Okay kids, we’ll let you handle this your way.” Dad said jumping in ahead of mom. “Right now, we got one more practice run for today. You both need to get your heads in the game. I want your best runs out there. Really push the cars to their limits. Got it? No holding back. Especially you Bobbie.”

“What does that mean? I never hold back.” I glared at dad.

“Bobbie you’ve been holding back for the last two days. I know that the car hasn’t been up to your normal standards. But you should have been able to pull more out of that setup than you have. I know that the lose of your Judge has been bugging you. To the point that it has become a deadly distraction. Which is something that I won’t have out there. Am I understood?” Dad demanded with none of the fatherly disappointment bullshit.

“I got it dad. Sorry about letting what happened to my car get to me. It’s just that, well…” I paused and sighed. “I spent so much time, sweat, and money on that car. To just have it taken away like that pisses me off. The fucked part is those fuck-nuts won’t be facing a judge anytime soon. I mean their parents were pushing to get them out on bail before we even got on the plane.”

“Which they didn’t get.” I turned around to see Mister. Dewey of our lawyers standing there. “The D.A. made sure that none of them got out, Bobbie. Not that it will matter. The charges are heavy enough to warrant a special interest investigation into the activities of the two teams.”

“How does what they did in the past effect what will happen now?” Mom asked Mr. Dewey then smiled. “And why are you here? You could have just called us with this information.”

“One. This is information that cannot be trusted to the phone network. Two. I was given a court order to deliver this information personally. Three and most importantly. It’s not often that I get a chance to see a Formula One race in person.” I chuckled at Mr. Dewey’s last reason for coming all this way.

“Okay Mr. Dewey, we’ll get you and your guests, tickets for the race. Please can you explain why the past for the two teams is so important? Everyone knows that they’re a bunch of dirtbags.” Beth told our lawyer with a smile.

“Several of the students and teachers at your old high school have come forward. Some of the stories that have been coming out have added to the list of charges against the main members of the two teams. Charges that have reached into the Federal range.” Dewey told us.

“Federal charges? What did they do? It’s not like bullying is a federal crime right now.” I countered.

“They hit the federal criminal level with extortion, racketeering, and blackmail. I won’t even go into how they were fixing certain games and meets with the sports bookies.” Dewey explained to my astonishment. “I know that sports betting isn’t legal in South Carolina but that still doesn’t keep it from happening.”

“Wait a minute here. How can there be any money in high school level wrestling and basketball?” I wondered aloud.

“Bobbie, there is more money bet at the local level on high school sports than people realize. I won’t even go into the amount of betting that goes on with racing. Namely yours.” Dewey told me.

“Um… I think I’m too far out of the loop to understand. Why would somebody bet on me? How can they even place a bet on an F-one race? I mean sure I can see them placing bets on a NASCAR race, but not an F-one race. Most people in South Carolina don’t follow the sport to begin with.” I countered.

“Bobbie, you and Beth are local heroes. You young ladies the newest rising stars for the great State of South Carolina. You would not believe the number of fans you two have. My office has been holding your fan mail for your girls for the past month. It has gotten so bad that we’re thinking of hiring a secretary just to handle your mail.” The more Dewey explained the more I wanted to just hide behind a bigger wall.

“Mister Dewey, go ahead and hire that secretary. Clear out your backlog and get back to handling your normal business.” I sighed. “I know that your firm has better things to handle.”

This time he just chuckled. “Bobbie, you, your sister, and MDRI as of right now are my only business. That is how important you and MDRI has become to our little law firm. That is one of the reasons I got on a redeye flight to be here today.”

“Sorry.” I gave him my best number ten puppy-eyes in apology.

“Forget it, Bobbie. Those eyes won’t work on me. I’m immune to them after raising my own daughter.” Mister Dewey just chuckled. “Back to the business at hand. As I was saying. The amount of money made by sports bookies is off the charts. Especially for the illegal ones. The members of those two teams were either shaving points or throwing matches. Just enough to remain in the top slots for their division but still make it interesting enough to get people to bet on the underdogs.”

“Damn. That’s just screwed up.” Beth snarked. “Let me guess. The bookies were paying the members enough to make it their while.”

“In more ways than just one I bet. Then when they have their teams disbanded, they lost their income. The bullying was just another way to make money by extortion of their fellow students.” I bitched. I was now even madder than when I came in off the course. I really needed to burn off this mad. “Chief Hailee is my car ready or do you need more time?”

He looked out at my car then turned back to me. “Give them ten more minutes to finish buttoning them up, Bobbie. The guys are putting the final touches on the rear end suspension as we talk.”

I turned to Mister Dewey. “Mr. Dewey, you’ll have to excuse me. I need to finish getting my car ready for the race.”

I left him and my parents to finish discussing the thugs that destroyed my baby. I wasn’t kidding about needing to finish getting my car ready for the race. I was already putting in my earbuds as I picked up my helmet and gloves. I knew that it was childish of me to just throw my helmet like that, but I had let my emotions get the better of me. With the ease born from practice I prepped for another practice run.

Kelly helped me into the cockpit of the car and strap in before giving me a quick kiss on the lips. Kelly whispered in my ear ‘good luck’ before handing me my helmet. I flipped the ignition switch and waited for Will Hackney to crank the starter. When the engine came to life, I once more felt the power of that demon of speed chained to my will. I revved the engine twice and even sitting still the car now felt different.

I keyed my mike. “Let’s go see what we got sis.”

“Right behind you Bobbie. Does your car feel different to you? I know that mine does. It’s like I’m behind the wheel of my Charger.”

“Mine feels the same way Beth. Only mine feels like the Judge. I think our pit crews took our suggestion and went whole hog with it. I won’t put it past them.” Letting out on the clutch and engaging the transmission I pulled. I feel a smile creep onto my lips as I exit pit road onto the course.

Even as I round turn two, I can feel the massive difference in the car. Unlike before I could start putting down the speed before exiting the turn. The car now handled like my GTO Judge in the twisting turns of the street course. As much as I want to go full throttle, I know that the streets won’t allow for it. There are just too many turns on this course for that kind of driving.

The 6km course was laid out in a designed by Hermann Tilke. It features 20 turns and ranges in width from 7.6m to 13m. The six kilometer, anti-clockwise layout of the circuit has been a bitch to figure out. The circuit starts adjacent to Azadliq Square, then loops around Government House before heading west along a 1 km straight to the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and Maiden Tower. Here, the track narrows to 7.6m with an uphill traversal. It circles around the Old City before opening up onto a 2.2km stretch along Neftchilar Avenue back towards the start/finish line. The circuit is the fastest street circuit in the world, with a top speed close to 360 km/h and the second longest circuit on the current F1 calendar behind the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

As I climbed the hill towards the castle and feel my pucker factor rise. The sudden narrowing of the course brings back memories of racing on the backroads and city streets of Darlington County. With each consecutive turn I feel the ass end of my car sliding, not much but enough to let me know it’s there. Even with the slightly loose feeling I love how the car is handling. As I exit the Old City area of the course and onto the 2.2km stretch along Neftchilar Avenue I open up the engine. The rush that I get from the sudden burst of speed is one that is all too familiar. I felt the same rush many times on route 151 or highway 52 back home.

I key my mike as I go for a second full lap. “She feels like she riding on rails Chief Hailee. The handling couldn’t be better.”

“Well, don’t give us or the car all the credit Speed. She’ll only handle like that for you. So, any extra performance you get out of her is all you Bobbie. How’d she handle on the straightaway?”

“Like a rocket sled on rails. I punched the throttle and she took off like a bat out of hell. She’s still a tad bit loose in the turns, but it’s nothing that I can handle. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear that she handles better in the turns this with this setup. I don’t think there is anything else we can do to improve the car’s setup. What do you think Beth?”

“I hate to say it but Bobbie’s right Chief Hailee. We won’t be qualifying in the top ten but that won’t matter.” At the sound of Beth’s voice, I knew that she realized the same thing I had.

“What’s going on girls?” Chief Marks asked quickly while we were both just entering the Old City section of the course.

“This is going to be one time that we’re going to have to win on skill and timing.” I told them quickly. “I’ll explain back in the pit area. I’m bring her back in after I complete two more laps.”

“Negative on that Bobbie. We need you girls to stay out there. Try and push the cars as hard as you can.” Chief Marks asked of us. I knew what he wanted to really pushed the car to its limits through the turns and straightaways. I waited until I hit the 2.2km stretch along Neftchilar Avenue before turning up my tunes. As we hit the stretch the sounds of bells sounding filled my ears. I knew before the first notes of the song rang out what was coming. AC/DC’s classic Hell’s Bells.

The heavy driving beat of the drums, reverberating cords of the guitars, and the vortex of the vocals. All of it pulls me in hard enough to lose myself in the music. I take turn 1 with hard breaking and a snap to the wheel. I damned near pull a ninety degree drift through the turn. The short straightaway to turn 2 doesn’t give me enough time to build much speed. I take turn 2 at just above 30% of full throttle.

From there on the rest of the course is taken between 30% to 45% of full throttle. The only place that we can really open up the cars is on the 2.2km stretch along of Neftchilar Avenue. There we both don’t hold back until we reach turn 1. For the next eight laps Beth and I push the cars to their limits everywhere on the course. The more I’m out here the better I get a feel for the course. My I-pod plays two more songs from AC/DC. I hear Thunderstruck and Money Talks as I round the last turn before heading for the pits. And for the first time in eight days I’m finally in a great mood. I have a car that I can compete with.

As I pull onto pit road and head for our garage area, I hit the kill switch for the engine. I coast the rest of the way. Even as I pull to a stop I’m smiling behind my helmet. Chief Hailee is standing there with the guys and gals of my pit crew. I quickly release my safety harness then remove my helmet and gloves. Chief Hailee takes one look at my smiling face and knows that we have a wining car. He smiles at me and nods his head before turning to the pit crew. He begins patting each one on the back.

“Well done people. You did me and Chief Marks proud. You boys are turning into some damned fine mechanics. Some the best that I’ve seen in years.” He chuckled as he looked over the angry pack of teenage girls. “And you young ladies are fast becoming the some of the best aerodynamic engineers I’ve seen in years.”

“I agree with Chief Hailee kids. You managed to pull together and turn out two win worthy cars. All in less than two hours on top of that. What you did is close to impossible. Yet you took the challenge of your drivers and do the impossible.” Chief Marks told them with a smile. “I can only offer my own pitiful praises to those of Chief Hailee’s. Well done people.”

I raised my hands above my head, clapped, and cheered. “Way to go guys! I love the way that you got my car setup!”

“I agree with Bobbie. Great job on the cars, guys.” Beth said as she walked up wearing a smile close to mine. “Mine handles like my old Charger in the turns and on the straightaway.”

“Well, that’s what you asked for isn’t it?” Our four biggest former Cheerleaders Kathy, Cassy, Sherry, and Charlotte sang out. Causing us all to laugh at their antics. This wasn’t the first time those four had pulled a stunt like this. Whenever the pressure got to be too high in the pits during a race they would pullout one of their old cheer routines. The goofiness of them cheering me and Beth on would drive us to reach deeper inside. Deep enough to find that special something that made us the drivers we are.

I may not have started out looking to find my own privet cheer squad, but I found one anyway. What got me was the girls had taken to aerodynamic engineering and design with the same zeal that they took to cheerleading. It was that zeal that drove the rest of the girls in the pit crews to excel in their chosen fields. The guys were just as excited about their new fields of study. Gone was the normal nonstop talk about sports to be replace with talk of engine and transmission designs. Gone was Sports Illustrated in the hotel rooms to be replaced with Hot Rod, Car & Track, Street Speed, and Super Car. Both pit crews were going out of their way to learn all they could about high performance cars.

I was surprised to find college level text books on automotive design in Kelly’s suitcase. When I asked where she got the books my fiancée just smiled and winked at me. With her artistic skills and imagination, I know Kelly will make one hell of a design engineer. The question I have is who is teaching her. I swear that girl will be the death of me with all of her secrets. The only person that I could think of as being her teacher was mom.

Speaking of which she just walked over to a little group. “Alright people, let’s get the cars secured and this place locked up tight. We ALL have to be at the Sponsor’s dinner tonight. And by all, that means everybody. To include the pit crews.”

“Do we got to wear long sleeved dress shirts with nooses?” Tony wised cracked. Only to get a dirty look from mom. “Sorry.”

Mom gave him a forgiving smile which caused the other guys in the crews to chuckle. Danny Hailee nudged his elbow whispering. “Wimp”

“Enough you two.” Mom corrected them when Tony glared at Danny. “And yes. You gentlemen, will wear suit jackets, dress shirts, and ties. You will also be on your best behavior.” When the girls started to giggle mom glared. “Ladies don’t think you’re off the hook. It is dresses, hose, and high-heels tonight. I mean it.”

I just chuckled as the girls on my pit crews smiled at mom. They had been wanting to see one of the fancy dinners that Beth and I wear being constantly dragged to by our sponsors. I think that more than a few of them were starting to get a little jealous of us. Not that they would say anything in front of us. More than once they had told either Beth or me about wishing they could attend just one of the parties. Sure, I knew that the pit crews held their own parties but none of them matched what the sponsors put on for us drivers. I think that mom and dad had talked with someone from Mercedes-Benz about getting the pit crews into tonight’s party. Not that I minded.

Hell, no I wasn’t going to mind. For once I would have someone there that would be of my own age. They would also be a nice distraction from Kelly and me. I mean MDRI is the youngest pit crew age wise. Not to mention experience wise, but they were making up for that short-coming.

Mom turned to me and Kelly. “You two need to cleaned up and ready no later than six. Same with you two as well.” She said to Beth and Tony. “Our sponsors want a privet word with the four of you. Before you ask, I don’t know what it is about.”

“In other words, just shut up and deal. Is that it, mom?” Beth snarked. Then she turned to me holding up her left hand. When I saw the diamond ring, I knew that Tony had asked, and she said yes. “What do you want to bet it is about these?”

“Speaking of which. Where’s yours at Bobbie?” Tony asked quickly.

“Um… I don’t have one.” I blushed at this very embarrassing truth. Kelly tried to buy me one to match her own before we left. We went to all seven jewelry stores in Darlington. None had a match to the ring that I had given her. “We couldn’t find one to match.”

“Yeh, I didn’t mean to bring up a touchy topic Bobbie.” Tony apologized quickly. “If you couldn’t find one at home big deal. You got the whole world to find a matching ring now.”

I hadn’t thought about it that way. I know that Kelly really wants to get me a matching ring. We had spent our remaining time at home searching. Now, with the whole world to hunt for our matching set of rings. The choices were limitless. All we needed to do was look. I was sure that I could find our rings now.

“Thanks, Tony. By the way where did you get that beautiful ring on Beth’s hand? It sure as hell didn’t come from Darlington.”

Tony chuckled. “I found it when we were in Singapore. At this little specialty shop just off the strip on our second day there. The owner specialized in custom made jewelry. I gave him Beth’s ring size and went back two days later to pick it up.”

“Damn. I wish you had told me. I could’ve had our rings made at the same time. I wonder if there is some place like that at our next stop.” I got to think about now that I had a plan.

Barcelona, Spain was know for more than just their tourism and fashion industry. They are also the second largest precious metal manufactures in Spain, seventh for all of Europe. Mom had already announced that we would be going from here straight to Barcelona as soon as we could. She wanted to get some early practice runs on the Circuit de Catalunya for some reason.

“At least you didn’t have to face your mother when you asked for Kelly’s hand. I’ve faced down guys that were twenty to thirty pounds heavier in the ring during open matches that were less scary. Your dad was cool about it, hell he welcomed me with open arms. Saying it was an honor to have me in the family. I thought your mother was going to cut my balls off at first.” Tony shivered as he placed his arm over Beth’s shoulders. “Come on we got to get back to the hotel and get ready for tonight.”

With that we joined with the rest of the team as they headed back towards our hotel. As had become our practice we got a hotel as close to the race course as possible. Mostly for convenience but usually to keep Coach Hall off our asses we’d walk to and from the track area as a group. It helped to kept us in shape and gave us a little more exercise each day. The side benefit of keeping Coach Hall off our ass was just icing on the cake.

I smile at the Doorman as we approached our hotel. When we first arrived, he barely even gave us a glance. Now, he actually returns our smiles and greetings. I asked him why he was so cold on the first few days towards us earlier this morning. He chuckled at my question but answered anyway. All he saw in us was an invading army of typical teenagers. It wasn’t until he saw us in our team uniforms on the second day that he ask the desk clerk who we were. It seems that his little girl is a fan of me and Beth.

It was just a little after four-thirty by the time we had gotten back to our rooms. At twenty minutes tell six we walked into the reception hall of the hotel. I held Kelly’s hand as the corporate heads for Mercedes-Benz approached us. I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. The last time I laid eyes on Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Emil Jellinek all together like this was back when I signed my contract.

“Baby, why do I have the sudden feeling that our world is about to get turned upside down for some reason?”

“Don’t ask me, but you’re not the only one getting bad feeling.” Kelly whispered. “Where are the wives?”

That’s what was off. Where were their wives? They never went anywhere without them. Especially Karl Benz, and Emil Jellinek, those two never left their wives at home. This could only mean one thing. Their wives were with mom. This was not good.

“Fräuliens we have a problem. One that we hope you can help us with.” Daimler started off politely but quickly changed his tone at the look on my face. “For the last few years we have been trying to gain entry into NASCAR. With our assembly plants across the US we now qualify as a US Auto manufacturer. Thanks in most part to our rivals over at Toyota.”

“Okay, I can see that. Why now though? I mean the season has already started. You’ll be hard pressed to find a team to go with your cars midseason. Even Toyota had a bitch of a time getting the teams to pickup on their designs.” I told them.

“That is why we are not going to go with one of the major teams already associated with NASCAR. We plan to form our own team and introduce them at the beginning of next year.” Maybach answered me quickly in explanation. “Your mother and father have already been given the go ahead to design and build our cars. What we need are drivers. People who are young and energetic such as yourself.”

“Ja, someone that will bring the same kind of passion to Stockcar racing that you bring to Formula One. Someone that is unheard of yet has the needed skills to compete. Is there anyone that you or your sister know that fits the requirements?” Benz expanded the reasons further for coming to us.

Kelly squeezed my hand hard enough to look over at her. “The guys, baby. We know that more than a few of them know how to drive. Shit there are a half dozen that could fit their needs.”

I got to thinking about what Kelly was saying. She was right about one thing. There were a half dozen members of the Darlington Knights that could handle that type of driving. Sure, most of them were street racers with criminal records, but they could drive. I also had promised them that I would give them a shot. If they ever cleaned up their acts. Which surprisingly they have.

“I might know of a few drivers that can get the job done. I won’t promise you anything though gentlemen. A lot of these drivers have a juvenile criminal record.” I felt that I should point out this fact for the men who had given me my break. I figured that if I was honest now, they wouldn’t be going in with blinders on.

“We are well aware of this fact, Fräulein McGuire. We have sent our privet investigators ahead in search of such drivers. We have all read the investigators reports. What those reports did not tell us is who has the passion that we need or want for our newest racing venture. They are just dry facts and numbers. There is no meat to the bones. No real insight into the individual drivers’ personalities.” Daimler said with a passion bordering on insanity.

“Let me get this straight. You want me to vouch for how passionate a certain driver is? You’re joking right?” I figured that the suites had gone around the bend.

“We are deadly serious Fräulein. Und yes that is exactly what we need for you to do. We need fresh faces to compete with the established names and teams.” Jellinek grumbled as he looked me in the eye. “I would have preferred to use a known driver.”

“You were overrule Emile. The Ice Queens stay in Formula One. We will not have this discussion again.” Maybach snapped.

“Wait, Herr Jellinak wanted one of us to drive NASCAR? Then why didn’t you ask us first?” Beth snapped.

“It be honest Fräulein the reason is simple. Money.” At Jellinak’s one word answer all four of us gave the man a blank look. “Our company has spent an extremely large amount of Euros in the public image of this team. We cannot simply throw all of that away for one of you to go drive NASCAR. Your popularity among teenage girls and young women has out stripped our original projections. In short Fräuliens your fans would kill us if we let you just leave the sport right now.”

I thought about the Doorman for the hotel and his daughter. Then I thought about the kids back home and what Mister Dewey told me earlier that afternoon. I had already seen a few of the merchandise posters, and t-shirts that were being sold with either Beth’s or mine pictures on them. I won’t even go into the hats that were in our team colors with our individual numbers.

There has to be close to several thousands of dollars’ worth of that stuff flouting around. If not more. I mean I’ve seen the shit at every race so far. I never thought I would have this kind of impact on F1 this soon. Yet between me and Beth we have a massive fan base that would be cut in half if we were to transfer to NASCAR. I could see their point of view and conceded. There was just too much money and pride at stake to do something stupid.

“Chill Beth, they’re right. Just think about it. We jump ship for NASCAR now, or next year we would appear ungrateful to our fans. Fans that we have slowly been building in this sport. No, we need to turn this over to the guys back home. Who do you think would be the best choices?” Beth knew just as many street racers as I did. She also had a slightly better grasp on the local track talent pool than I probably did.

“I would start by looking at Thomas Hart and Johnny Foxx. They both have good instincts for feeling out a good race line.” It was obvious that Beth hadn’t heard about Thomas and Johnny. At my pained looked she asked. “What did I miss Bobbie?”

“They’re in Forest Glenn, Beth.” I whispered. “We need to pick someone else out of the Knights.”

“Excuse me, but what does this Forest Glenn have to do with the young men not being available?” Benz asked me.

“It’s a cemetery.” Kelly answered bluntly. “Both young men died trying to save someone else’s life.”

“We are sorry for the lose of your friends.” Benz apologized.

“Not your fault just the luck of the draw.” I sighed.

“Bobbie it wasn’t your fault. They knew what they were doing at the time.” Kelly whispered as she wrapped me in a hug. She knew how the deaths of those two young men had affect me. She looked over at the four suites and smiled. “Gentlemen might I suggest that we revisit this topic at some later date?”

“Of course, Fräulein. Please enjoy the evening.” With that they walked away leaving us to spend the rest of the evening with out teammates. I smiled as they entered the reception hall in pairs. Most were couples though a few were just there as friends. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t belong before there was more then a few engaged couples in pit crew. I wondered if that would be a bad thing. I mean love is supposed to conquer all right?

-----tbc-----