Born to be wild.(race car driving school)

Racing school helps weekend warriors get their motor running

I set my personal land speed record in an 11-year-old, rusted-out 1968 Cutlass on an open stretch of interstate highway in Louisiana on the way to the Texas border.

I was the tender age of 17 as I tried to pass a black Porsche, but I had to slow down when I reached 97 miles-per-hour because the vibrations in the front end -- Star Wars type I-can't-hold-it-together-Red-Leader-One vibrations -- began to concern me. I've been a pretty good boy since.

But when I had the opportunity to get into a formula style race car and go through a half-day class at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma at the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School, I did so with enthusiasm. No cops, no radar guns, no tickets, just fast cars and a smoothly paved course. These guys never even asked to see a driver's license.

British racing champion Jim Russell founded the world's first racing school in 1957 and it is now a worldwide organization that …