Psst, guys! Question about a side-scrolling game?

I'm a student in graphic design, and I've got only one three hour class dedicated to flash. That said, I really don't know a lot about it, and I'm really self motivated to learn lol

I was wondering, does anyone know of or have any guides on making a side-scrolling game like this one?

http://mixermike622.deviantart.com/a...FAST-287788805

Or could anyone give me advice as to how to wrap my head around coding it? Basically I want there to be a computer racing against a player controlled character, who goes faster the more you press the spacebar. If you don't press it, or not fast enough, the character will slow down, and the race will be lost.

It looks simple but so complex at the same time, and I think it would be a really cool project if I knew where to start lol

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Extra information I forgot to include ( sorry )

I'm using flash CS5, and actionscript 3.0 for this project.


Some questions I've run into while messing around are:

Is it possible to have different things on the stage move at separate framerates? Or does everything move at a constant framerate with the stage?

And if everything moves at a constant framerate, what would be the best way to make the background appear if it's moving faster?

Would it be best to have the background be one solid, long piece of artwork, or have it be a repeating movieclip?

The player controlled character should never move, instead it should be the segments of the background moving right?