slipstreamers

Noun

slipstreamer (plural slipstreamers)

1. Someone who follows a slipstream in a race.
   • He headed the leading group over the col, class riders every one, no wheel-suckers keeping the shade of the men doing the work. 'Never gets a tan', they say of the slipstreamers.1999, Graeme Fife, Tour De France: The History the Legend the Riders, Edinburgh; London: Mainstream Publishing, →ISBN, page 42
2. (figuratively) Someone who goes with the flow; someone who follows with what others are doing.
   • Men are slipstreamers, David. Did you ever see a car follow close behind a big truck to take advantage of the windbreak to make the driving easier? That's the way people are. They'll follow so close they can't see six inches beyond their noses, as long as it makes things easier. And the schools and...1981, John Kessel, Not Responsible! Park and Lock It!, Sauk City, W.I.: Arkham House Publishers, Inc., published 1992, →ISBN, page 149

   Antonyms:

   contrarian

3. A race in which the shape of the track causes extensive slipstreams to form behind each car.
   • Boca was what was known as a slipstreamer track. The long straightaways gave rise to the phenomenon known as slipstreaming, which was the partial vacuum created by the lead car as it reached the high speeds possible on the track. This vacuum created behind the lead car gave the second driver an...1973, Fred Mustard Stewart, The Mannings, New York, N.Y.: Arbor House, →ISBN, page 552
4. Someone who writes slipstream fiction ("a genre of fantastic or non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries").
   • "Britain is soaring into the future with a wealth of talented science fiction writers”—Zenith's blurb overstates the case; but it could be truthfully said that "Britain is motoring sedately into a retro-eclectic fantasyland with a talented clique of slipstreamers and true-quill weirdos."1989 September, Bruce Sterling, “Zenith: The Best in New British Science Fiction”, in The New York Review of Science Fiction, number 13, Pleasantville, N.Y.: Dragon Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10