With her father in Bourbon, Missouri,

      the author gets a feel for the steering wheel.

      Editorial note: I use the word “you” throughout this book to indicate the reader, a driver, or people in general.

      ~

      I have been passionate about driving ever since I can remember. You see, I’m a driving enthusiast. Not the type of enthusiast that knows every car--make and model. I’m the type of enthusiast that wants to have the best driving experience getting around town or having a highway adventure. Driving is an enormous responsibility. For me, taking that responsibility seriously is an art and a lot of fun.

      My earliest driving memory is 3:00 o’clock on the morning of vacation when I was about six years old. My family always left on vacation in the wee hours before dawn. “Makes the car run better when you don’t drive in the heat,” Dad rationalized. How well the car ran didn’t matter to me. It was just fun to be carried out of bed in my jammies and laid back to rest on the car-bed.

      Car-bed instructions: place one appropriately sized hard sided suitcase on each side of the drive train hump between the front and back seat. Pad entire area with blankets.

      OK, so you have to go to a flea market these days to find hard-sided suitcases, and there isn’t enough room between the front and back seat of most cars anymore, and there are seatbelt laws, and so many people drive vans and SUV’s… But in MY day none of that was a problem and I was in bliss.

      My next driving memory is that my father could tell me exactly when to blow out the red signal light so it would turn green. You probably don’t need those instructions! Dad was always thinking ahead; planning every driving maneuver. That is how I became hooked on driving strategy. Or as I like to call it, driving finesse!

      In full disclosure I was fearful of one thing; my father’s passing gusto. If he wanted to pass you he would pass you. Believe me when I say there were not enough brake peddles in the car for the rest of the family. My heart would nearly burst through my skin; my palms would become clammy as they clenched the seat to prepare for the worse even as I leaned forward for a better look. The worse never came unless you take into account premature gray hair. Passing nine cars in a single stretch with on-coming traffic in sight was not my idea of the shortest distance between two points. But, oh, it was so exciting!

      My sweaty palms have been replaced with adrenalin that can keep a bear from hibernating. The only difference is that now I am the one creating the gray hairs. The family wasn’t surprised when I insisted they delay our weekend trip departure until afternoon so I could get my driver’s license first thing on my 16th birthday. They knew I would have hidden the distributor cap if they didn’t take me to the License Bureau that day. There would be no delay in getting my license. It wasn’t long before I began taking road trips on my own. Right before I’d pull out of the driveway, Dad would send me off saying, “Go play in the traffic!” I appreciate the passion my father instilled in me to strive to be the best driver I can be: to drive with finesse!

      ~

      To drive with finesse you must take responsibility for your choices. Be smooth and purposeful. To drive with finesse you must think ahead of every situation. Anticipate and calculate what might happen. Think about what you are doing, what you want to do and what you believe drivers around you will do.

      Then make things happen! Don’t let situations happen to you. Be proactive!

      ~

      This book is beyond driver’s education. This book is about developing your finesse to help you become an even safer, superior driver.

      Everyone goes through life. Only a few go through it with finesse. You can be one of the few. Now, Go Play in the Traffic!

      No license yet?