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Well, this new experience has been different. Honestly, to heck with experience! My pet toad can drive race cars! Well, he can’t really, but honest! So I was in this one city tourney qualifiers race, and I had recently bought a toad because my depression counselor decided 1) I have depression and 2) I should buy a pet to talk to. But this guy, he’s like turbo the snail! He snuck into my race visor and started pulling on my ears. I crushed those guys like… what do crush? A can? Ok, anyway, it started that I was in my counselor’s office, and she was like; here, I bought a toad for you, and at the time I thought well could you buy me a more repulsive animal please? And she said: you should appreciate what you have. So I brought him home, named him naruto cause I wasn’t creative enough and there are toads in that show. Going by that principle, I guess I could have called him Nat Geo Wild, but I’m not that dumb.

               

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So I was in the dugout getting ready for the race, I was up 1st. Anyway, first, I set aside my visor after I had cleaned it. That’s when I think Naruto crawled in. he then proceeded to sit there until I put it on when he squeezed into my helmet. Then, once the race started, he started pulling my ears. For some reason, this moved my arms. They jerked from left to right. My ears were hurting, and I was falling behind. Suddenly, I jerked to the right seconds before Eric Myers’ 28 car smashed into Zack Valencia’s 24 car and went upside down, screeching and roaring right past me and shattering Maddy Rose’s 36 car. Wow, already naruto had saved my life. Suddenly, My hands took me to the right as Eddy Wilkin’s 18 roared forward trying to overtake Jimmy Gonzales’ 45 car. They careened to the left, and I tore forward as Meredith Gilmore tried to get in the right-hand space, and as soon as I was ¾ the way past the 45 car, my hands again took me left toward Kyle Curtis, who was trying not to get run over by the 18 and 45 cars shoving each other into the marbles, which are a stretch of track that is covered in wheel rubber. Kyle then rammed into me and went sliding off, hitting both fighting cars. 


As we made for the 20th and final lap, there was a huge crash, and I mean HUGE!! Lead racer Clay Thompson’s tire pops, flying up onto his hood and hitting it at full force, his hood splinters in half, blinding his windshield and leaving him tireless. He then slides left. This time, I don’t need naruto to move me right, but I do need him to move me back to the left. I struggled for control, and 2 seconds later, Gracie Lutz’s car comes flying at me. I jerk left, as Keiran Gomez gets the full blast of it. It then triggers a chain, so now only the cars on middle right are still there, and what worries me is that I’m in the middle left. So instinctively, I move right, but suddenly, naruto swerves to my left just as Mike Morris comes roaring out of the marbles on the right and takes out middle right.


 Now it’s me, Connor Ford, Cody Gibson, Jaden Decker, and Lesley Henson. Cody makes a push, but Connor comes to meet him! Jaden takes advantage, but is cut off by Me!!! He slows down to meet Henson, who then pushes past Ford. Gibson roars past to cut Decker, who swerves into the marbles and pops a tire! 1 down, 4 to go! Gibson races past Henson! Connor follows suit, leaving Henson in the dust. Ford Takes left, I take right. Gibson tries to get past but is spun out. My excitement bubbles and I rip past, taking the lead. Connor matches my speed, and I speed up. Suddenly, Naruto swerves to him. He speeds up, trying not to get hit, and I follow with him in the lead. I chase for the last stretch when Naruto Jerks to the left. Before I know, we’re going at 230 mph. Suddenly, with the finish line, Ford jammed the pedal, reaching 280, and… I knew before it happened, he wanted to leave me in his dust. But his 42 car wasn’t fast enough. His speedometer was over 300, and suddenly, his boomed to a stop as I roared past. His car had BROKEN DOWN!! His greed for speed had stopped his darn car!! I tear down the stretch, winning the race in 1st place, Gibson and Henson following close behind! At the winner’s stand, I pulled off my helmet to grab the champaign, and that’s when I both saw and renamed Naruto. His new name being Freckles, I saw him and immediately realized what had been going on there. He was pulling my ears, moving my hands, and winning me the race. Obviously, I had to test this. After all, It was a crazy theory at best. 


So I jumped on the track the next day with freckles in my helmet. I got a larger size this time, so as not to squish freckles. I chose a curvier track so that he could work his magic. I started the engine and I could feel freckles tighten up. His stubby legs were on my ears as we rounded the first bend at a cool 140 mph. It was easily the smoothest high octane turn I had ever experienced. I could feel my ears being tugged as we finished the lap. We started catching steam, going faster and faster. We boomed across the final stretch racing at 210, wrecking my team’s fastest time. I kept practicing with him until we were like a well-oiled machine. I saw something coming, I would raise my eyebrows, and he would feel it and steer me in just the right direction. We crushed it in all our races. First place, first place, first place, first place, cmon, keep it coming!! We raced around turns, we tore down stretches, we partied all night!! It was a great thing, to finally be someone in their prime again.


Me, Percy Welsh? 29 car for monster energy? Well, I was in the big leagues for a time, where I killed it, reigning indy champ 3 years in a row, I really was cream of the crop. But after the crash… I didn’t want to race anymore, I officially was retired. But I was almost broke by the time I started up again, it was my only option. Now, here I am again, racing for team monster, like the energy drink. Well, after this season, If I win, there’s an extra 40 million in it for me. 10 mil’s going to charity, 30 million for retirement and the 20 million from my contract is going to my wife. Of course, some of the retirement money is going to helping endangered toads, you can guess why.


It all came down to the last race. 10 laps of diaster. I gunned my engine at the starting line and as soon as the flag dropped, we were off. The turns were trickier thanks to the other racers, but it got better. Pretty soon, We raced along next to Brian Hennesey for first. We battled on right, him on left. Freckles swerved left, and we got him to drop behind. We raced forward, but freckles slowed me down with a hop and kicked the speedometer on my visor. Then I understood. We didn’t want to make the same mistake as Connor Ford, did we? We blocked him for a while until a turn threw me off and he got next to us. Then Freckles pulled off something really “gangster”. At the next turn, there was a tire barrier that was shaped like an upside-down L, and the track was built around it. we were coming up the stem, and any driver that wasn’t careful enough would hit the small part of the L coming around the bend. After the turn, there was the final stretch. So we pushed right. Right and right and right, until he was in the marbles, which was where we wanted him. So then we gave him space, then pushed. Lather, rinse, and repeat. We were closing fast, and suddenly, we braked a little, and he thought he could power ahead when we were slowing for the turn. He looked forward and then realized his mistake. The tires flew everywhere as we raced to the finish line. We partied all night when we won. I then thought it was the time. “Hey, Freckles, you’ve changed my life. I want to thank you for everything you’ve done. So I got something custom made for you.” It was a small NASCAR #29, the one we rode in. just so that we’d both have one.” so for the rest of our days we rode together until it was time to ride into the sunset.


May 16, 2020 00:34

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4 comments

Jessica Cushman
00:49 May 21, 2020

Very fast paced and fun. Really liked facetious part with the therapist.

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L. M.
03:32 May 18, 2020

You have a good conversational style here.

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Trevor Pence
16:58 May 18, 2020

thank you! I barely finished this on time!

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L. M.
00:13 May 19, 2020

You're welcome. :)

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