"I always wanted a motorcycle," he said, "but we started having the kids and my wife was like, 'Nuh uh.' This was the next closest thing to a motorcycle, so I went ahead and picked that up, and I like it."


But, I asked, how did you even find out about this kind of thing?

"There's a guy in Ashburn who has a yellow one," he said, "and it looked real cool. Then I saw some videos on YouTube where a Porsche couldn't hang with it -- because it gets off so fast, it's really light -- so I was just like, 'Let me try that out,' and before I knew it I had one."

(I haven't found the T-Rex vs. Porsche YouTube yet, but here's one where it holds its own against a Lamborghini in a straight-ahead drag race. Because THAT'S practical.)

"It's street legal," Randle El continued, "so you can drive on any road in America, but the only way you can get it up to 140 is to take it out on a track, obviously. I haven't done that yet. I want to be really know it, get more comfortable in, be able to respect it a little bit before I can put it on the track."

And, as if to further distance himself from his somewhat dowdy Uncle Elroy image, Randle El had the thing completely customized.

"Changed the wheels," he said, counting the upgrades on his fingers, "changed the dashboard, got a pod in so I can listen to my iPod, got a TV screen so I can see what's goin' on behind me. And I got some lights, so at nighttime I'm lit up and everybody can see me. I've got a cousin who works on vehicles, he's got a shop -- Concept Motor Sports -- out in Chicago, and he does a good job."

Oh, and there's a bible verse across the miniature front windscreen: Colossians 3:23, which reads "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men." I've never had occasion to put a bible verse on any of my vehicles, and wondered out loud how one goes about selecting such a thing.

"Well, that verse right there is not just for my car," Randle El explained, back on more familiar rhetorical ground. "That's what I live by, and what I feel like everybody should live by. Because man will always disappoint you. You can never really satisfy man. But if everything you work at, you're doin' for God, then man will take of itself. That's the way I look at it."

His teammates, meanwhile, were looking at the T-Rex, so I asked if he'd gotten any feedback from the guys. "Everybody loves it," he said. "Everybody wants one."

Todd Collins looked mildly perplexed by the unusual vehicle, and I asked if he'd ever considered driving anything like that. Collins shrugged and shook his head. "I've never even SEEN anything like that before," he said.