THE RACER Chapter 14

A Car Starts Here
courtesy photobucket.com

 

As they went down the line from the beginning of the layout where it started to the actual finish product it was like being in car heaven for Lucas.

He never dreamed the engineering was the main part of racing.  All he knew before this tour was getting in the car and give it the gas.

At the end of the line Marley told Lucas to get in the finished product. He was a little hesitant at first but with Marley's insistence he jumped right in.

He looked at all the gauges and the pedals and the gearshift. He wanted to put the seat belt on which he did, but it was way too loose for him.

Marley said, “When you are ready the belt will fit you.”  

At the end of the tour they arrived at the car Marley raced and won the race with.  It had been cleaned and polished so it looked like it had never been out of the shop.

Marley told Lucas to come back and visit some time and if he wanted to be a race car driver it would serve him well to get a good education.  

 

You never know you might end up building cars for someone else, because you see how important each person is in the building process.

As they left Lucas's vision of himself had changed.  He no longer saw himself as a driver; he now saw himself as a builder-driver like Marley.

Mason had promised Lucas they would return to the track often and he could get more experience driving.  He got to know most of the drivers and crew members and they stopped making fun of him. They were impressed by the fact he was so focused on becoming a driver.

Lucas was always glad to see Marley at the track for it made him feel important to be able to talk to one of the best driver in the business.  One afternoon Marley told Lucas to come over to the shop when he had the time.

Time had passed and it had been about three years since he first met Marley and he was now nearly twelve years old.

         
Mason kept his car running as long as it was practical to do so, but finally it was junk.

 

Lucas felt bad every time he saw the car for it wasn't long for this world.  His car had finally wore out and wasn't worth fixing, and then there was the lack of money issue. 

Lucas told Abel he would like to be the one to tear it down and get it ready to ship to the smelters.  

 

Abel said. “Sure go ahead. Maybe someday it will come back as the metal to build a new car with.”  That thought took some of the pain out of the dismantling of it.  

Everyone was busy but at last, they all had free time so they got ready to go over to Marley's to visit.  His dad, John, Abel and Mason all showed up and were ready to leave. If Lucas had his way he would be over at Marley's everyday.

Abel said he needed to make a pickup on the way back so he hooked the trailer on the back of the truck.  When they arrived they went to the lunch room and had some sandwiches and talked about racing with Marley.

They went to the drafting room and looked over plans for newly designed cars.  Marley said it may be some time before they are built because I will have to find buyers for them.  

They spent three hours watching the cars come together and Lucas found out that one was ready for the paint, and he wanted to see them spray it.  

 

He couldn't see too well by peeping into the paint booth, but when it was finished it was a bright red with small stripes on it.  

Then something occurred to Lucas this car looked exactly like Marley's car but it was somewhat smaller in fact quite a bit smaller.  Lucas said, “You will never be able to get in that car, Marley.”

Marley smiled, “I think you are right someone has made a big mistake. It must have been the one who designed it for I know it was built right.”

He said, “Let's go and have some pie and let the fellows finish it and then we will try to figure out what happened.” 

 

To be Continued