MIS - Mexican International Speedway

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MIS
(Mexican International Speedway)

There are only slight differences in driving techniques employed by the average Mexican driver and those on the professional auto racing circuit. The similarities far outweigh those differences. Everyone is driving as fast as possible in an attempt to gain the pole position. It is only a relative pole position, because there is still always someone in front of you, but you get internal points for every car you pass.
At least in NASCAR, there are officials who wave caution flags when there is danger on the track. The only flags waved on a Mexican highway are the ones used to flag down buses that then swerve through as many lanes as it takes to pick up the passenger waving them down. The bus driver will nonchalantly force a family of 5 into a ditch to collect a 10 peso fare. A further purpose is served, in that the uninjured in the party of 5 will now need to take a bus to their destination. The injured, of course, are now the responsibility of the state.
I like driving in Mexico. Skill is much more a factor and adrenaline pumps through me as I swoop down the turn into the straightaway. Vigilance is required to keep from being run off the road.
The people here, I was told, lived a more relaxed existence than their northern neighbors. There is no hurry or hectic pace in the population. They moved a little slower, came in to work a little later, took longer lunches and enjoyed themselves in a jovial, gregarious style. Until they get into a car that is.
One of the cornerstone laws in physics, known as the law of conservation of energy, is that energy can never be destroyed or created, it can only be transformed. I believe that the life force within us is endowed with a similar property. If we live our lives in a subdued manner, never utilizing the full force of energy that resides in us, the excess energy is not lost, it is just transformed. It is one of the reasons people go to war or create magnificent works of art. In the case of the Mexican driver, all the pent up energy left over from their lifestyle is channeled into their driving style. What did they do before there were cars? I refer back to going to war or creating art.
Sitting at the end of the entrance ramp, waiting for an opening on the highway, a car comes swiftly up behind me. It can be difficult to find an opening onto the highway during rush hour, so sometimes you get on the entrance ramp and have to wait for an opening. The driver behind me is impatient. Their philosophy here is not to wait for an opening but to make one. I agree with the philosophy, and I know that the driver behind me will not wait for me to go. He will simply pull out around me like a total maniac and plunge into traffic, making the cars around him avoid a collision. I am waiting for that. As soon as he pulls into the traffic lane I bolt in front of him. He is my blocker. Like any good running back making for the goal line, I look for the blocks. The difference here is that the block is behind me. Waving my appreciation at the blocker car behind me I speed off toward work. Nobody waves here. Nobody acknowledges an act of kindness on the road. If I let someone in to traffic, two more cars will try to plow their way in at the same time. I do not think they are being discourteous. They are simply carving out their niche as best they can in a hostile environment. The law of the jungle rules behavior on the road.
Does my move in front of the maniac driver make me a maniac by proxy, a kind of menace apprentice? In Michigan yes, in Mexico I don’t think so. It is just an attitude of the latitude.

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