“That robot steering gadget,” the reporter taunted. “If your anticrash device is really foolproof, why not drive the car yourself?”
Tom eyed the reporter coolly. “Very well. I will drive it myself.”
An apprehensive murmur arose from the spectators. As Tom gave orders for the robot steering device to be removed, Bud clutched his arm.
“You sure you know what you’re doing, Tom?” he whispered. “There’s bound to be some risk. That guy’s just sore because he missed out when they drew lots!”
Tom murmured something to his copilot, who nodded and hurried off. Then the young scientist
TOM TAKES A DARE 77
donned a crash helmet, climbed into the Silent Streak, and strapped himself into the driver’s seat with a safety belt. As he pressed a button to close the canopy, Tom grinned and held up crossed fingers to the spectators.
At a prearranged signal, the truck was started by remote control half a mile up the track. At the same moment, Tom gunned the atomicar.
The two vehicles sped toward each other along the narrow track. The onlookers gasped in horrified suspense as the car and truck accelerated to blinding speed. A woman reporter shrieked and fainted.
Within inches of a crash, the two vehicles slammed to a halt and rebounded safely from each other! There was a moment of awed silence. Then the spectators burst into thunderous cheers. “Tom!” Sandy cried out, when her brother was able to break away from the applauding newsmen who had swarmed out on the track to congratulate him. “Did you have to scare us like that?” she demanded.