Ups & Downs
Ups & Downs
DOWN: To lightning, for almost striking twice. When roadracer Stewart Goddard crashed during the Aprilia Cup series round at Pocono Raceway this past summer, he very nearly became a quadriplegic. Thing is, he’s already a paraplegic, who nonetheless manages to race competitively with the aid of an electric shifter and a thumb brake. Goddard is now undergoing rehabilitation at his home in Southern California. A website (www.stewartgoddard.com) has been established to assist him in paying for his medical bills.
UP: To Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, for his good taste. Uh, in motorcycles, that is. The discriminating doctor recently returned to bookstores in Hannibal, Thomas Harris’ sequel to Silence of the Lambs. The follow-up finds Lecter in Italy, where he, after first disembowelling a pursuer, hitches a ride on a Ducati. Reads the text, “The big Ducati engine echoed off the stone walls lining the road with a sound like ripping canvas, pleasing to Dr. Lecter as he leaned into the curves...” Anyone for fava beans and a nice chianti?
UP: To California Governor Gray Davis, for putting pen to paper. Davis recently signed a bill that repeals the “sunset” clause from the state’s rider-education course. The program would have ended January 1,2003. Now, $250,000 per year (from the $149 million state penalty fund) can be spent offsetting the current shortfall and improving curriculum.
