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Clutch merely sighed. "Just don't make me regret this." Although to be honest, he was also looking forward to the races. "It'll be nice to feel the wind in my radiator again; and it'd be fun to win."

"You are wearing your seatbelt, right?" Clutch asked when he felt Eric bouncing in the seat.

Eric laughed, "Not at the moment but I will put it on when they approve us." As he said that, someone walked over and smiled, "Alright Eric, you and your new car are approved. Feel free to head out to the garage to do whatever you need to, to your car and then we'll call your name when it's your turn to race."

Eric giggled even more as he wiggled around in his seat once again. "YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYyYYYYYYYYyyYyyyYyY."

Clutch honked his horn briefly, thrilled at being approved, before hearing the dreaded words "garage" and "to your car".

"You are not going to modify anything about me, is that clear?" Clutch demanded of his overexcited passenger.

"Of course I'm not. We have to go there and wait anyways though, even if I'm not going to do anything." he quickly pulled the car door closed and took Clutch over to the garage, pulling into an open spot. Eric giggled excitedly again as he looked at the other racers. Most of them were fairly young at about maybe 17 or 18. He didn't see anyone whom he used to know raced here. Most of them had upgraded to street racing at this point or gone to a different town with a bigger race track. "This will be a piece of cake."

Even with Eric at the manual controls, Clutch still waited for his sensors to pick up on other vehicles.

"A piece of cake, huh? Inferior vehicles or drivers?" Idly he revved his engine experimentally.

"Younger drives. They may have only gone around the track at most 10 times each. Psh, not enough laps to really know the tacks. I've gone around over a hundred times. By the way, be warned that they are going to make fun of you because you don't look like a racing car." he said as he saw a few of the guys looking over their direction and laughing. "How fast can you go? Hopefully it's over 150."

Clutch laughed. "I'd be worried if I did look like a racecar...they have no manners whatsoever." He revved his engine again. "Hmm, top speed is about 200mph. I've tested it at 135 and felt it respond accordingly so I should be fine at top speed."

"This should be a walk in the park. My bet of 500 should be rewarding." he purred softly as he leaned back in the seat. He chuckled and then looked around as the other guys chuckled to themselves once again. "So can you 'speak' or other cards per se?"

"Only if they're Artificially Intelligent," replied Clutch, "or if I have a wire to them I can assess their so-called vitals. The racecar AIs are always bragging about their latest tunings and tires; street cars complain about traffic and lights; I find humans are more entertaining."

He paused then added, "Road rage is a little more interesting when cars get cut off, fenders get bent, and bumpers bumped--especially when the car gets involved in throwing insults." Clutch chuckled to himself.

"You're the first AI car that I know of that can think on it's own. Even to possibly be able to throw insults around." he said as he looked at the other cars. "I don't think these punks have the money for AI cars...they all look like my Red Hot. They race with what they have for the enjoyment of racing." he mumbled.

"I'm kind of a rarity even amongst AI cars." Clutch admitted. "But good; I hate racing with AI cars--they're too smart for their own good. And I want to see how well humans can drive." If he sounded at all sarcastic it was just Eric's imagination. Totally.

"So sorry we don't have super human sensors like you do sir Clutch." Eric huffed right before their name was called along with a few others. "Alright, here we go." he purred as he closed the door and quickly and put Clutch into drive pulling him out to the track.

Clutch cackled softly to himself as he felt the gears catch and he rolled forward. If ever there was a moment he felt blind and useless it was now--until he knew the layout of the course.

"Remember not to mash my gears," Clutch reminded Eric.

"Hush hush. I remember what you said." ERic said as he pulled up to the white line. Someone walked over to the car and lightly tapped the window. Eric put it down and the guy smiled, "Hey Eric how you doing? Snazzy new ride you got here."

Eric laughed and patted the other man's cheek. "I'm fine. Doing what I can to survive. Oh! This isn't mine. It's my neighbors. He wanted to come along for the ride though. Clutch this is my old friend Travis. Travis this is my new friend Clutch."

Travis blinked for a moment and then looked at the car before his jaw dropped. "no Way! An AI!?" he asked excitedly. "Nice to meet you Clutch I'm Travis, as Eric said!"

Clutch beeped his horn in acknowledgement. "Of course I'm an AI, what else would I be? Are you racing us?"

"No no. I help run the tracks." Travis said with a chuckle. "I'm actually the camera guy who decides who wins."

Eric chuckled, "He's helped me out a few times. It was super close. I owe him a few favors." Travis smiled as Eric turned back to him, "STill the same right? Two laps around? Stay on the outside after the line because of the pot hole?"

Travis sighed, "They filled it in for the most part but there is still a large spot you can hit. most people avoid it. You have to get pretty close to the wall to miss the part of the hole they didn't fill. I wouldn't try it but you're a crazy bastard so you might. Oh, yeah it's still two laps. Gotta go! Good luck with that $500 bet." Travis said scampering off.

Eric chuckled as he revved Clutches engine. "Yeah, I am a crazy bastard sometimes."

"Pothole?!" The word registered with Clutch in altogether unpleasant way. "Two laps, that's it?" There was no way he was going to be able to do this on his own. Avoiding a pothole would be impossible because he didn't have sensors for it until he ran over the thing--in which case it would be too late. At least his sensors would detect the presence of the wall.

"Okay forget the gears--don't hit the pothole. I don't want to blow out a tire at that speed."

"Can your side view mirrors fold in?" Eric asked quickly as he looked around. Everyone was getting ready, along with the guy who would start the race. "Cluth, can your side view mirrors fold in? If they can't I'm probably going to end up clipping the one off." Clearly he was going to try and make that sharp turn that not too many people tried.

"Yes of course they fold in," Clutch replied. "But you'll deactivate the sensors in them when you do. How many times have you done this again?"

"Avoided this pothole? Plenty." he said as he filled in, in his head But this is the first time I'll be attempting avoiding it by going TOWARDS the wall. Eric quickly put clutch in Park and then unbuckled himself. He leaned over, quickly rolled Cluth's window down and then pulled the mirror in so it was flat'ish' against the car.

"Hopefully that works." Eric said as he rolled the window back up and quickly plopped his ass back down and seat belted himself in. He close his window and revved his engine as the countdown started. "Sit back, relax and enjoy the show." Eric cooed as he put Clutch into Drive again. As soon as the flag went off, Eric's foot was touching the ground, "HOORAH!!"