B.R.A.K.E.S. teen driving school's western debut a smash hit

All four classes of the teen driving school B.R.A.K.E.S. were packed last weekend as 160 teens age 16 to 18 from all over Southern California took part in the school's West Coast debut.

"It's a lot more intense than I expected," said 18-year-old Dylan Wright, who spent part of the morning flinging a Dodge Avenger sideways on a wetted-down skidpad.

"The best thing is, like, you've never done any of this stuff, ever," said another driving student whose name badge read Chris.

"I like when they encourage you to go faster," said a third, whose name tag read Donald and who had two accidents on his driving record before attending the class.

The school--which was founded in Charlotte, N.C., but plans to expand across the country--teaches abbreviated versions of techniques you might find in a typical racing school but with an aim toward teenage pilotes, with some good lessons in driver distraction thrown in.

The instructors are all professionals. On our weekend, we saw former Trans-Am great Stu Hayner teaching panic braking while 30-year instructor for the Russell School Mark Wolocatiuk did slalom. Career instructor Matt Reilly is director of the school. All have mastered the art of patiently and entertainingly imparting knowledge to new drivers.

In addition to the wet skidpad, panic stop, accident-avoidance simulator and slalom, our favorite section of curriculum was the "distraction course." On the latter, students try to negotiate a series of cones while a driving instructor riding shotgun turns up the radio, flips on the wipers, asks irrelevant questions and has the kids dial their parents on a handheld cell phone. Many an orange cone was squashed as a result of those distractions but many lessons were absorbed.

"There are 6,000 teenagers killed each year in car accidents," said Doug Herbert, an NHRA Top Fuel driver who founded the school after his two sons were killed in a crash. "If it was something else, like if smallpox was killing that many teenagers, they'd be spending billions. But nobody's doing anything about it. I decided after my boys got killed I wanted to make a difference."

Parents on hand in Pomona shared the same concerns.

"My daughter's taking her driving test tomorrow," said Chester Chong, an L.A. County Sheriff's commander who did his own driver training at this same location when he went through the academy. "I'm not worried about the test; I'm worried about her safety afterward when she's on the road."

B.R.A.K.E.S. stands for Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe. It's a 501(c)(3) charity, so donations are tax-deductible. Courses are free and last four hours each. The one we attended was held in the big parking lot of the L.A. County Fairplex in Pomona. Fairplex donated the use of the facility. Bruton Smith has pledged the use of his racetracks. The BMW Performance Driving School in Greenville, S.C., has offered the use of its facility. The NHRA supports the school.

Upcoming courses this year are to be held in Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando, Englishtown, N.J., and back in Pomona. For specific dates, check out www.putonthebrakes.org or call (704) 732-8950.

"I think the kids are more likely to listen to me," said Herbert. "I can say, 'Hey I'm telling you this because I care about you guys, because my boys have been through this.' Kids, they don't want their parents to tell them or a principal or a cop to tell them, whereas me, I'm trying to help you. I think it sinks in pretty good. I think we do a pretty good job teaching kids."

By Mark Vaughn