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NOTE:  This is a narrative description of Andrea's stock car 
driving experience at California Speedway.  
You can view the pictures by following the SLIDESHOW links from the 
main directory for AandJSward ( http://www.aandjsward.com ).  

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Sunday, August 13, 2000, I attended the Richard Petty Driving 
Experience ( http://www.1800bepetty.com/ ) 
at California Speedway (http://www.californiaspeedway.com/ 
and http://www.californiaspeedway.com/CAGrands.html ).  
This program lets you drive a 600-horsepower NASCAR-style 
stock car over 100 mph on an actual racing track.  

California Speedway is a 2-mile D-oval track.  
It is banked 14 degrees in the turns, 
11 degrees on the front stretch, and 
3 degrees on the back straight away.
( http://www.nascar.com/tracks/california/dia.html )

You can purchase various "experiences" and I got the 
Rookie Experience.  This is a 3-hour session.  
There are longer sessions and sessions that actually 
teach racing techniques.  The Rookie Experience is 
more like fantasy fulfillment than actual racing.  
The only requirements for the Rookie Experience are: 
1. You must have enough cash, or your credit card must 
   be good, or your check must not bounce.
2. You must be tall enough to climb in the car unassisted.
   The window area (stock cars have no doors) is 15 inches 
   high, 30 inches wide, and 36 inches off the ground.
3. You must have a valid drivers license.

Just arriving for the session was a thrill.  We drove up to 
the main gate and were directed to the perimeter road.  Just 
driving around the outside of a real race track gives you 
goosebumps.  Then we drove through the tunnel that 
goes under the raceway itself and into the sacred infield!  
We emerged from the tunnel in the garage area.  This is the 
area where during races the cars are parked and the teams work.  
This area is the nerve center on race weekends.  During races 
this is an ultra-restricted area that requires all sorts of 
special passes and credentials -- and we were there!!!  
To see this area up close and personal was a thrill in 
itself.  If this had been all we had done on Sunday, I 
would have considered it a very fulfilling day!

I got registered.  (For those who are wondering, my husband 
Jeff went along to take pictures, but there is no way he would 
ever climb into a race car.  I was kind of thinking he might 
want to do the "Ride Along Experience" where he would be a 
passenger with a professional driver, but he declined.)  
Then I got my driving suit.  It was really cool (well, 
actually really hot) -- I did not want to turn it in at the 
end of the day!

Training came next.  First we had classroom training.  
This consisted of a video and a lecture.  Then we got 
into a van and were driven around the track.  
The van driver explained to us where to shift (the cars 
were a standard-H with 4 gears).  Basically, you shifted up 
through the gears as you were leaving pit road and accelerating 
on the apron.  Once you had merged onto the race track in 4th 
gear, you stayed there the whole time and did not downshift 
until you returned to pit road.  
The van driver explained to us when to use our brakes.  
You brake on the apron to decelerate when returning to 
the pits and on pit road when parking in your pit stall.  
You do not use the brakes at all on the race course unless 
the yellow flag comes out signaling there has been an accident 
on the track.  (No, you do not apply the brakes on a turn -- 
in fact, you apply the gas going into the turn and continue 
to accelerate through the arc of the turn.)  
The van driver explained the best line to take to get optimum 
speed and to efficiently utilize the set up of the car.  (Car 
set up refers to things like tire pressure, springs, track bar 
adjustments, etc.  All of these things determine what kind of 
line the car is most stable in and determine the natural line 
the car wants to take.)  To assist in remembering the best line, 
there were painted squares on the track at various spots.  
The goal is to hit these marks on every lap.  

Then we climbed into the car.  Seating position in a NASCAR 
stock car is interesting if you are under 5 feet tall.  For 
safety reasons, seats in race cars are bolted to the floor.  
Therefore, in their fleet of cars, they had some cars with the 
seats far away and some cars with the seats up close.  Not 
too surprising, I got the car with the seat mounted closest to 
the windshield.  Unfortunately, even that was not close enough 
for me to depress the pedals all the way to the floor (something 
the clutch demanded).  The track workers ended up inserting two 
seat cushions behind me to get me close enough to work the 
pedals correctly.  Then I got strapped in.  The safety belts 
are a five-point system.  The goal is to have you in the seat 
so firmly that if there is a crash you do not move at all.  
The straps of the restraint system are tight and bordering on 
too tight for a correct adjustment.  Another feature of NASCAR 
cars:  steering wheels are removable.  The quarters are so 
cramped that the driver gets in first.  After the driver is 
positioned and strapped in, the steering wheel is attached.  
Unfortunately, I was so far forward, there was not enough room 
for a standard steering wheel, so they had to install a small 
size steering wheel.

The last part of the training took place once we were in the car.  
They showed us the light for low oil pressure and what to do if 
it comes on (turn off the engine pronto, coast to the apron, and 
stay inside the car while you wait for the truck to come).  
They showed us the fire extinguisher equipment and what to do if 
there is a fire (turn off the engine pronto, and pull a pin to 
activate the extinguisher system, coast to the apron, and get out 
of the car as quickly as you can.  Extinguishers are permanently 
mounted in the cockpit and when the pin is pulled, the area is 
automatically flooded with spray.  This virtually hands-free 
system is very similar to what is in actual NASCAR cars.  Fire 
is about the only thing fearless NASCAR drivers are afraid of.)  
They went over again the rpms to watch for (2,000 before 
shifting into 1st and beginning to move, 4,000 for each shift 
up to 4th).  They also went over the signals from the flagman 
at the start/finish line.  On each lap, there would be signals 
indicating if we should speed up, slow down, or change our line.  
Unlike actual NASCAR drivers who are in constant radio contact 
with spotters, the flag signals were our only source of feedback 
and communication while we were on the track.

Then came the drive.  The most frequently asked question I get 
is, "Was there someone riding with you?"  The answer is no.  
The drivers are alone in the cars.  It is a *real* driving 
experience.  My first lap was kind of slow -- *only* 119 mph.  
I was still learning the line.  Plus, the walls are kind of 
intimidating at high speeds so I was too much in the center 
of the track.  The flagman gave me the signal to move farther 
up the track.  When I did get higher on the track, I understood.  
The car loved the high line!  That was where it wanted to be.  
It let me know this because the ride actually smoothed out and 
the steering became easier.  (Easier is a relative term.  It 
takes a lot of upper body strength to get 600 horses to go 
where you wanted them to go.  I switched from the standard 
steering wheel grip of left hand at 10 o-clock and right hand at 
2 o'clock to an 11 o'clock / 4 o'clock position so I could get 
more of my body into the left hand turns the track required.)  
Part of the exhilaration of stock car driving is since you are 
strapped in so securely in the seat, you are at one with the 
car -- you are actually part of the car, and you and it are 
all functioning as one unit -- everything the car feels 
and does, you feel and do!  We are in Bionic Woman territory 
here -- and I *loved* it!  After learning the lesson that a 
higher line near the wall is the desired path, the next thing 
to learn is to trust your tires.  NASCAR tires have no tread.  
Consequently, 100% of the tire is in contact with the track 
to give you maximum grip.  Intellectually I knew this, but 
viscerally, I had my doubts.  On my third lap, I finally 
took a corner at really high speed, accelerating all the way 
and almost getting a sling-shot propulsion onto the straightaway.  
I had really expected to hear the tires squeal at the peak of 
the arc and to feel some slip (my Honda Civic would have done 
that!).  Instead, the tires stuck securely!  What a rush!  
This gave me the confidence I needed for the rest of the laps.  
Except for the first lap, the flagman waved me green (doin' 
great!) on all of the other laps.  The highest speed I obtained 
was a *132 mph*.  To put this in perspective, it is a 2-mile 
track, so that means I was doing 1 minute laps!

Then came the worst part of the day -- when I passed by the 
start/finish line the flagman was waving the checkered flag.  
No, that did not mean I had won a race, it meant my laps were 
done and it was time to come into the pits so someone else 
could drive my car (by this time, I thought of it as *my* car).  
I pulled down the track and then onto the apron.  About at turn 
3 I put the car in neutral and coasted onto pit road, stopping 
in the designated pit stall.  To say I did not want to get out 
of the car was an understatement!  

After all of the drivers had done their laps (for safety reasons, 
there are only two Rookie Experience drivers on the track at a 
time -- more advanced experiences have more drivers and they 
drive closer together), there was a "graduation" ceremony.  
We got our diplomas indicating we had successfully completed 
the Rookie Experience.  The diplomas included our top speed.  
We also got our report cards -- computer-generated lap-by-lap 
performance stats giving top speed and top rpm.  

As we were leaving, I made Jeff's day by asking if I could 
do the driving on the way home.  He said, "NO!"

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Appendix:  If any of you are interested in a race car experience, 
I wholeheartedly endorse the Richard Petty Driving Experience.  
They had a very professional operation every step of the way.  
Their office staff were efficient and pleasant.  They sized up 
people pretty fast and offered reassurance to those feeling 
anxious and shared the enthusiasm of those feeling excited.  
These people do sessions probably 250 days a year.  
Yet they understood that for most customers it would be a 
once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Consequently, they kept things 
fresh and treated every customer special and with respect.  
They did a great job of maintaining their cars.  They had a 
full staff of mechanics and every once in a while would pull a 
car back to the garage area to work on it.  They also had tire 
specialists who examined the tires carefully after each run.  
If there was too much wear, tires were immediately replaced.  
The instructors and on-track personnel assured that everything 
was safe and perfect before students pulled onto the track.  
One of the pictures Jeff took shows 4 people gathered around my 
car checking it out and checking me out before the run.  This 
was typical.  The friendliness and professionalism of the 
entire Petty organization helped to make this a great experience.  
I can think of nothing that made me upset or irritated the 
whole 4 hours we were there.  In today's business world when it 
seems cordial, knowledgeable service is a thing of the past, 
having such a positive experience was a real treat.

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