Living the dream, Driving a NASCAR Stock car.
Yesterday, thanks to my Brother, I had one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I got to drive a race car on a super speedway, the 2 1/2 tri-oval at Pocono. I’m still struggling to find the words, but I’m gonna try.
The day actually started the night before at my Dad’s house. My brother, not known to me, invited two of my closest friends to share the experience. One of them came from Clifton, about 45 minutes away, the other from Las Vegas, NV. Michael had booked us a hotel and off we went after dinner to try to get a decent nights sleep as we had an early start to the next day. For whatever reason, I do not get a good night’s sleep in hotels, so it was very hard to get up the next morning, but up we were and on the road at 6:30.
After getting close to the track, we found a Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (I’m addicted to their iced coffee!) And then off to the track.
Once we got there, it was through the tunnel, on through the infield and in to the garage area to register and start class. Class is really a couple of short video’s designed to give you basic safety information, teach you about the signs you’ll be shown from the flag man, etc. The biggest thing is that you’re driving race cars, not street cars and they are very different.
After the video class, it was off to the garage where our instructor first showed us how to get into the car. This may sound silly to some people, but stock cars don’t have doors. Next, it was how to fasten the belts and info on the cockpit’s gauges (no speedometer), and what there ideal settings should be. I was paying more intention to the light on the dashboard that warns if something’s wrong, and the button to activate the fire extinguisher system. The other important button was the master switch. Again, race cars don’t have keys.
From here, we piled into vans for a spin around the track. We were going 65 miles per hour, but it seemed like we were flying. It was a van. The main purpose of the van ride is to teach you about the marks you need to hit to go fast.
The way the track is set up, you have two sets of marks. The first is a set of colored cones going into each turn. The first cone is yellow. This signifies two things, the first is that you are getting close to your turning point. The second is that this is were you need to make sure you’re maintaining your spacing from the car you’re chasing, and make any adjustments needed. The next cone is red. This means it’s time to turn. From here, your marks change to blocks on the track. These blocks show you the ideal line, and you want to drive over them. The last cone is a green cone that goes with a triangle on the track that shows you the apex of your turn. In other words, time to follow the blocks back out of the turn.
After the van ride, it was off to the drivers meeting. This was really to teach us about the safety equipment we would be wearing. Firesuit, helmet, HANS device. Then we suited up and got ready to roll.
Michael, Lester, Pete and Myself suited up and ready to drive.
My friends Pete and Lester got out first. It seemed like they had to wait for a while in the cars. In addition to drivers, the school also had ride-alongs going on, so pit road was a busy place. Once the car that had the instructor that Les and Pete were following pulled in and had a quick safety check, they were off. I really didn’t get to see much, because the cars that Michael and I were to drive pulled in. Michael was in the 5 car, a COT Toyota. My car was an older style Dodge Intrepid. Once we got to the cars they took some pictures (I didn’t purchase them, so don’t ask!) The first test was getting in and getting fitted in the chair. I needed a pad to push me forward so that I could comfortably control the pedals. Then, with the help of the race schools crew, I was getting belted in, helmet on, HANS set up and reseting the tach. I was all stapped in, and when I say all strapped in, you are so snug in the car. You can’t turn your head to the right very far, just enough to see out the windshield, which is a lot smaller than you would think. One last review of the controls and then my window net went up and waited for the signal to fire the engine.
I was now in the car all by myself, and, oddly enough, I felt really, really comforable. I wasn’t at all nervous, instead very content. At that, it was time to flip the switch to fire the engines and put it into gear and roll down pit road. These cars are 4-speed manuals, and you get through the gears very quickly, in fourth by the end of pit road and then onto the track for your first lap. The first lap is a pace lap run at 5000 rpm’s (again, there’s no speedometer in the car).
I really needed that lap to judge my distance from the chase car, but after that, I was off and running. It was amazing. I know at one point I was turning of 7500 rpm, then 8000, then over 8000. I was hitting my marks. I would feel the car start to slide and then would accelerate to get more grip, catching my instructor. I was really cranking. I was amazed at how late we would turn into the corners, and how quickly I would be able to get back into the gas. But I think the most amazing thing was that, from a speed stand point, I really didn’t fell like I was going that quickly. My thoughts were really on staying with my instructor and hitting my marks.
Before I knew it, I took the checkered flag, which in this case didn’t mean the end, but go as fast as you can into turns one and two, then signal my brother that I was slowing down and heading into the pits, throwing the car into neutral and coasting to a stop.
Once I was done, I just sat in the car for a second amazed at what I did. I figured I had hit the 160 mark, I had to. The guys on pit road were right over to help me out of my hans and helmet. That’s when I hit the recall button on my tach, over 8300 rpm. “Not bad”, said the gentleman helping me, “that’s about 170. One of the fastest I’ve seen today.” All I knew was I felt like Dale Earnhardt winning the Daytona 500. “We did it, we did it.” I drove a stock car at 170 miles per hour, and nothing could seem more natural.
I can’t wait to do it again.
GBU: The Sprint AllStar Race!
The Good: Credit NASCAR with going back to the final 10 lap segment. That was some of the most exciting racing there’s been all season. A big congrats to Tony Stewart. He did what he’s been doing all season, putting himself into position to win races, and it was finally his turn. It was also great seeing Ryan Newman waiting for him in Victory Lane. You can tell that they are both enjoying themselves and have become great teammates. I think bot of the can win championships with Stewart-Haas.
The Bad: I really thought the race was kind of boring until the last segment. It seems that on these intermediate tracks the if you get up front you can drive a way from the pack for a while.
RCR also had a dismal night. It really seems that the Childress program is in big trouble and needs to make a bunch more changes. It’s really surprising since they have been so good for the past couple of seasons. The good news is they still have several drivers in Chase contention, so they shouldn’t panic too much.
The Ugly: Well, it really wasn’t very ugly unless you hate Kyle Busch, but the way he passed on the outside time and time again was amazing. I’ve said it before and will say it again, the man can just wheel! What was ugly was the number of people online blaming Kyle Busch for the wreck that took out Jeff Gordon. There really was no blame there, just three cars running where there’s only room for two, and anyone who really understands racing knows that those where three guys running for a million bucks, so non of them were going to give an inch.
Quick Hit: From Shaq on Twitter.
THE_REAL_SHAQ: “If con is the opposite of pro, then is congress the opposite of progress Things dat make u go uumh Did I spell uumh right?”
Shaq, I couldn’t have said it better myself!
The Wanda Sykes White House Correspondence Dinner: We All Miss the Point
So now people are up in arms over Wanda Sykes “performance” at the White House Correspondence dinner. In case you missed it, she said some stupid things in the guise of humor directed at Rush Limbaugh. Personally, I didn’t think it was funny, but she’s generally not my cup of tea. But a lot of people are ticked off at her, and there are just as many people defending her. Here’s the odd thing. The same people who are defending Sykes are calling for the firing of CBS Golf commentator David Feherty for publishing a joke about about Nancy Pelosi.
Oddly enough, I read about the Sykes story on Fox News yesterday and read the comments afterwords. “Typical Fox” was a regular comment. Yeah, it is, suck it up. And this is the real point that most of us are missing. The media doesn’t want to tell us the story. While Fox has a definite conservative spin, the rest of the media is to the left. Here’s another example. Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote a piece calling for the dismissal of Philly Inquirer columninst John Yoo. For those who don’t know, Yoo is the former Department of Justice attorney that wrote the memo that made water boarding ok. While Bunch stated the Inquier should get rid of him because of his views on torture, I think his real motive comes in the following paragraph:
“. . . Yoo was now a regular columnist, joining an increasingly rightward-tilting lineup that also includes the likes ex-Sen. Rick Santorum (at $1,750 a pop), Michael Smerconish, a moderate Republican who is also a forceful advocate for torture, Kevin Ferris and others.”
And this is the point we’re all missing. Sykes and Feherty both told stupid jokes, but now it’s a chance for the powers that be to use them to tell the people what they want and score cheap political points. There is a real double standard out their that we are all missing, and it’s affecting true discourse and dialogue. The only one in the media that I found actually gets this is Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, who wrote a column basically stating what I am.
The real problem is that we can no longer trust the media. They are no longer governments watchdogs, but are the propaganda entities of the our political parties, and this Sykes/Feherty dust up is really all the proof we need.
GBU: The Southern 500!
The Good: Hendrick-mania. Hendrick and Hendrick affiliated cars dominated the late stages of the race, taking six of the first seven spots. The final shoot-out between Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson was fun to watch, but how weird was it to actually hear JJ throw in the towel. And speaking of Johnson, just the fact that he was up there shows that he’s still a championship contender and that Chad Knauss is still one of the, if not the best, crew chief in the biz.
And how about a great run from Joey Logano. He’s starting to show all of the promise that we heard of.
Great racing action all night, as the top 10 kept changing. Cars that were a lap down were all of a sudden in the top 10, and then vice versa. Great action, however . . .
The Bad: Too many cautions, and some that probably should have been. I couldn’t believe how many cars were in the wall where NASCAR didn’t throw a caution. Their had to be car parts everywhere.
The Ugly: Jeremy Mayfield getting suspended for substance abuse. I was always a big fan of his, but this is unacceptable, as NASCAR showed. Baseball and other sports, steroids and other “banned” substances are almost taken for granted, but those sports aren’t litterly life and death as it can be in racing. NASCAR has done such a good job with safety, as we saw at Talledega, that we take it for granted, but competitors never do. Which is why Mayfield should not be aloud back in the sports. It’s also ironic that earlier in the year he fired one of his crew members for the same thing. While we don’t know the whole story, and we might never know it, it’s really just a shame that such a good career should end this way.
CBU: Richmond
Better late than never folks!!!!
The Good: A great win by Kyle Busch. I know most people dislike him, but you gotta respect him. Three wins on one weekend, winning a charity race, the Nationwide and Cup races. The guy can just plain drive. And I also love that he’s having fun with the way the fans boo him. Heck, I think I may start to take a bow with him!
And how great is it to see both Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman running so well. Let’s here it for Stewart-Haas and all they’ve accomplished. Could Tony be running for a championship? I think it’s possible.
The Bad: What’s going on with Dale, Jr. I know everyone is asking this. The truth is that he is just having a bad season. It happens to everyone, so ease up on the guys.
What happened to Jimmie Johnson last weekend? Talk about a bad night, the winner of three of the four previous Richmond races wrecked, had a brake failure and got a speeding ticket. Not a typical night for the old 48.
The Ugly: Roush-Fenway. What the heck is going on there. We know it’s not the drivers, but after Matt Kenseth winning the opening two races of the season, the team has faded into the pack. Is this a new trend for RFR. After putting all five teams into the Chase in 2006, the team had a dismal 2007. I guess the RFR guys are just good in the even numbered seasons.
Kevin Harvick was having one of best runs of the season, his first since the crew swap with the 07, and then got caught up in a wreck and finished 34th. Can KH buy a break?
We are proud to support the following charities:
