Conversations

     The C.S.O. and I take a long weekend, once each year, in New York State’s Finger Lakes region. Each year before we set out, we look for interesting things to do where we’re going (other than tour all the wineries, of course). This year she came up with a new one. “Fran, did you know that the Watkins Glen racetrack will let you take your car onto the track?”

     I was surprised, of course. “Not for a scheduled event?!”

     “Oh, of course not,” she said. “By appointment, from April through October, as long as nothing else is scheduled. Want to try it?”

     I own a Mercedes S550 – 390 hp – and a C6 Corvette – 430 hp – and I love to drive fast, so it sounded tempting. But I sensed a catch. “What are the conditions?”

     “Well,” she said, “there’s a fee.”

     “Yes, anything else?”

     “Oh, a little one,” she said. “You can’t exceed 55 miles an hour.”

     “!!!!!”

     Yet another illustration of a time-tested maxim: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.