RELATED EVENTS

• SPEED

Reporter Jim Walker, left, races his Lego racer against Cole Younger, 6, of Dunkirk, at the SPEED exhibit at the Indiana State Museum. (Steve Healey for The Star)

Reporter Jim Walker tries his hand at stop-action movie making at the SPEED exhibit at the Indiana State Museum. (Steve Healey for The Star)

Reporter Jim Walker shows off his Lego racer he built at the SPEED exhibit at the Indiana State Museum. (Steve Healey for The Star)

Ready, set, go! Learn at a really fast pace at the State Museum

The first "Speed" was about a city bus wired to explode if it slowed to below 50 mph. The sequel was about a giant cruise ship with the same annoying problem.

The lesser-known "Speed 3" -- set in Indianapolis -- involved a guy with too many DUIs driving a moped that would blow up if it went over 4 mph. That one went straight to video.

Now it's time for "Speed 4," starring me as a reporter who went to see the new exhibit "Speed" at the Indiana State Museum. This is a direct-to-print release.

You are watching it right now!

While my "Speed" may not be as popular as something starring Keanu Reeves -- or even Jason Patric, for that matter -- the place was packed when I paid a recent visit.

The traveling exhibition -- here through Jan. 21 -- offers a hands-on learning experience for people of all ages on the topic of speed.

With 21 different activities, "Speed" uses high-tech interactive media and simple things like building and crashing Lego cars to get its physics-based points across.

The displays -- which also include great info to read -- all feature mathematical formulas that frighten me much more than explosives attached to the pedals of my Puch.

My favorites activities included a station where you can make your own stop-motion animation using characters from the Powerpuff Girls, one where you can figure out your own horsepower as you ride a stationary bike and another that involves shooting pennies with air to see how they bend or break.

I also had fun riding a ski simulator and racing the other little kids with my specially built, super fast Lego car.

I lost.

While the State Museum's "Speed" exhibit won't literally blow up any time soon, it is "the bomb" for the hundreds of kids and adults who visit every day.

Including me.