Chad Thomas was different from most men-from the brim of his baseball cap to the heel of his shoes; he was bred to race cars. Most men looked at racing as a spectator sport, but for Chad, it was his life’s passion. To him, there was nothing like the thrill of racing cars around a fast track-the burst of speed and the smell of burning rubber as the race began, the bump of the car next to him as it brushed against his car-everything about racing was exciting to him.
But there was one part of racing that Chad didn’t like-the darker, business side of racing that focused on money, which Chad discovered when he first became captain of his own racing team. Racecars are very expensive and require a lot of capital, and Chad had to call upon many of his friends to raise the money necessary to enter into his first race.
One of the most famous racecar drivers was Darrel Jones, a racer with great capability but who was known as a bully on the racetrack and one who seemed to spend the bulk of his time in one kind of trouble or another. The night before Chad’s first race, Darrell had seen Chad in a bookstore where they had both been browsing through some racing magazines. Darrell offered Chad a bribe to lose his first race on purpose so that Darrell could claim first prize. Chad refused even though he knew that it would bring trouble-Chad calculated that if he tool even one bribe, his career would be brief and he would not be successful. During the race, the angry Darrell ran Chad off the road and into a bridge. Chad’s car was brittle, so it was severely damaged, but his bones were not. He suffered only bruises in the crash and his recovery was brisk. This incident was a great test of his character, and Chad did not cancel his plans to become a great racecar driver. Once his car was repaired, he called upon Darrell to race him in a one-on-one race, which Chad easily won. Although Darrell did not change his bullying ways, Chad had proven his strong capabilities in dealing with the demands of the business of racing. As the years went by, Chad’s strong character made him one of the most admired drivers in racing.