Chapter 166 Let's Go Racing, Girls!
Andrea’s heart was pounding inside of her chest as she waited for the pace car to start rolling. Her hands were sweating inside of the thick racing gloves she wore, and she wouldn’t be surprised if her breath didn’t start fogging up the windows she was breathing so hard.
“Calm down. It’ll be fine,” Jo said, patting her arm. “You’ve got this. Remember, it’s just for fun. You don’t have to win. The money for the charities has already been donated.”
“I know. Still… I want to do well.” And I don’t want my half-sister to wreck me and kill us all, Andrea added in her thoughts.
“Let’s just have a good time.” Jo seemed a lot calmer than Andrea felt, which was good thing since one of them needed to be sensible.
The cars started to roll off of pit road, and Andrea carefully shifted into gear, giving the car in front of her some room. Since there was no qualifying for this special event, they had just lined up their cars in alphabetical order by last name—which put her near the back. She was okay with that, though. She had a feeling she could pass a lot of cars, once they got started.
The race would be a short one, only fifty laps. Again, that was fine. She didn’t want to be there forever, but she was looking forward to the experience. She’d always wondered what it was like to sit being the steering wheel in a race, especially since she’d been dating Case. Now, she knew for herself—sort of. It wasn’t quite the same as racing for her livelihood would be, but it was still a race, and that would be something she would never forget.
The pace car drove slowly around the track at first, building up to a little faster as they made a few laps. The idea was to get the drivers used to being behind the wheels of the car again and give the teams some time to remind them of a few things—like to use their mirrors and listen to their spotter, that sort of thing.
She heard Truitt and Brad taking turns over the radio in her ear, reminding to listen to them, to stay out of trouble, stay off the wall, etc. She took it all in, concentrating on keeping a fair amount of space between herself and the car in front of her for now. Her breathing was starting to even out as she calmed down.
“Two more laps, then we’re going green,” Brad said. “I won’t see you until it’s over unless there’s a problem with the car, so be careful. We don’t want to come to pit road unless we have to.”
“Got it,” Andrea said. They hadn’t practiced a pit stop, so she was really praying that wasn’t something she had to do today. They were allowed to come in and get tires if they got a flat, but that was it. If something else was wrong with the car, they would just be out. There was no prize except for bragging rights, and the charity had already collected over a million dollars in donations from spectators and fans who’d donated on line.
Andrea counted down the last two laps, her pulse beating hard, but more out of excitement than nerves now that she’d got the feeling of the car again.
“Green, green, green!” Truitt said in her ear, and Andrea waited for the cars in front of her to go before she mashed her foot to the gas pedal and went as fast as she could, praying everyone in front of her would get out of the way.
A few of the drivers in front of her seemed anxious still. They were going a lot slower than Andrea. She’d have to work her way around them. Ahead of her, she saw Leslie powering around everyone without a care in the world, as if she’d been doing this her whole life. Sarah was going faster than most, too. One car, the one in the lead, had taken off like a bat out of hell, and it seemed like Leslie and Sarah were trying to catch him as quickly as possible.
“Steady,” Jo said. “We’re going to go around this slower car on the inside. Hopefully, he’ll give us plenty of room.”
Andrea went down to the bottom of the track, listening to Truitt in her ear tell her how far down to go and how to get around the other car. She went safely around him, then headed back toward the line she’d been holding nearer the top of the racetrack. “Piece of cake,” Andrea mumbled, a confident smile on her face.
Jo chuckled. “Something tells me they won’t all be like that.”
Andrea smiled at him, but she had a feeling he was probably right.
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