DRIVING : In Hot Pursuit of Racing Title

Tom Souza is a cop, a buckled-up, safety-first kind of officer who coordinates the designated driver program of the LAPD’s San Fernando Valley Traffic Division.

Saturday, he will lay rubber through downtown Palm Springs, skid around corners, blow a few dozen stop signs and wreck city speed limits.

His motto: Protect and Swerve.

Such is the contrasting and happy lot of Souza, a racing policeman who has entered his 1957 Chevrolet Corvette in the Palm Springs Road Races for vintage cars.

Souza’s is a low-budget entry that used to be his street car. He saw a vintage-car race three years ago, got hooked and converted his convertible into a 350-horsepower road racer.

Souza’s car is black and white. There is a city decal--look-alikes obtained from a movie studio--on each side. And his racing number is 911.

Souza says he has yet to finish in the money. Last year at Palm Springs he spun the Corvette into a wall and did $2,000 damage to the rear end.

“In 27 years as a police officer I’ve done some pretty exciting things . . .” he says.

“I’ve never been so scared as when racing a car. The basis of good law enforcement teaches you to stay away from the edge. Racing cars, the idea is to get as close to the edge as possible without going over.”