Saturday 5th June, Charlotte North Carolina

The day starts with a trip to the Nascar Hall of fame to get the juices rolling. Us Kiwis don’t really quite get the Nascar scene, its bigger than all other forms of motorsport here in the states. The heroes here are in the same league as God and Elvis… its that big. The whole thing dates back to the prohibition whiskey running days where the cars were hotted up to out-run the cops. Once everybody realized the absurdity of prohibition the fast getaway drivers all got together and started what is todays Nascar. The museum covers all the periods form the early cars right up to todays race cars. Most of the history kinda went over my head but it was still very interesting. Bernise thought it was about as exciting as watching the grass grow.
Now for the real deal. NASCAR RACING EXPERIENCE … Driving up to Lowes Charolette Motor Speedway is mega impressive in itself… it’s a huge coliseum, moving into the infield is an even more awe-inspiring feeling, mega seating, high steep embankments and a quite long straights. A couple of cars are already powering around the track. On arrival you fill out all the forms effectively signing your life away, with no option to sue anybody, should the unthinkable happen. We then head into the drivers briefing and where they proceed to tell you a whole lot of stuff that you don’t really have time to take in, then we all head out to the 10 or so cars that all revving and ready to go. Waiting for your name to be called out is quite nerve wracking but after about an hour they call me up. Its about 95 degrees again (bloody HOT) and Im all suited up sweating, getting in you have to be a contortionist and now its even hotter (no air con in here) once you put the helmet on with ear phones in, a real southern twang from my radio man, whining in a slow southern drawl… first, let the clutch out son and don’t staallll it, remember briefing first lap is 3000 rpm about 100 mph, the steep turned embankment immediately gives you a big buzz, what looked like long straights suddenly get really short, each lap the southern drawl in my headphones tells me to up the RPM until you are doing 5500 rpm where a governer kicks in, the motors spits and farts and you have to back out of the throttle just a fraction to get the best speed. Before you know it my 8 minute stint is up, luckily I have booked 2 goes so I stay in the car and again talk to the Radio dude who is now my mate, there is a button on the steering wheel to talk back to him. He tells me what a superstar I am (I guess Im the customer right) but then he tells me to go absolutely full throttle (just off the limiter) all the way through every turn and kick into the limiter about 3 quarters through the turn (my stint in Barry’s Cart and him telling me to ignore my impulse to back out of the throttle and go deeper into the sweeper pops back into my head) this second stint of 8 minutes is way better, I wasn’t as intimidated and held the throttle as hard as I could all the way round every corner, 150 mph through the turns with the car moving around and having to work the steering wheel really was fun with a good dose of adrenalin pumping, in fact I was looking for a bit more speed… but that’s it… $800 poorer a cool feel for what its kinda like, a framed picture with my top lap speed 150.02 mph average (the guy checking out at the same time as me was 142 mph so I feel like a superstar) and Im like a kid in the candy shop for the first time …..Thomas Lauren Olivia and Bernise seem impressed that there Dad and Husband is still in one piece …….Id love to to do it again. Getting back behind the wheel of the Starship Enterprise to drive home was a good reality check.