An apparatus and method for controlling the speed of a vehicle, the apparatus manipulates a cable having one end secured to a throttle and the other secured to a motor for applying a force to the cable. A motor controller provides commands to the motor and the motor controller receives an input in the form of a vehicle velocity setting and in response to the value of the setting setting the motor controller instructs the motor to pull the cable a predetermined distance corresponding to a predetermined throttle position, the predetermined distance is stored in a lookup table and the predetermined throttle position corresponds to a vehicle velocity that is similar to the vehicle velocity setting. If the vehicle does not obtain the vehicle velocity setting the control authorizes the motor to pull the cable further, once the vehicle reaches the vehicle velocity setting the controller determines the current throttle position and determines if the current throttle position is greater than the predetermined throttle position if so, the controller modifies the predetermined throttle position corresponding to the vehicle velocity setting.