Tales of a So-So Life: Race Day - Cross Item Off Bucket List

I haven't really set up a bucket list yet but if I had one this item would be crossed off now.

Today I got to ride along in a stock car at over a 100 hundred miles an hour (my driver said we about a 110). My roommate and her kids got me a Groupon for a 3-lap Ride-Along with the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience for Christmas. It was the San Antonio Speedway which is just south of San Antonio and it's a short track that isn't all fancy like most NASCAR tracks. But dang it was incredible. The Rusty Wallace Racing Experience is going to be at the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas in November and I'm going to start saving up for that and next time I'm doing the driving in addition to the ride-along. You don't even to need to know how to drive a stick shift: the driver-instructor said I just needed to be able to put the clutch down, shift into third gear, then hit the gas and keep the pedal down on the track. I can do that. :)

First, I drove out to the track on what was a gorgeous day here in San Antonio. I got signed in then walked to the pit lane and got suited up in a real-live racing fire suit then watched some cars race before I got my ride.

These were the cars used by the people who got the Driving experience. Late model Chevrolet Impalas

Then I got to get in my ride: car number 07. And I don't know why I only took a photo of the back end but here it is:

I just want to say getting into this car is interesting: there are no doors so you climb in through the window and I'm five-four so I thought I'd be okay. I got in slowly (you put your left leg in and extend it all the way to the end of the floorboard then put your right leg in then slide your body through the window opening). There's no cushion on the seat or anything else- the cars are stripped to the bare minimum for weight. The wonderful pit crew guy strapped me in after helping me with the helmet- which is pretty heavy though not too uncomfortable. Then it was a thumbs-up and the driver put the clutch down and shifted into the third. We cruised up to the end of the pit (where the car backfired- which is perfectly normal). Then he hit the gas and we were off.

First turn

And oh my God! We went right into the first turn and I felt every bit of it. To tell you the truth, I felt the power of the engine in every muscle and nerve in my body. In fact, I think there is still a slight hum in my body from that engine (after I finished my laps I asked the driver-instructor how long that 'hum' would last and he said for about a day- I can live with that:).

Last turn

When my driver hit the gas my heart was slammed into gear and I didnt' want the pounding to stop. The car is designed to go fast and handle like a dream. You feel the pull in the corners and feel it open up on the straightaways. We had one lap where we were the only car on the track then we picked up another car and raced him. It is not easy to pass a car on a track and in this case my driver couldn't go right up to the wall for safety reasons. Still, I almost wanted to say 'get the hell out of the way' or do what they do in NASCAR (which is give him a little bump- the car I was riding in looked like it had seem some of this 'action' in the past).

Then it was back to the pit and all over. I got out (which is slide your upper body through the window opening then pull your right leg out then your left leg then slide a little to the ground). And my first thought when getting out of the car was 'can I do that again?' I can see race-car drivers never want to retire and why the guys on Top Gear are still doing their show after ten years on the air. Now I want to ride in stock cars and an Indy car (Mario Andretti has a two-seat Indy car he takes people around in- saw it on Richard Hammond's Crash Course show last season). In addition as I was driving home I was thinking that I want my next car to have some horsepower and maybe some day be able to get behind the wheel of some of the supercars I love so passionately (Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Porsche).