These details are things that have never even come into play for me. I have never been this intimate with an automobile in my life. It's like reading a how-to manual for something you've done all your life and finding out there's a lot more to it than you ever knew. For years I've heard racers say, "Don't get off the throttle too quickly going into a corner or the back end will come around." I was on the straightest part of the track, and I had just passed the time traps. As I went through, I lifted my foot maybe a quarter of an inch, to slow down. And just as I lifted, the back of the car whipped around. Uh-oh. You think: So that's what those race car drivers were talking about. I spun five times, but I managed to call up what I'd learned in a few driving courses. I could hear all my instructors' voices saying, "You will always hit what you're looking at."

I saw the wall coming up and I quickly turned my head, and cut the wheel to go where my head was turning. Then I stepped on the brakes. As the car spun, I turned my head the other way, cut the wheel, and the car immediately went in the direction I was looking. I avoided hitting the wall. All I could think was, "Wow. That stuff really works."