Hands Off the Wheel

This afternoon, as I neaten and eat and type and such, I have running in the background the Indianapolis 500, largely due to the participation of Danica Patrick, 5' rookie, raven-haired beauty,* and flavor of the month who, as a 23-year-old rookie, today became the first woman to lead a lap the storied race.

Anyway, at about the mid-point the network was showing an in-car view of a racer sliding ass first into the wall. The announcer pointed out that just before impact the driver let go of the wheel. The observation was made that at 200 miles per hour, to leave one's hands on the wheel as one hits the wall is to all but ensure broken wrists.

There's a potent metaphor in there somewhere.

* Beauty is not a relative thing, in this case, as these photos attest.