Theroad trip up to the Norton Air Force Base was fairly quickconsidering the amount of people that will be heading up. The chanceto beat the cops in a fair race was a very attractive incentive andthe weather was amazing too. I drove up in convey with André, Carlosand Fern, with Alison and Jasmine taking up my back passenger seats.I had no doubt that the regulars from the street race scene would bethere, dotted about in the heat of the sun.

Ihad spent the last ten minutes trying to explain what Race Wars wasall about to them but they weren't really bothered about that.

'Howcome you've never been there before?' Alison asked.

'BecauseI've not heard of it before Ja...' I stopped abruptly.

Toolate, they knew whose name I almost said. 'Jack? When did you seehim? Are you together now?' they asked between them all at once, soit seemed.

Istared at them momentarily through my rear view mirror. 'Veryfunny. We're just good friends.' I refused to divulge all theprivate moments we had shared together since they would definitelyjump to many conclusions.

'Ishe going to be there?' Jasmine asked, far too excited for myliking.

'Yeh,since he told me about it. And his guys too.' Secretly, I also hadthe impression that his whole family might turn up too since theycould race under legal terms.

Itwas another half an hour as we passed Ontario International Airportwhich was about half way between LA and San Bernardino. Andréovertook me and took the front whilst Carlos was happy enough tofollow behind with Fern in his passenger seat. The three of us hadnever really raced each other and here would have been the perfectplace to do so, if I wanted and if we weren't on our way to an evenmore perfect situation where I wouldn't have the distraction of twoof my closest friends chatting in the back.

Andréseemed to slow down for a moment and I realised he was just allowingme to catch up. We glanced at each other with anticipating smiles andI pulled in behind him as we saw traffic ahead. The traffic wasn'ttoo bad but with the view of spoilers and exhausts, there was nodoubt where they were all heading. Between the rolling convey ofsports cars, there was the random average citizen that was probablywondering what was going on.

Aswe approached the junction with Riverside Freeway, the signs for theair base began to appear, this meant we were very close and Jasmineand Alison were even more excited than they had been on the journeyso far. Following André as we pulled off the San Bernardino Freeway,the traffic was a little slower. There was a lot as we had left veryearly in the morning to get a decent spot and I could find Jack a loteasier with less people filling the spaces between the cars. At thatpoint I thought it was a good idea to call Jack and put him on loudspeaker so I could still concentrate on driving and not bumping intoanyone.

Thedialling tone went on for a mere five seconds and then he answered.'Yo, where abouts are you now?'

'Justleft the freeway. Meet us at the gates?' I asked. The talking frommy back seats now turned to a complete hush as Jasmine and Alisonlistened in.

'It'snot busy enough yet. You'll find us easy enough. Just look out formy dad's GT-R,' he explained as someone started shouting in thedistance on his side of the call.

Fiveminutes later and the gates were now in view, the speed had droppedto five miles per hour and it seemed ages until I found Jack. As Iwas watching out for people getting in my way, I asked my friends tolook out for any blue coloured car they spotted and told me where itwas so I could check out if it was the one I was looking for.

Itwas about ten cars later that they called out another blue one andthis time it really was Brian O'Connors' GT-R. I smiled widely asI pulled up a few cars down the line. Since my car was a two door, Iwaited beside my car as Alison and Jasmine got out from the back innot the most elegant manner. As I looked around, I spotted Jacktalking to a friend of his and raised my hand to catch his attention.Just then, André and Carlos joined us and parked alongside me. Therewas a lot of talking going on around us all and now and again youcould hear the subtle rumbling of an engine as someone moved theircar to join the line of waiting racers. And every minute or so therewas the unmistakeable noise of a pair of engines roaring off into thedistance along the runway.

'Uh,finally. You bring us to a decent place.'

Jasmine,however, had something to complain about. 'It's a bit dusty,isn't it?'

'Wellthis is California,' answered Jack from behind them. The twoexcited girls exchanged looks before walking away to join our otherthree friends. 'Hey, you made it.'

'Justabout. Are you planning on racing?'

'Hahaha,of course. I brought the Honda with me, it rides better on thissurface. You brought the Subaru,' he pointed out, sounding a littlesurprised.

'Ofcourse and for the same reason as you. The rally pedigree is betterin a Subaru plus I don't fancy ruining the paintwork on my Ford.'We both chuckled just as André came over.

'Ella,did we just come here to talk or are we racing?'

'Ifyou want to race, go ahead. You don't need me with you.'

'Imeant can we race? Come on, let's go.'

Jackdecided to step in then. 'How about you race me?' he offered.

'Whoare you?' André, at this point, had come over and was now stoodnext to me.

'Jack,and you are?'

Idecided to do some introducing myself, like Jack had done when hetook me to his uncle's. 'Oh, Jack. This is André. The two in theMazda are Carl and Fern and the other two are Alison and Jasmine.'

'Niceto meet you.' Jack offered André his hand but my friend remained abit reluctant. I didn't really know what happened next but I foundmyself walking along with Carl and Fern as André and Jack joined thequeue of cars waiting to drag.

'AHonda?' Carl said. 'André's Eclipse can easily beat that.'

Idecided to raise him up on it. 'I wouldn't say that, Carl.'

'Wannabet?' Fern did not seem very approving of this idea.

'Sure,why not?'

'Agrand?'

'You'reon.' And we shook hands on it too just to make sure. Somehow Ibegan to wonder if André's Eclipse would keep up until the end. Ifelt a little anticipated as the starter signalled for them to lineup. There were no lights set up since it was, after all, an airfield.The rest of the crowd was definitely out the way of the startingline. As the starter shook his fingers in the air, the two ladsrevved up their engines. He sunk to the ground and the cars racedaway along the closed off runway.

Afterthe first few hundred yards, you could see they were neck and neck.Every jolt of each car was a sign of them changing up, most likely onthe rev limiter in Jack's case. It wasn't until the last twohundred yards that one of them began to pull away. My heart seemed toflip as the Honda launched in front and the jolt, even from thisdistance, was enough to know Jack had used his Nos button. The rulesaround here were, at the end, you pulled off to the left and circleback round to join the crowd. That's what they both did and Andréclearly wasn't happy as he roared past Jack a little faster than heshould have been going. Carl, Fern and I ran over to where he pulledup by the shade gazebos.

Iwasn't going to start up about Carl losing his bet to me. He washead deep in André's car by the time I caught him up. Out of thecorner of my eye, I saw Jack roll past to join his family (whose arealooked a bit empty compared to before).

'Hey,Ella. What was that about?'

'Huh?What?'

Andréwas clearly very pissed off. 'Your friend?'

'Whatabout him?'

'What'she running?' He really meant was what did Jack have under his hoodthat meant he could beat the Eclipse (whose makers had a similarrally history to my car).

'Howwould I know? He's a friend beyond you lot, doesn't mean I knowwhat he's packing in his car. You didn't use your Nos, that mightbe why he beat you.'

'Whywould I on this surface?' Stupid question and if he was going tokick off at me for his mistakes then I wasn't going to stickaround.

'Carl,pay me later, yeh?' I didn't wait for him to answer, I simplywalked off. I didn't get what was up with André lately; he hadbeen texting a lot more than usual. I had opted to ignore most ofthem, especially when I was out with Jack for dinner (we went out acouple of times and I had been to a few more of his uncle'sbarbecues). 'Jack!'

Hehadn't got out of his car though had rolled his window down as Igot closer. 'Hey. This place is epic for racing.'

'Howabout that race? Me and you? Where's your family got too anyway?'

'Ohthey wander around out here. Lots of people ask them to check outtheir layouts since they still run their small garage. I keep awayfrom it.' I understood and he could tell so he needn't sayanymore. 'About that race... Maybe later, it's got a bit crowdedup there. I saw.'

'Fineby me. More people means more eyes to embarrass you in front of,' Ijoked.

'Don'tbe so sure. I just thrashed your friend out there. And you haven'tbeen here before.'

'Agirl learns quick when you work in the motor industry.'

'Getin.' He reached over and unlocked the passenger door.

'Whereare we going?'

'Alook around.'

'Andwe couldn't have done that on foot?' I asked rhetorically.

Therewere all sorts of models and makes here. Pimped up muscle cars andbright modified imports; pick a model and you would probably find onesomewhere amid the mass of cars. Not only were there Japanese importsbut there were some European ones too. Most of them I believed wereGerman but not all of them. I wasn't as knowledgeable aboutEuropean cars as I was with American and Asian models. I almostbought an Acura before my Subaru but the price tag won out in thedecision making. Amid the mass of cars and people were camper vansand camping trailers; the race ran over four days from Thursday toSunday. There were even gazebos propped up here and there to provideshade and drinking facilities for the thousands that were here.

'Whatis your favourite car then?' Jack began as we passed a couple ofToyotas.

Iseriously had to give my answer a think. 'I don't think I haveone really. There's specific models I like from certain makes but Icouldn't say I had a favourite overall.' Seeing a sixty-sevenMustang ahead made me gawk a bit as it was clearly taken care of verywell (I doubt the owner had brought it here to race).

'Youlike muscle cars though. I can tell.'

'Clearly,since I own one.'

'There'smore to muscle than Mustangs. Chargers, for instance.'

'SoI noticed. Not only does your uncle own one but you have a remote onein your room.' He simply looked ahead and made no expression to merevealing I had been through his room a little bit the first time Iwas at his.

'Eh,what can I say? My dad is an import man, my uncle is a muscles man.There's a reason why I like them equally.'

'Yetyou yourself don't own a muscle car.'

'UncleDom won't let me yet. He... sort of says I have to earn the rightto drive one. I still yet have to figure out what he means and how Ican earn it.'

'Whydon't you see today?' I asked.

Hestared at me, tapping on the brakes lightly so we stopped. 'What?'

'He'shere, isn't he? With his car. Race him.' It didn't seem a bigdeal to me.

Tohim, it was ludicrous. 'Hell, no. Are you kidding? My uncle hasspent years on that car. He crashed it once but when Letty did it upwith him, it was even faster.'

Ichuckled. 'Okay then. How fast is it?'

'Ina quarter mile... nine seconds flat.' He paused, I fell silent.'Even you can figure out the odds of me beating him. Like a millionto one.'

'Wow.That's amazing. What engine is it?'

'Ninehundred brake horsepower. Vee eight Chrysler engine with asupercharger. It still scares him to drive it and the sound it makesis just ear-battering.'

Myeyes were wide and I blinked once. 'Sounds insane. Bet it's akiller on fuel.' He nodded. We were back at our spot on the field.

'Howabout that race now?'

Ismirked, keys in hand. 'Sure. Are we staking it?'

Hegave a thoughtful pout. 'Nah, I'll just give you the chance totry and beat me again.'

Igot out, refusing to give in to his comment. My car was fairly hotnow as midday approached so I would be glad to get this race overwith soon. Sitting in the driver's seat, I waited a few minutesbefore turning the key. Jack waited just off from the end of thequeue and I waved to him so he could join up with me. I was prettyexcited by the time we were second in line but I did not let it show.Not an inch of my face gave way to my emotions which had now drivenup my adrenaline. One hand on top of the steering wheel and the otherloosely clasping my shift stick, I waited for the car in front of meto race off before I took their place.

Therace starter now faced us and pointed to each of us to turn to makesure we were ready. I nodded my head when he pointed at me and hebegan to shake his arms like he did with each pair of racers before.Things seemed to go in slow motion at that point. His knees began tobend and my right foot pushed down on the pedal. My car jolted tolife and the wheels span off the line. I wasn't alone of course;Jack kept up with me just as he had with André.

Myeyes glanced between the runway, the speedo and the rev meter. Theneedle just touched the redline and I instantly shifted up to second.For a split second, though it felt like a minute, I was a few inchesahead of my opponent until he too shifted up and took the lead fromme. I didn't fall behind; from a distance you probably wouldn'tbe able to tell he was ahead. I refused to turn my head or shift myeyes to glance at him; I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Onemore shift and the three hundred yards counter zoomed past. Iprobably wouldn't hit fifth gear but fourth was the next and thatwas all I focused on. I was scared to use my own Nos button in casehe thought I felt in doubt I could beat him. Then I remembered thathe had used his against André and I wouldn't make the mistake myfriend had. Then I saw the two hundred marker and my thumb presseddown hard on the small red button. The Subaru seemed to roar to lifelike I hadn't felt before and I pressed my back into my seat,making sure to shift up as the rev needle whizzed round clockwise tothe limiter mark. I had lost all focus in where Jack was in relationto me; it had now turned to how close I was to the finishing line.The flags were bright orange so you couldn't miss them and then,they vanished from sight.

Thatwas it. That was the end of our race and I didn't even know if I'dbeat him or not. I slowly pressed on the brakes so not to roll thecar on the smooth tarmac and gradually steered the car to the left. Iwas about halfway back to the huge pit stop (as it sort of was) whenI decided to stop. My lungs gasped for air and it was only then Irealised I had held my breath since the finish line. My heart wasracing and the skin all over my body was buzzing. I closed my eyestight shut and just breathed. My car's rumbling was joined byJack's and that was the first time I looked at him since meetinghim at the queue. I couldn't read his expression even as we bothrolled our windows down.

'Lookup,' was all he said to me.

Aroundthe pit stop section of the airfield, had been setup enormous flatscreens which portrayed live action races and replays. It took amoment for the images to sink in. The two cars the raced across thescreen were our own cars; my Subaru and Jack's purple Honda. Idon't know how many times they replayed it but it soon also sunk inthat it had been a photo finish. The zoomed in version of the raceshowed the front lip of my bumper only an inch or two ahead of theHonda's. My breathing seemed to stop as I thought about it.

Itwas obvious but I simply couldn't understand 'Ella!' I turnedmy head first and then my eyes. 'Follow me, yeh?' I did as heasked though there was little else I could do at this point.

AsI cut the engine, my senses had returned to me and I was grinninglike crazy as I hopped out of the driver's door. 'Ha! I had you,'I squeaked.

'Byan inch. But well done.' Even though he had lost, there was a smallsmugness to his smile. 'You know what my uncle says?' I shook myhead. 'Winning is winning no matter how far you win by.'

'OhI'm sure he came up with that when he became unbeatable. Surely heused to lose when he was younger.'

'Yaknow, I've never asked him.'