Should I feel guilty about this?

[BowserKoopa1]

Yesterday at work, a teenage employee told me I had a nice Mustang. Then he told me he wanted to see me do a wheelie or peel out. I've never done a wheelie before because I'm afraid of losing control of my car. I've only done a peel out once or twice because I really don't like to show off my Mustang that much, and the few times I did try it, the car only took off fast.
When we all left for the night, this conversation took place.... TE=Teenage Employee
TE: Hey, I want to see you peel out or do a wheelie.
ME: I don't exactly know how to.
We walked to his car, a Nissan 350Z with a spoiler on the back, clearly a fast car.
ME: That's a very nice car.
TE: Thanks, you too. Do you really not know how to do those things?
ME: Not really? Can you?
TE: Sure, no problem.
ME: Can you show me? I'd like to see it.
TE: Well yeah, but I don't want to get into trouble.
ME: There was a cop car here last night, but there's not one now. I think you'll be fine. You don't have to do it though. It doesn't matter to me.
I was referring to the previous night.... a police unit, a black Charger, was facing us about 20 feet away when we left, with his engine running and headlights on. But he was not there last night.
After TE was goaded on by another employee, he drove his car into the empty clear area of the parking lot, peeled out, and then did 2 wheelies and left. 2 or 3 other cars did this too.
Ok, I admit I was tempted to show off and I did. So I got in my Mustang, waited til I was clear to go, floored the pedal as hard as I could, and peeled out. As I left the parking lot and got onto the main road, a police car (Charger) was coming from the opposite direction, did an immediate u-turn, and then followed me when I turned left at the light.
At this point I'm thinking, "Great, he's gonna pull me over". I wasn't sure, because he wasn't even in the same shopping center as us, so how could he possibly know who was doing what? He puts his lights on, and I start to pull into another shopping center. He zooms right by me, and I breathe a sigh of relief. End of story, right? Wrong!
I got back on the main road to go home, and watched as the cop pulled over someone else. Sure enough, it was TE, and I immediately felt guilty because I asked him to do it. I prayed and hoped the cop would be nice and just let him off with a warning. Still, I don't understand how the cop knew it was him. He was the first one to leave the parking lot. My guess was he got caught up in all the excitement after showing off and watching everyone else do it too, that he decided to speed. I'm not sure why he got pulled over. Comments?

[Pagan]

How far away from work were you when you saw the cop and your co-worker pulled over? From the way you described it, there wasn't any way for the cop to see what y'all had been doing in the parking lot. But, judging from your convo, genius had probably done something else to get himself popped.

Just remember, no matter how much anyone bugs you, if you don't feel like or don't feel comfortable doing something, don't do it.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Personally, I don't know why you'd want to learn these "skills" in the first place. I see people doing this, and I assure you I am not thinking what they think I am thinking.

Anyways, as for should you feel guilty about the part where your friend got busted, no. Not unless you held a gun to his head and made him do it.

[draftermatt]

What exactly is a "wheelie" in a car?

To me a wheelie is when you pull the front wheel of a bike (or motorcycle) off the ground.

And you have no reason to feel guilty. He knew he was doing something illegal, chose to do it and got caught.

[Geek King]

From the description, I'd guess TE got grabbed for something other than what happened in the lot. Probably wasn't watching his speed after working up the adrenaline.

Personally, I don't know why you'd want to learn these "skills" in the first place. I see people doing this, and I assure you I am not thinking what they think I am thinking.

Now, I don't agree with doing these sort of things just to show off, but there is always a place for knowing how to control your vehicle. Controled skids can ready you for loss of control in wet/slick conditions, and burn outs give you an idea of how quickly you can get underway without burning the tires. I've had enough interesting experiences on winter roads that I'm glad I went down to a parking lot when younger and ran slick skids in a safe location.

[BowserKoopa1]

I guess I meant to say skidding. I think that's the right word for it.
Anyway, I was not trying to learn these skills, I just wanted to see him do it. He chose to show me, and a few others decided to do it too.
When I bought my Mustang, I really did not buy it for speed, although I do not like driving the speed limit all the time and hate slow drivers in front on me in 1-lane roads. I bought it because I like its body style. Ok, I won't lie.... I'm not the type to accept a challenge to race, but I do like to go fast if its safe to do so, like on the highway and when weather conditions make it ok to do so. I try to play it safe mostly, mainly because I know the cops love to pull over Mustangs and other sports cars.
Most of the time I abide by the rules and do not drive recklessly.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, that's good at least. I didn't get from the tone of your post that you were one of "those guy".

I live in the south, and we have a lot of rednecks driving in the way you describe to "show off" and get attention. Most of the rest of us just see them and roll our eyes and go "jackass redneck knuckle-dragger." Bad association down here with that sort of thing.

[Jetfire]

Personally, I don't know why you'd want to learn these "skills" in the first place. I see people doing this, and I assure you I am not thinking what they think I am thinking.

Anyways, as for should you feel guilty about the part where your friend got busted, no. Not unless you held a gun to his head and made him do it.

The idea is to learn how to handle your car in extreme circumstances, skids, icy roads, etc...

At least that's what they said on Canada's Worst Driver. (Clip only available to Canadians I think): http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/can...-confidential/

[Andara Bledin]

I live in the south, and we have a lot of rednecks driving in the way you describe to "show off" and get attention. Most of the rest of us just see them and roll our eyes and go "jackass redneck compensating knuckle-dragger." Bad association down here with that sort of thing.

There, fixed that for you.

We get a lot of those types, too, and I suspect they're everywhere that you have a combination of testosterone (women have testosterone, too, so shush ) and horsepower.

^-.-^

[Fox One]

What exactly is a "wheelie" in a car?

To me a wheelie is when you pull the front wheel of a bike (or motorcycle) off the ground.

Same thing, except with twice as many wheels. Takes an incredibly torque-heavy engine to do it, though.

[bainsidhe]

Sounds like the guy made his bed and now he can lay in it.