THE CONTEST
No one enjoys a better laugh than me, so this month we only have TWO magazine issues due, and I have some spare time to tap the minds of our future writers. I'm proposing a four-week long, moto-related fictional writing contest. Each participant will construct a 500-word fictional essay that must include specific parameters that I conjure up for that week. Each week will contain more elements to include than the last.

THE RULES
- Each essay has a 500-word limit. I've never read War & Peace for a reason. Anything over 500 words will be deleted. (500 words is roughly the length of two DVD reviews in the mag.)

- Each essay must use all elements provided.

- Each essay must be sent to contest@racerxill.com with "Essay" in the subject line. This way I can I can separate your craftiness from my spam.

- Keep it clean people, this is a family website. No schoolyard language.

- One entry per person, per week. Don't hog my e-mail inbox. Yes, you can enter each of the four weeks.

- Bonus points for decent punctuation and grammar (but don't let a missing comma stop the creative flow). I'm not an editor, so I won't edit your work. You may want to read it twice before you hit "send."

- I will pick my favorite five entries each week, then post them to the website you, the reader, to vote. The essay with the most votes, gets my moolah, and a mention in that Friday's Racerhead.

- Elements will be posted in Racerhead on Friday (so you have the weekend to work on this). Entries will be accepted until Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. EST. My favorite five will be posted on Wednesday, and ready for voting. Voting will stop at Noon EST on Friday. Winner will be posted to Racerhead, and the elements for the following week will be posted.

THE PAYOFF
In return for all of your hard work, I am offering $25 of my hard-earned karaoke money to each weekly winner. At the end of the four weeks, we re-wrangle the four previous winners for a write-off; a 1000-word masterpiece that has 25 mandatory elements. The grand prize winner will win a prize pack full of stuff I don't have yet. Don't worry, it won't be tickets to Vegas or a date with a Racer X model.

THE START
Let's start this week's potential Pulitzer with these items that are close to my heart, and each of the following words must be used in your 500-word essay: DeCoster, bacon, silly string, clutch perch, and Texas. Have fun!