"Hoot, mon," said Worm, "I mind the time he climbed the Matterhorn in the avalanche season wi' the same one foot. It comes to me that yon Randy wouldna enjoyed himself half as much if he had both his feet. He's a mon that likes a challenge."
6
Woody, Mary Jane, and Steve were out at the track early the following morning after a hurried breakfast. Worm and Randy went out in the Black Tiger together, and Woody took Worm's Dodge. They would not see each other until the day's racing was over because Woody and Randy would be in the pit area while they would have to stay behind the low fence of wood slats, called a snow fence, which separated the track from the spectators.
Woody bought a program and found a map of the track on it.
"Boy," he said, "take a gander at that."
The track looked in shape like a wire loop that had been badly mangled. From the starting line, there was about four hundred yards of straightaway. Then a right-angle left turn, followed after two hundred yards by a hairpin bend to the right. There were a series of S-turns, another right angle, and another hairpin, though not as acute as the first. Then a straightaway of about three-quarters of a mile, followed by two more right-angle turns, and so back to the starting position to complete the first lap.
All the turns were numbered on the map and there were ten in all. The track was just under three miles.
"We ought to try to get over to that first hairpin," said Steve. "That's where we'll see the fun. Say," he said turning to a man standing nearby, "how do you get to turn number two?"
"Butcher Bend?" said the stranger laconically. "Right over by that clump of eucalyptus. You'd better hurry, though, if you want to get a good place."