Throttle Stop Racing

 I can remember the first time that I went back to drag racing.  The year was 1997; I had been away from racing since 1973 (although I had done some bracket racing in the late 80’s and early 90’s.)  This was my first time to see the super classes.  I couldn’t believe how these cars would hesitate off of the starting line.  There had to be something wrong!  Then came the super comp class and this one car, the Delaware Destroyer, which appeared to break down as it went a few feet, then come to a stop for at least two seconds, and then seemed to restart and win his race.  Unbelievable! That was my first lesson on throttle stop racing. 

Over the years that have followed, I have been instructed in how throttle stops work.  I will have to admit that I still don’t understand it all.  Like most of the drivers that I have heard in the pits after losing blaming it on the throttle stop and how much delay they had put into it.  But I do understand why they are needed to equal out the playing field (although sometimes I would still like to see some of these cars go all out.)  I still do enjoy the ones in each class that seem to come to a complete stop and then put up the big mile per hour for their class, like Ernie Kendall with his MXI dragster who has a 200mph run under his belt. Absolutely fantastic!

You are probably wondering what in the world does this have to do with the chaplain’s article.  Well as I was thinking about throttle stops and how they slow down a car to get it to run as close to the .90 class index as possible, I thought about our lives and how many of us seem to run full throttle all of the time, pedal to the metal.  I was reminded of Psalm 46:10 which says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Also in Mark 4:39, Jesus said to the stormy sea, “Peace be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  Many times in our lives we need a throttle stop to slow us down and get us out of the storms of life, to let God be God and watch Him work in our lives.  If we want to run the race of life, we need to let the Lord have control…not only of the steering wheel, but of setting the throttle stop also.

Dan Laterza