spitz, the chief engineer at one of our u.s. test facilities. >> don, tell us about what we're looking at. >> reviewing a jump we did recently at our windless facility. least amount of wind turbulence. >> live clip schematic. check. >> so we're designing a vehicle that will be as comfortable in the air as it is on the ground. what we're looking at is 4,000 tons of steel. the car itself is a one of a kind custom built vehicle designed to fly but a sudden gust of wind could prove fatal. by the time he hits the jump he must be at 109 miles an hour and accelerating. take your foot off the gas and the car will pitch forward and spear grill first into the ramp. and that is exactly what you are about to see. here we go. although the driver was okay, the facility uses these films to analyze what went wrong. he leaves the top well hitting 64 miles per hour at the base. about 120 feet from the launch ramp his speed is actually too high. a yellow driver slows but his speed drops too far. he tries to compensate but at this point it's too late. he's traveling too fast. the truck begins to overretate, the vehicle's momentum forces the rear end up. now like a missile, it heads for the ramp. without modified suspension, the yellow driver would have rolled and the consequences would have been catastrophic. risk, however, is nothing new. >> from horizontal flight to vertical wall tracks, at the hot wheels test facility in brazil they're preparing a cliff descent from 10,000 feet. >> i'm going to hand it off to anna. she is our chief eco base engineer and red team leader. anna. >> i think the best way to explain what we're doing here is to show you some footage of the area. >> anna, is that the eco base we can see there. >> yes, we've created a temporary base that has the smallest environmental footprint of any of our facilities. >> who is behind the wheel. >> here in brazil we use members of the red team. these are drivers who are selected based on their assignment to high risk scenarios. >>s test vehicle is an original hot wheels design called the bone shaker. it has an impressive 546 horsepower at the wheels, over 500 foot pounds of torque and runs entirely off brazilian ethanol. >> our current problem is how to quickly move a vehicle from a high altitude to a low one. our solution has been to develop and deploy a super lightweight carbon composite hanging roadway that can be custom designed for any location from simple gps data. excuse me, jay. it's time for me to go. we're about to start. >> yep. bone shaker. >> the cliff descent was a success. in addition, the facility was also able to test the trap door, thereby increasing the speed from above to below. coming up, for the first time ever, the attempt to drive an indycar upside down. and later live at indy, the test facility goes for a world record. in indycar racing... it's all about speed. and the action happens in the blink of an eye. so you need something that helps you keep up, like indycar mobile from verizon. it let you keep pace with in-race audio, up-to-the-second leaderboards, highlights, and even driver tweets. download it now ! before the season passes you by ! from this deaccident and a near catastrophe we're about to push the limits again, the first ever experiment in driving upside down. the hot wheels test facilities have always been leader in the development of technology. at the uk facility lead engineer rupert collins is testing a new hot wheels indycar. 800 horsepower. a 0.24 drag coefficient and keep it pressed to the track. they're about to test this and see if it can drive upside down. >> we have the uk facility standing by. >> uk facility live link online. >> well said, jay. the theory has been if you drove a car fast enough, you could drive it upside down. you see the same force that lifts an airplane upwards is reversed here. spoilers press the car against the road even if in theory it happens to be updied down. we're testing it by running our hot wheels indycar out at this hanger flipping it upside down for 4.3 seconds at 306 miles per hour and flipping it back before reaching the other hanger. >> how do you control this speed. >> electromagnetic acceleration to get us going and braking to slow us down. >> imagine hitting those at 300 miles an hour. >> g-load is extremely heavy. look here. heart, brain, lungs, rib cage, all under enormous pressure. we've developed in collaboration with izod a bio metric suit without which the driver's insides would fill with blood and his brain would turn to mush. okay, jay, i'm going to sign off. we're just moments away. >> bio metrics, on. >> check. >> telemetry, good. >> all systems go. check. >> driver is secured. >> check. >> magnets, up. >> commence countdown. >> three, two, one. >> biometrics, up. looking good. speed is 302. force, 360 pounds. inversion, successful. >> unconscious. got him. >> emergency personnel to catch magnet. repeat, emergency personnel to catch magnet. prepare for him. >> cut the magnets, up. >> blood pressure. >> vital signs stabilizing. >> okay now the blood is returning to his brain. he should regain consciousness. >> still no sign of movement in the cockpit. he's okay. blue driver is okay. driver is secured. congratulations, blue driver, i'm not sure how much you remember, but you just made history. >> that's not surprising blue driver passed out from g-forces. upon review he was traveling 306 miles per hour and experienced 12 gs during the inversion. overall an amazingly successful test to prove that an indycar can drive upside down. >> coming up, live at indianapolis, team hot wheels and the hot wheels test facility go for the world record. from a death defying 10,000 foot descent to the first ever experiment in driving upside down, and now a world record attempt in front of a live audienc audience, and to break the record the driver has to jump over 301 feet. to put that in perspective it's like dropping off a 10-story building and launching the length of a football field through both sets of goal posts. we will be using the same vehicle but as we've seen a lot can go wrong. for a start the weather conditions have to be perfect. it will all come down to the same yellow driver once again. >> jay, what's changed since the jump that went wrong. >> we spent a lot of time in the wind tunnel getting the aerodynamics just right and created flight cavities in the body to direct the airflow. another big consideration we had was the vehicle's blind spots, when the driver gets on top of that platform he can no longer see anything below him so we've laser cut visibilities panels in the hood for takeoff and landing. >> the door is 100 feet tall. what is the driver thinking when he's up there. >> he's got a lot of time to think. it takes about ten minutes to winch that car up the ramp back backwards. once the driver is on ton of the platform he can no longer see the track. he has to roll into ramp blind. he knows he has to be at 66 miles per hour at the bottom of the ramp and 109 miles per hour when he takes off. now, once he's in the air he can control the trajectory of the car using his brakes and accelerate but as we've seen in testing a lot can go wrong. >> unbelievable and we're getting close to jump time now and tension right here is mounting and insane. >> definitely. let's go check it out. >> here we go at five, four, three, two, one. >> yeah! driver, you just crushed the world record. way to go. celebrate, buddy. celebrate. yay! >> yellow driver, on top of the landing, of course, we're waiting to find out if we have a record. jesse olson coming up to talk to yellow driver and we'll find out what jesse, big smile on your face. >> absolutely, man, we just crushed the world record, 332 feet. i can't believe it. great job. >> 332 feet indianapolis how about a round of applause for yellow driver. >> thank you on behalf of the hot wheels test facility for being a part ofñ the identity of the yellow driver will be revealed on the hot wheels facebook page and it is a big name in motorsports along with an interview and behind the scenes footage. check it out. that's it from the indy 500. we'll see you next time. 00000000 this week, the race is on. >> i'm tim pawlenty and i'm running for president of the united states. >> lots of candidates, but no clear front-runner. i asked former minnesota governor tim pawlenty how he'll break out of the pack. >> if somebody elbows me, they'll probably get an elbow back. >> and mitch daniels says he has other priorities. how difficult was it for you to say that you loved your family more than your country? >> and as the republican field grows our roundtable sizes up the contenders. then facing the future, the class of 2011 is ready to work but where are the jobs? graduates ask top ceos how they can get an edge in this troubled economy. welcome to the program and lots in store for you. but first some late news since your morning papers. president obama heads to joplin, missouri, today to tour the site of that deadly tornado. the president will meet with local residents and speak at a memorial service for the victims. 139 people were killed in the twister that struck a week ago today. in afghanistan, officials say a nato air strike targeting insurgents instead killed 14 civilians, all women and children. afghan leaders say the bombing was in retaliation for an attack on an american base attack saturday and a nato delegation is heading to the scene to investigate. >> and sarah palin's campaign style one nation bus tour kicks off today right here in washington, d.c. and it's touching off a fresh round of presidential speculation, but will she really run? here's abc's david kerley. >> good morning, christiane. it is a bit of a political mystery and this bus tour, as well. here's what we know. sarah palin says she will start this tour on the northeast here in washington today. here's what we don't know, where is the bus? is she speaking? where does she go next? is this all a publicity stunt or is this really a launch of a presidential campaign? the plan according to her political action committee is to visit historical sites, and we're hearing gettysburg, the liberty bell and she'll also go to an early primary state in new hampshire. this is un friendfriendly territory so she may be testing the waters and she kind of announced this with a slick video showing the bus being dressed up in a grizzly bear at the beginning. not sure ifs of it was a momma grizzly or not. aides promised a schedule for today, this weekend, and we haven't seen anything yet. so is this palin in perfect surprise mode for the media or a seat of the pants plan. we don't really know. she's really not played by establishment rules and has had some success. she is asking for donations, christiane, on this bus tour which apparently starts somewhere in washington sometime today. >> david, thanks so much. and so why is sarah palin keeping us guessing? others are getting serious. former massachusetts governor mitt romney officially launches his campaign on thursday in new hampshire. former pennsylvania senator rick santorum does the same on june 6th in his home state. and congresswoman michele bachmann tells supporters that she'll make "an all-important announcement" next month in her birthplace of waterloo, iowa. one candidate took the plunge this week. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty made it official in des moines on monday. his announcement tour then wound through florida and ended up in new york where i caught up with him. what seriously do you need to do to raise your profile or will the system just take care of it by force of running? >> well, even now only about 50% of the republicans nationally even know my name. so we have to get the name i.d. out and then convert that, of course, to support. but if you're a serious candidate for president, that will happen naturally over time, but i like the fact that most of the other candidates are really well known and yet they don't really have a strong front running position and that gives us time and space to be able to advance our campaign. >> so, ladies and gentlemen, my husband, governor tim pawlenty. [ applause ] >> well, let's get right to the heart of the matter. medicare, you have said that if the paul ryan plan came across your desk as president, you would sign it. >> well, let me start by saying my campaign is based around the notion it's time for the truth and it's time for leaders to step forward and tell america and the american people the truth. as to medicare, everybody knows it's sinking, it's going broke. the current program, christiane, only has about 50% of it paid for by either premiums or payroll taxes and the rest is deficit spending and debit spending or debt spending so we have to fix it, and president obama has an obligation as the leader of this nation to step forward and solve the problem and he's basically ducking it and then pointing fingers at everybody else. now, as to paul ryan's plan, i'll have my own plan. it'll have some differences, for example, he didn't address social security. i did and we already will. as to medicare it will have differences but if the only choice is we're doing nothing like president obama is doing and paul ryan's plan, i'd sign it. >> so what would you do? what would you do, for instance, you mentioned social security. would you raise the retirement age? >> for the people who are currently in the program, no changes. for people coming up on eligibility, no changes but for the next generation, the people who are entering the workforce, we need to gradually raise the retirement age over time. >> let's get back to medicare. what would you do differently than what paul ryan has done and what's wrong with this plan that's freaking people out apparently? >> well, the current system can't continue. but our plan is going to have some of these features, one, we're not going to pay medicare providers under my plan just for volumes of services provided. we're going to pay for better results and better health care outcome and we're going to put hospitals and clinics and providers on a performance pay system not just a volume pay system and we'll give people lots of choices. if they want to stay in the current medicare program or whatever comes next in that program, great. that's their choice, but we'll offer them a series of other choices so they can pick what's best for them and their families and then they'll have the opportunity to be in the driver's seat and we'll also have incentives, financial incentives to make wise choices as it relates to cost and quality of health care. >> do you think in the things that we're facing right now, whether it's medicare, whether it's the deficit, whether it's the debt, can any of these things be tackled by one party or another or does it demand and require both party action? >> we hope for everybody to come together and be a team and move forward in the right direction for the country but as you know, there are some sharp differences about what the correct solution is here. so i think any dufus can go to washington, d.c. and maintain the status quo or incrementally change things but for the country, the hour is late, christiane. we have to take significant action soon. this is time for people who are wanting to be leaders in a bold way to come forward and say we really have to change things significantly. >> define dufus. >> that's a minnesota term and dufus would mean somebody who would be relatively low performing. >> all right. let's talk about this huge debate going on in washington, around the country about the debt ceiling. if you were president, would you a ask congress to raise it now? >> i don't think we should raise the debt ceiling and if the congress moves in that direction, the president, they better get something good for it. it better be permanent and it better be structural like a balanced budget amendment and like permanent caps and limits on spending that are specific, not just aspirational. >> are you being political right now or do you really, really mean that one should not raise the debt ceiling given the fact that most economists say that it would make a cascade of catastrophic economic situations. >> well, there are some serious voices challenging that very premise, and the answer is nobody really knows, because we've not been at this point before. >> but many people would say, we would be at that point at our peril and that it is not like an argument over shutting down the government for a few days. this is a major, major earthquake in the economic system. >> again, there are people who've written thoughtfully and these are serious people -- >> do you not believe that then? it's your position that it would not affect the economy of the united states or the credibility or creditworthiness of the united states? >> my position many months ago when i wrote an op-ed for one of the major national newspapers was this, president obama was setting up this false choice between default and raising the debt ceiling and at least for awhile you can take away that false choice by ordering the treasury to pay the obligations to outside creditors first and there is enough cash flow to do that for quite some time. >> do you agree that the military budget has to be really, really tackled very, very severely in terms of cuts. >> i believe strongly that the first responsibility of the united states federal government is to protect this nation and our citizens so i'm not calling for absolute or real cuts in defense. i think the growth can be slowed down. i think efficiencies can be found within defense but i think those moneys should be plowed back into defense to support it. >> small government is a rallying cry of the republican party. what is your vision of the size of government? you've said it has to be more proactive and more aggressive. how does that square with the small government agenda? >> well, just because the government has an area of responsibility doesn't mean it has to be the provider of the service. if government has an ability and an interest in helping people with certain things and they should like education, then give people the money directly. let them decide what's best for their family in a marketplace. we shouldn't have a country where the government says, unless you're rich you're condemned to go to a crappy school and your future hinges on whether some stupid lottery ball comes out so you can go to another one. all kids regardless of background should be able to go to a school of their choice and realize their dream and president obama, of course, one of the first things he does when he comes to washington, d.c. along with the democrat congress who lecture us about how they're for the poor eliminate the scholarship programs in washington, d.c. one of the most pathetic things i've seen in public policy in my life. >> i sense passion and anger there. >> i was the only one in my family able to go to college. my brothers and sisters couldn't go, not because they didn't have the capable, they didn't have the opportunity but we can't afford to have a country of over 300 million people with a third of our people uneducated or undereducated, unskilled, unable to access the economy of today and tomorrow being ticked off becoming wards of the states. that's not going to work and this system has to change and the people who are defending the status quo are -- they got the interests of the adults instead of the interests of our children and the future of our country. and it does make me mad. it does make me mad. and it's hypocrisy. >> you do emphasize your blue collar upbringing, and your wife introduces you as the salt of the earth. do you think that gives you an advantage when you go into a campaign like this? >> if you walk into a place like the vfw in my hometown and the fish fry on friday night like mary and i went to