NCR's Speed Demons

Villela has always been into speed. (He says that his other car, a "heavily modified" Mustang, can dust his Lamborghini.) Which is why he enjoys life with Peter Heffring and his crew in Raleigh. A year or so ago, when Villela was named employee of the quarter, his reward was a course at the Viper Racing School. (Winners who prefer a slower pace are rewarded with a three-day cruise.) Burning rubber on the school's highly technical, two-and-a-half-mile racetrack for several days taught Villela a lot about what it takes to handle high speeds -- on or off the road.

"You always want to be moving at the edge of your abilities without losing control," says Villela, who unnerved his instructors by showing up at the track with a T-shirt that read, "I do whatever the voices in my head tell me to do." But, he adds, "the key in racing is either to be accelerating or braking -- never just coasting along. It's when you're coasting that you have the least amount of control."

Villela learned another critical lesson in racing school after running a series of time trials in which his main competitor was himself: "Consistency of speed is a lot more important than how fast you can floor it on the straightaways. Once you improve the technical aspects of speed -- downshifting, picking the right line into the corners, braking -- eventually you'll be able to go faster. Speed only comes after you know what you're doing."