That Life Changing Day

• Thomas Mcculloch, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2012

All my life I’ve dreamed of this, to drive a F1. Nothing could describe the feeling I have today. Hi I’m Jericho or Jerry, and here’s a story, that changed my life.
It was my first F1 race. I was excited beyond belief. I thought it would be a clean race, because I was starting 2nd last, but I was wrong.
There I was, sitting in my car about to start. I was excited but nervous at the same time. My whole life has led up to this moment. There it went, the light went green, all the cars took off and so did I. I was right behind my mate, Tanner; he was also a rookie driver. Luckily, the first corner was clean.
3 laps in I made up a spot, I passed Tanner. It was a good feeling. I could see my next pass in front of me. I was catching him; I was easily faster than him.
I was inching closer to him and I knew I could pass him. Finally, I was right behind him. I got in his slip stream, and I tried to make a pass, then the unthinkable happened. He pulled out in front of me to block me. His front right tyre clipped my left front tyre. He span and hit another car in front of him, he almost flipped, but that wasn’t all.
We had to slow down because of the safety car. A few laps later we started racing again. I was going really well. I got the 3rd best lap time, even though I was 3rd last. I was powering through the field. One pass after another, before I knew it I was in the top ten. I was coming up to Lewis Hamilton. I couldn’t believe it. I also could see a whole other pack. This was my time to shine; I knew I could do it.
I was about to pass him, but of course he blocked me, at the worst possible time, right when I was beside him. He got mounted on my, we just went straight, right into the other pack. Before I knew it, all hell broke loose.
I was spinning, rolling, and hitting other cars. Then the unthinkable happened. An explosion, an explosion of fire. I could see Hamilton jump out of his car; I was trying to do the same, but I couldn’t. All I could see was fire. I was frantically trying to get out. Then finally I did. I jumped out; fire everywhere, even on me. I felt a cool swish of foamy water. A man with an extinguisher put all the fire out that was on me. I was in excruciating pain. Then I blacked out and I woke up in Hospital. I found out that I burned 25% of my body.
Since that crash, my life has changed. I’m also lucky that I’m still driving. This is my passion, never give up even if things come crashing down.