The Critics Respond, Part Eight

Well, thank you for this one! The response to the R&T article has been extremely positive and kind; what's more, much of the feedback has come from drivers and coaches in the industry whom I respect and admire.

With that said, I just saw the printer's proof of the first-ever Road&Track Performance Car Of The Year article, as penned by moi. There's a super-cool photo of me gettin' it in, so to speak, past an airplane in the Ferrari F12berlinetta. You'll also see a secret photo of the Golden Hoodie. Color me pleased. It's heading your way. Sam and Larry at R&T made the hugely brave and risky decision to completely change the way these articles are normally done. I hope you'll find it far more narrative and interesting and enjoyable than the usual run-of-the-mill multi-car test. Most importantly, they let me write a fairly long article; I could have made it four times longer and still had plenty to say, but the "white space" they gave me for words is just about unprecedented on this side of the pond. The piece looks and feels gorgeous and I'm so pleased to be a part of it I don't know what to do.

I've often wondered what I would do if I had a time machine --- would I stop myself from being hit by a truck? have my son and five more like him two decades earlier? hitch-hike to California and work for Microsoft in 1992? --- but now I think I know: I'd appear in front of my ten-year-old self at the Miller Park Library in Upper Arlington as he peruses the October 1981 issue of R&T:

I'd throw him the PCOTY issue, wink at him, and say, "Don't change a thing, kid. And oh yeah --- some day you're going to win a race in one of those Supras. Also, it's okay to wear a white suit to school with a blue T-shirt, and it's okay to ask Cara Underwood out, but don't do both of those things in the same day. See ya!"