Bob,
I am just a beginner on these too, but my guess is that the engine won't race unless it's getting air. That means you either have an air leak or your idle air valve is opening and then getting stuck. It probably depends on what you mean by race. How high is the RPM? One thing you can do if the RPM is not so high that you are afraid to run the engine is to put it in park and open the hood. Then rap the idle air control valve with the end of a screwdriver. If the RPM drops you found your problem. Mine was doing that. Some people have had good sucess in cleaning the valve assembly, but I just replaced mine since I knew it was not working well. Check any hoses that attach to the intake manifold. Another quick test for the control valve is to turn your A/C on and off. It should jump up from 750 to 900 or so quite fast. Then when you turn it off the RPM should drop down to 750 after a few seconds. Turn it on and off several times. Unless it responds right away, it is not working like a new one. I hope that helps. Do a search for vacuum leaks in the forum for lots of other tips that would cause this. I assume it's not the trottle getting stuck since it sounds like it race without touching it, but you might need to clean it too.

By the way, don't stand in front of the car when it's racing only work from the side.

Randy