I was pushing my car hard. Okay, too hard. Coming around the last corner at about 55 mph, I missed my mark and swung wide. I felt my car push toward the outside of the bend as the overworked front tires protested loudly. I wondered if Volkswagens were really meant for this type of driving.

Under steering, I tipped in some brake to get the rear end to kick out. Big mistake. The back of my Jetta swung around alarmingly fast and it became apparent that I was not going to make it through this turn without hitting something. My girlfriend let out a shout as the car drifted sideways off path, kicking up rocks and dust. Countersteering, I tried to save it, but I was in way too deep.

Thump! The car came to a rest 90 feet and 180 degrees from where it started, sitting on top of an orange road cone. My girlfriend’s muffled laughter came from under her helmet, mixing with the smell of tire smoke as I crossed the finish line in my undamaged car.

“Vroom crosses the line in 58.43 with a beautiful spin, but off course,” the announcer said with sadistic pleasure. My time didn’t count due to my off course excursion, but I was getting faster. I took off my helmet, pulled my car back into cue and popped the hood to help the overworked engine beneath cool down.

Welcome to Autocrossing with the Sports Car Club of America’s Central Illinois Region. Autocross is a timed race that pits drivers against the clock in a safe, inexpensive environment. Courses are created with orange road cones on closed airports and parking lots all over the region.

Events are held on Saturdays and Sundays about once a month. Entry fees range between $15 and $20 a driver, including safety equipment. Depending on the number of participants on a given day, each driver gets between four and six runs in one of two heats.

Just about anything that passes the mandatory safety inspection can be raced, and is (sorry, Billy-Bob, no trucks). People run everything from Porsches to Fords, Ferraris to Subarus, hopped-up Hondas to classic muscle cars, Mustangs to rust buckets and some Mustangs that are rust buckets.

To keep things competitive, cars are broken up into categories and respective times are indexed or handicapped within their group. This means that two equally skilled drivers -one in a Ferrari, the other in a Kia – can go head to head. Even without indexing, a little creative driving can make up for a lot of horsepower. I was able to turn a faster time in my Jetta (slow) than a WRX-STi (fast) and a Corvette Z06 (faster). I was also trumped by half a dozen Civics and one Sentra that was probably older than I am.

At the end of the day, trophies in the form of T-shirts are generously awarded to winners in each of the dozen or so categories. After the official scoring event, unofficial “fun runs” are held on the course. “Fun runs” allow drivers to switch cars, carry passengers or do things they wouldn’t want to try during competition. Maybe next time I’ll even be able keep my car on course.

Hey, we all have dreams.