Car Board.(Brief Article)

Off-season got you down? With Daytona still three weeks away, here are some vehicles that should keep the boy-racer in you alive.

Nissan SENTRA SE Price: $17,659 Engine: 2.0-liter I4, 145 hp, 136 lb-ft Curb weight: 2674 lbs Drivetrain: fwd, five-speed manual Don't be fooled. You don't need a Mustang or a Corvette to feel like a street racer so long as you know how to drive well. Cars like the Sentra can make even your daily commute a little more enjoyable, with neat handling characteristics-thanks to the SE's nimble front strut, rear multilink-beam suspension-and one of the best horsepower ratings in its segment. The four-banger pulls the Sentra to 60 mph in less than eight seconds, not bad for a secretarymobile. There's little torque steer to speak of, and while it has a tendency to understeer, steering the Sentra remains eminently controllable. Good power-to-weight and a responsive chassis: What else is there to a race car? And at less than 18K, it won't break the bank.

Chevrolet SILVERADO LT Price: $33,065 Engine: 5.3-liter V8, 285 hp, 325 lb-ft Curb weight: 4748 lbs Drivetrain: 4wd, four-speed automatic NASCAR Craftsman Truck, baby, the working man's race series. And behind the wheel of the Chevy Silverado, you can pretend all you want that you're racing around a big, banked oval, trading paint with men named Biffle and Sprague and Tolsma. Just because your Silverado has, oh, 500 or so fewer horses, a cushier interior (or an interior at all), four-wheel drive and a functional bed doesn't mean you can't take that on-ramp like Andy Houston, swinging the tail out wide, spanking the guard wall ...