AUTOMATIC MISTAKE

A boy from Oakland, California, was given a brand-new, automatic transmission car for his eighteenth birthday. Eager to show off the car to his friends, he thanked his parents and drove off. He found his friends in a deserted parking lot and one of them challenged him to a race. Seeing it as an opportunity to test his new car, the boy agreed. The two boys lined their cars up, revved their motors and waited for another boy to signal start. As the flag dropped the challenger pulled away fast and, try as he could, the boy could not keep up with him. Desperate to win, the boy spotted R on the choice of gears and, in a moment of stupidity, thought it stood for race. The accelerating car suddenly spun out of control, and crashed into a post. For anyone else who doesn't already know, the R on an automatic stands for reverse.

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