Short Story
The Day the Track Stood Still
- by John C. Bodin and Ron Collins
- in Analog, May 2003
Did I spot a smidgen of time travel in this delightful story of a race where Babs the car is certainly in love with the driver and vice versa, all in the tense context of knowing that if the race is lost, then the car will be forfeited?
I tried not to think about what was at stake. The pressure was bad enough without telling her this was for all the marbles: if we lost this Indy 500, she was gone. Sayonara muchacha. Hasta la bye-bye, and good night, Babs. That’s the way it is when you race the B’arada. They put up a piece of tech, you put up a piece of tech. Winner takes all, Indy 500 style.
