<VV> kids & kars

[Ken Wildman]

I've shared this before, but for the benefit of the new members and the 
senile older ones.....

My rule for my two sons was that *after* they got their driver's licenses 
they had to drive 500 miles with me as co-pilot/instructor before they 
could solo.  They thought that 500 miles would "take forever", but it was 
usually accomplished in about a week.

The driving was varied, in village, on state and county roads, in-city, and 
then onto the Interstate.  Once they had learned the defensive driving 
drill we repeated the process at night.  I think it was worth the effort 
and anguish (mine and their's respectively).  Although there were some 
fender-benders, no personal injury accidents.

The one, almost baddy, was on the last day of high school for my oldest 
son.  He ran off the county road at some speed above the limit.  Scrapped 
the whole right side of the car along a barbed wire fence.  Not only did he 
lose driving privileges for a while, but I "apprenticed" him to a friend 
who owned a body shop.  He did all the grunt work getting the car back to 
it's before run-in condition.  He had a choice of riding his bicycle, or my 
Vespa, out to the country site of the shop.  I think that sweat-equity paid 
great dividends in the future.....  :)

He still turns pale at the mention of "hand-sanding".   :)

One other thing, the boys "had" to learn to drive stick.  That was all that 
was available when they got their licenses.  It's amazing what a little 
necessity will accomplish.

I learned to drive stick when I got a one-day pick-up job at a beach club I 
was visiting as a guest.  On the way out we were approached to "run cars 
for the valet parkers".  The second car I got to go after was a brand-new 
Corvette.  It was on the far side of the vast parking lot and by the time I 
got to the waiting customer I was almost doing it right.   :)  Later that 
summer I got a job driving an ice cream truck (a la Good Humor).  "Sure I 
can drive shift" I said, to get the job.  I drove out the parking lot and 
down the street with the supervisor chasing me on foot, bucking and jerking 
in first gear.  Didn't try shifting until I turned a corner.  By the end of 
the day I could double-clutch my downshifts.

Ken