The Fast and the Curious

How a pit-crew stint taught me to find a car radiator and impress my son

Illustration by Tomasz Walenta for TIME; Helmet: Corbis

My 3-year-old son Laszlo loves four things: me, my wife, arguing with me and my wife, and cars. While I am an expert on the first three things, I know nothing about cars. So when Laszlo was 1, to keep up with him, I asked to work on the pit crew of the team that PatrĂ³n Tequila sponsors at the American Le Mans GT race in Long Beach, Calif., the sport's biggest race of the year. I figured it would hold me until Laszlo could read the correct answers to his mechanical questions and realize that his dad is so unmasculine...

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