by Ted Heys 
January 14, 2001

I love speed. The danger of speed demands intense levels of concentration and awareness. I operate at higher levels, a faster frequency of observation and response. Racing invokes a feeling of hyperawareness and sensitivity. The verbal mind is unneeded and is an unwanted distraction from a different purpose. The present moment is so riveting that it galvanizes one in its totality of focus. My mind is forced into silence. Words and thoughts become dangerous, possibly fatal distractions. I find it crucial to pay attention only to driving. Internal chatter is effectively eliminated and I operate from a primal, visceral core. Free from my usual thought-clogged consciousness, I feel light and quick. I am exhilarated, able to focus, with razor-sharp intensity on the immediate millisecond. On rare occasions, I feel hollow, like there was some other force in control. All I needed to do is to step aside and allow it to happen through me. 

Electrical impulses from the brain travel through my body, streamlining hand/eye coordination and attuning fast-twitch muscle fibers. At the primal level of experience, my brain doesn't differentiate what is real and what is my human imagination - a powerful force of unlimited potential. My mind's ability to adapt and raise myself up to whatever the present circumstances demand is limitless. These situations and intensity levels force my brain to respond, and my guts must follow. This creates the opportunity for heroic feats. A reason to go beyond my normal state of being and push my capabilities to the fullest. When I race, I am in "The Zone". 

-Ted Heys 

The author can be contcted at tkheys@aol.com

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