If you got the need ... the need for speed -- and highway speed limits cramp your style, then race car driving schools will quench your racing thirst. Spread throughout the country, schools that offer classes in the art of burning rubber can teach you how to drive everything from a stock car to an Indy car. So strap on your safety belt and open up your checkbook as we give you a road tour of life in the fast lane.

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Pedal to the Metal
Racing schools cater to both the casual racing fan and future racing superstars. For example, Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon is a graduate of the Buck Baker Racing School in Rockingham, N.C. Typically, students pay anywhere from $450 for a half day of training to $2,500 for two days of advanced instruction at Baker's four schools in Rockingham, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., Darlington, S.C., Bristol, Tenn., and Atlanta. But Gordon, who was 19 years old at the time and didn't have enough money for the basic course tuition, received a waiver because ESPN decided to do a story on him.

The tuition was obviously worth the publicity. The vice president of Outback Steakhouse asked Jeff to drive his [race] car to see how he could do. Jeff knocked two seconds off the car's best time.

The car owner then asked Gordon to drive in the following weekend's Busch race -- NASCAR's minor leagues. Gordon started on the outside of the pole. The rest is racing history.

But you don't have to be a future Gordon, Petty or the late Earnhardt to take a racing class. The beginner classes assume that you have no racing experience -- other than when you're late to work. Most of the students are novice racers, but knowledge of driving a manual transmission (stick shift) is required to drive a stock car.

Racing schools stress safety over all else. The Baker school starts off by walking students through the race track and showing the marks the drivers need to hit in order to safely make it through the corner turns and straightaways. Next, they educate the students by driving a van along the racecourse through the proper paths (lines) and then the driver-wannabes are put in the race car as a passenger as the instructors drive the course.

Once there is a comfort level, students are allowed to drive the course with an instructor and then finally on their own. The speedway's management allows the drivers to increase speed a couple of hundred rpm's at a time as long as the driver hits the road marks. If you can maintain control, you are allowed to go as fast as your heart desires. Plus, there is no driver liability in the event of a crash.

Start your engines!
Indy car racing enthusiasts can get their speed addiction prescription filled at the Bertil Roos Grand Prix Racing School in Pocono, Pa. Offering classes that range in price from $495 for a half day to $2,095 for two days of competition training, you can learn how to be the next Michael Andretti. Incidentally, Andretti trained at the Bertil Roos School when he first started out in racing, according to Dennis Macchio, school racing instructor. Fine tuning the instruction Michael's father, former Indianapolis 500 champion Mario Andretti, gave along the way, of course.

"We teach the ocular approach to racing," says Macchio, who also instructs at the school's road racing course in Nazareth, Pa. "Most of racing is in the eyes."

Macchio's students spend time in the racing classroom before the teachers drive the students along the track and explain the right and the wrong way to approach each corner. The trainers then drive the track at 80 percent speed to illustrate the proper cornering techniques before a pupil is allowed to control the throttle.

"Everybody wants to go into the corner early," Macchio observes. "Most instructors can see things before they are going to happen. We'll get on the radios and say, 'Watch this guy in the corner.' We'll black flag a driver [make them stop in pit lane] when they are turning at the wrong time."

Macchio says that Pocono is a forgiving racetrack and is wide open. If you do go off-course, the grassy areas allow you to stop safely. Beginners have no liability for damage. Competition drivers pay up to $2,500 for on-track accidents. In the 20 years of the school, Macchio recalls only one broken leg.

"Students make mistakes, but these are cars to learn in," he advises. "Learn to drive a slow car fast, then you can drive a fast car fast."