My NASCAR Ride-Along!

Back in December of 1997, I was vacationing in Las Vegas and decided to head up to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, because the Richard Petty Driving Experience was holding classes at LVMS that week.

The Richard Petty Driving Experience offers many courses. The rookie experience is a 3-hour course, you drive the car yourself, and the price starts at $399. I didn't want to take that much time and money out of my vacation in December.

So I opted for the "Riding Experience" which at the time cost $89.00, and believe me, was worth every penny. Basically, they mount a passenger seat into the stock car, and you ride along for a few laps with a professional instructor, at full speed.

It was an absolute thrill, I can hardly describe it in words. Just in the three laps in which we were at speed, I learned a ton about the cars, the tires, and the handling (and G-forces). I always talk to friends about the speeds, the skill of the drivers, the G-forces, and so forth, but this ride was unbelievable! Knowing what the drivers really do inside the car, and what it actually FEELS like at speed, especially in the turns, is something I wish every race fan could know.

(Photo note: Nellis AFB is behind LVMS's backstretch.)

My first taste of what the ride might be like was when I was watching the three race cars that were giving rides. They were out on the track running laps, warming up the tires. Also on the track (on the opposite end) were some of the driving school cars. They were running probably well over 120 mph for an average speed, but they looked so slow compared to the ride cars! The three ride cars were booking it. That was a hint of what was to come.

Several people were waiting in line for a ride. The three ride cars were being driven by Busch Series rookies Mike Cope and Matt Hutter, and an instructor with the school. Earlier, I had seen Matt Hutter standing around, before he got into the race car, and I thought I knew his face. I couldn't place it right away, but after ten or fifteen minutes, I finally realized that it was Hutter (although I wasn't completely sure it was him). I surprised myself that I recognized him. I must have remembered the face from Winston Cup Scene or an ARCA race or something. (Cope was also standing around the pit area earlier, but I didn't realize it was him. And he was in a Slim Jim driver's suit! Matt was in a plain gray driver's suit.)

I asked one of the employees for the school if the guy I thought was Matt Hutter actually was him, and he said yes, and seemed surprised that anyone recognized him. He said Matt would be surprised to know that someone recognized him. It turns out Matt Hutter and Mike Cope, teammates at the time for Cicci-Welliver Racing, were at the speedway preparing for the Sam's Town 300 to be held there a couple of months later (and attended by me, in fact!)

So when it came to be my turn to do the ride, that guy with the school said, "Do you want to ride with your hero?" I thought that was pretty funny. Matt had just finished his warmup laps and was coming down pit road. So I got to ride with a real driver, not an instructor! I walked out onto pit road, and after Matt stopped the car, I climbed in. The guy with the school told Matt, "Guess what, this guy recognized you earlier." I couldn't really tell what Matt's reaction was, because he was wearing a helmet, but he was friendly about it. I think he was low-key, down-to-earth, just wanting to race.

As I got all strapped in and buckled up, Matt and I had a couple of minutes to talk while we were waiting for the other two ride cars to have their passengers buckled in. The engine was off, so we could hear each other fine, even though we both had helmets on. (By the way, I didn't have to wear a driving suit, which I thought was kind of odd.) Anyway, I told Matt that I couldn't believe I was going to be riding with someone who had driven at Talladega (in the ARCA race that October) and had done so well there. The guy with the school who was buckling me in said, "If you think this is exciting, you just wait till you get out on the track!" Matt said Talladega was fun to drive, and I said I had watched that race on TV, so he then quipped, "Let's hope this ride doesn't end up like Talladega." Of course, he crashed near the end at Talladega after running all day with the leaders. I laughed at his comment, and told him I wasn't worried about it, which oddly enough was the truth.

So finally he fired up the engine, which was thrilling on its own. We starting rolling down pit road, and the ride cars were not following a speed limit on pit road. We were flying off of pit road, and we just drove right up onto the banking and quickly got up to speed down the backstretch. The three ride cars were all running together, so it was almost like simulated racing. Before I got to the track, I was expecting the ride car would be running by itself. But having three ride cars together on the track, at full speed, was awesome! Matt actually took a little longer to get up to speed, so we were maybe ten or 15 car lengths behind the car in front of us (we were last in line of the three cars).

The first thing I really noticed was how hard they approach the turns. I always thought that at the end of the straightaways, the drivers paused after they got off the gas and before applying the brake. But we had the gas to the floor until the last possible moment entering the turn, then it was immediate hard braking, and back on the gas almost immediately thereafter. We FLEW through those turns. I also never realized how much the tires really MAKE the car stick to the track in the turns. I always thought that a track's banking played most of the role in supporting speed in the turns, with the car leaning against the bank and using that to keep the speeds up. But Vegas isn't a really high-banked track, and the tires got us through those turns. There was no skidding sound, but the grip was incredible. I now understand why tire wear and tire management is so critical in NASCAR racing. Without the grip we had, we would have just spun right into the wall.

Matt did a great job driving, and after two laps, he had driven hard and closed to within two car lengths of the car in front of us. To me, it looked like we were just a couple of feet behind the car in front, and I thought Matt was going to pass him, but actually it was at least a car length. I'd say we were averaging over 160 mph a lap, and top speed at least 180 at the end of the straights. It was just awesome. I highly recommend a Ride-Along to any NASCAR fan!

People have asked me how loud it was. It really wasn't that bad. Either I wasn't keyed into it, or the helmet muffled the sound.

My biggest surprise was how fast the ride cars ran. I was expecting a more leisurely pace, for safety reasons, but we couldn't have been that far off of top speed. At certain tracks (like Daytona), the rides aren't close to full speed, because full speed is "too fast." But at Vegas, "full speed" isn't as fast, so the ride offered a realistic sensation of the true racing speeds.

The ride was probably the most thrilling thing I've ever done in my life. I've never done a skydive or bungee jump, and I think those would be along the same lines, although perhaps less safe, because I felt pretty secure inside that race car.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, loyal "Three-Wide Off Four" readers!

Rushville Rocket Rings Number Two!

Congratulations to Tony Stewart and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing! Tony only finished 15th in the race today, but his utter dominance over the last 20 races of the season netted the Indiana driver his second championship.

I've been a Stewart fan since before he came to NASCAR. He was, and is, a racer through-and-through. He was winning titles by the handful in USAC cars in the midwest, then took a turn in IRL cars. His first taste of stock car racing came in equipment fielded by Harry Ranier. That's right, unlike many of today's hotshoes, Tony didn't get a development contract from a powerhouse NASCAR team while he was still in high school. He was offered a ride by a fledgling Busch Series operation. Ranier, a former Cup owner, re-entered NASCAR by fielding a part-time Busch Series team. His cars weren't the fastest on the circuit, but he hired Tony, and Tony made the most of his opportunity. He drove the heck out of Ranier's unsponsored cars.

I'll never forget this Busch race at Talladega in 1996. I'm pretty sure it was Tony's first superspeedway NASCAR race. Impressively, Tony raced with the leaders, but eventually his inexperience caught up to him and he crashed in Talladega's tri-oval, also taking out Busch-dominator Mark Martin. Mark wasn't happy, but he knew Tony was going to be something special.

Offers began trickling in from top NASCAR team, but it was Joe Gibbs who netted the talented driver. Stewart drove in a bunch of Busch races for JGR over the next couple of seasons, before getting the promotion to the Cup series in 1999, at the age of 28. He rewrote the rookie record books by winning an unprecedented three races in his first year and finishing fourth in points.

Three years later, Tony won his first title, and again three years later, he's won another! In his Cup career, he's never finished lower than 7th in the final standings. That's a credit to his crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, everyone at JGR, and sponsor Home Depot for sticking by him through various tumult in recent years. Tony's endured personal ups and downs: he's been placed on probation by NASCAR multiple times, he's bumped photographers, he's knocked a tape recorder out of a reporter's hand and kicked it under a truck, and he's had no shortage of dustups with other drivers. But he races. And he wins. And he's one of the best I've ever seen. Congrats to the man, the Rushville Rocket.

Sure, the cop was a Gordon fan

You've gotta love the belligerence of someone who's just been pulled over by a county cop. Here are some quotes and details from the Kurt Busch police report, thanks to reporting from the Charleston Post and Courier:

"You have no idea what you're doing. You have no idea who I am. You have to be the dumbest cops I've ever met."

Powe wrote that he asked Busch if he worked for NASCAR, and received "a long-winded dissertation about his celebrity status, listing his accomplishments as if he were reading me his resume."

After asking Busch to exit the vehicle, Powe wrote that the driver responded, "This is bull----." Later, according to Powe, Busch said, "You guys are a joke. Punks. Aren't you supposed to be directing traffic somewhere?"

"I'm not doing this gay (expletive) test."

And my personal favorite:

"You're only doing this because you're a Jeff Gordon fan."

Nice job representing yourself, your team, your sponsors, and your sanctioning body, champ.

This whole incident is unfortunate, because I always sort of admired Kurt's tenacity and willingness to be his own man. He's always spoken his mind. Unlike his younger brother Kyle, Kurt's road to stardom wasn't paved from age 16. He dug graves for the City of Las Vegas while working his way up the ranks. He's not one of the pure, perfect little NASCAR packages that can do no wrong. And he can drive the wheels off a stock car.

Clearly, though, his confidence bested him last week on a pleasant Phoenix Friday evening.

Busch Not Drunk, or...

To update my earlier post about the Kurt Busch incident, the latest news from Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff's office is that the 2004 Cup series champ was not intoxicated when he was stopped by the sheriff's deputy on Friday night. So I guess the "you ought to be directing traffic" comment wasn't the liquor talking - it was simply Kurt Busch.

On the suspicion of DWI, Busch was transported to the sheriff's department's remote setup at Phoenix International Raceway, and was successfully tested there. He posted a .017 blood-alcohol reading, well below the .08 legal limit. This story, of course, is a major change from the earlier reports that the testing machine failed. Either the reporters had bad information in the original reports, or the police changed their story. Both of those options seem a little fishy.

A conspiracy theorist (me?) might even suggest that Busch was indeed drunk, but that NASCAR, in its efforts to whitewash the situation, "convinced" the sheriff's office to release information stating Busch tested under the legal limit. This way, Busch can claim that he was harassed by the sheriff's department, and NASCAR protects its sqeaky-clean image by not having the public-relations fiasco of a drunk-driving champion.

I'll repeat what I said before: We'll never know what really happened.

Busch Beers

In a shocker, reigning Cup series champion Kurt Busch was suspended by Roush Racing for the remainder of the 2005 season after being cited for reckless driving near Phoenix Internation Raceway on Friday night. But the story is bigger than that. The Maricopa County sheriff's deputy who stopped Busch smelled alcohol on Busch's breath. From ESPN:

"As a result of the roadside investigation the deputy did take Mr. Busch into custody for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol," said Lt. Chagolla. Chagolla said the deputy smelled alcohol on Busch, but the driver refused to perform standard field sobriety tests. Busch did submit to a field breath alcohol test, and the device showed the presence of alcohol. The deputy drove Busch to the raceway, where a sheriff's facility is located, to administer another breath test but the machine there failed. The deputy then decided to cite Busch for reckless driving and he was released, Chagolla said.

The Arizona Republic reports further details. Put some alcohol in Kurt Busch and I'm not surprised to read about this behavior:

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said a motorcycle deputy saw Busch nearly rear-end another vehicle, speed around it to avoid a crash and blast through a stop sign. He was clocked at 60 mph in a 45 zone. The deputy said he tried to stop him, but Busch kept driving. The deputy called for backup and another deputy helped pull Busch over. Arpaio said Busch insulted the deputy by asking what law enforcement agency he was from and saying, "you ought to be directing traffic." Busch reportedly pulled out his driver's license and NASCAR identification and said, "Don't you know who I am?"

My question is, what exactly caused this "malfunction" of the testing machine at the facility at PIR? The machine most likely "malfunctioned" after NASCAR found out about their champion driver's incident. This is the champion driver who has Crown Royal as one of his sponsors. This is the champion driver who will have a beer sponsor (Miller Brewing) at Penske Racing next season.

NASCAR can't afford to have "champion" linked with "drunk driving" under normal circumstances, never mind when the driver has alcohol sponsors. NASCAR has always walked a fine line when it comes to alcohol sponsorship in a sport all about driving cars, and driving them fast. We'll never know what really happened with that on-site alcohol test, but it's awfully convenient for NASCAR that they will be spared a PR nightmare.

O Denny Boy

I intended to post this yesterday. Somehow, singing the praises of a young driver isn't as impressive after he goes out and nets the pole position in his sixth Cup start. But I'll sing his praises anyway.

Denny Hamlin is a 24-year old driver out of Chesterfield, Virginia. I first took note of him when he was hired last year out of the Virginia/North Carolina late model circuit as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. For the most part, I've always liked the Gibbs drivers. Love Tony Stewart. Love Bobby Labonte. I think J.J. Yeley is talented and will have a good career. Heck, I even rooted for Jason Leffler in both of his go-rounds in Joe Gibbs Racing equipment. So when Denny was hired, I paid attention.

Denny impressed at JGR as soon as he joined them. To get his feet wet, they fielded him in a handful of ARCA, Truck and Busch Series starts. He finished in the top ten in his first start in each of those series. At the end of 2004, Gibbs parted ways with driver Mike Bliss, who was driving the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevy. Bliss is one Gibbs hire I didn't like. Never cared for him. Needless to say, I wasn't upset to see Bliss replaced in the #20 Rockwell car by one Denny Hamlin.

Denny's had an interesting season in the Busch Series. He hasn't won, and hasn't even contended for too many victories, but for an inexperienced driver, he's been incredibly consistent, and has rarely crashed. I attended the Busch race at Loudon, NH, in July, and Denny almost pulled off the win. He led most of the second-half of that event before settling for third place. He was extremely fast at Talladega (my favorite track) in April, but was wrecked while racing at the front of the pack. I probably told my friend Nancy five or six times, "Man, Denny could've won that race!"

On September 24, I pulled into the parking lot at Dover Speedway, wearing a #20 Rockwell Automation Racing T-shirt. Denny was sixth in Busch Series points. During driver introductions for the Dover 200, I cheered for Denny, but hardly anyone else did. He didn't get any boos. It's just that no one knew who he was. Look at his standing in the Busch Series Most Popular Driver voting. Despite his top-ten standing in Busch points, Denny's clean racing on the track and quiet personality had kept him out of the limelight.

Denny finished 6th in that Dover race, and since then has entrenched himself in 5th place in the Busch standings. Gibbs thought highly enough of him to promote Denny to the Cup series, replacing the recently fired Jason Leffler in the #11 FedEx Chevy for seven of the season's final 10 races. In the spotlight of the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Denny has engineered a drastic turnaround for a car that struggled all year. He's finished in the top ten in three of his five starts in the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing machine. It's been good enough for Gibbs to hire him for the #11 long-term.

Yesterday, Denny won the pole for this afternoon's Cup race in Phoenix. He's anonymous no more. I'm thrilled for this young Virginia driver. Before the season began, Dale Jr. told a reporter to keep an eye on that Denny Hamlin kid. I guess Junior knows talent. Congratulations Denny, and go win the race!

Respect for Mark Martin

I was watching "Trackside" on SPEED earlier tonight, and Mark Martin was a guest. His career has paralleled my time as a NASCAR fan. Mark Martin has 636 career Cup starts, 579 of them with Roush Racing. Mark has 222 top five finishes in those Roush starts. That means he's finished in the top five in 38% of his starts over the last 18 seasons! Incredible!

I've always admired Mark Martin. I'm not a particular fan of his car owner (and multiple team-owner) Jack Roush, but Mark is loyal, smart, dedicated, and a supremely talented race car driver. And he races clean, not bumping folks out of the way to gain positions on the track.

Mark Martin planned to retire at the end of this season. He's hasn't won a Cup championship, nor a Daytona 500, but otherwise has enjoyed a stellar career. He deserves retirement. He's earned that time with his wife Arlene and racer son Matt, away from the limelight and the pace of Nextel Cup racing. But his retirement plans - and the season-long "Salute to Fans" farewell tour - were uprooted. The business side of NASCAR got in the way. Mark can thank his Roush teammate Kurt Busch for that. Busch is bolting to Penske Racing in 2006, leaving Roush in need of an extra driver. Jack already needed a replacement for Mark. Now he needed one for Busch. Mark agreed to stay on, and fill his own seat, for one more season.

Mark was put in a tough spot, but his loyalty is keeping him around for one more grueling season of Cup races. He is a class act. He is a racer.

How I Became a Phil Parsons Fan

My favorite NASCAR driver is Phil Parsons. He retired after driving in the inaugural Busch Series race at Kentucky Speedway in 2001, and is now a commentator for the Craftsman Truck Series telecasts on SPEED.

I began following NASCAR in 1986, and Phil was an up-and-comer running a partial schedule. The first time around the schedule in 1986, and knowing very little about the sport, I was so impressed by all the different tracks. I liked Talladega especially. Phil finished 5th there in the spring race, a career-best. That probably planted the seed for me becoming a huge fan of his, although Dale Earnhardt was my "first" favorite driver, and always a guy I liked. On the return trip to 'dega in 1986, Phil was the first car a lap down on a restart, and by staying to close to the race leader on his outside as they were coming to green, he triggered a huge pileup taking out many contenders such as Darrell Waltrip and Harry Gant. (Incidentally, Gant was having a terrible season, but was having a wonderful race that afternoon.) I recall the TV interviews with some of the drivers eliminated by that wreck, and Phil received lots of blame. I didn't like that he caused a big crash, but it wasn't enough for me to write him off.

In 1987, Benny Parsons vacated the #55 Copenhagen car to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. News was hard to get back then. A few races into 1987, I realized Phil had officially taken over the #55 ride and would be running a full schedule. I was intrigued, I guess by a combination of things: I liked the fact that Phil would have a chance to show something in a decent car, he was Benny's kid brother, I liked the Jackson brothers (car owners), and the #55 was a cool-looking black car, sponsored by a product I don't endorse (Copenhagen snuff). So it began.

The next year, in 1988, Phil had a fine season, winning a big race at Talladega, and had a handful of top 5's and a bunch of top 10's, ending up 9th in Cup points. It was all downhill from there as far as his Cup career, for various reasons, but I always rooted for him anyway. He had several solid years in the Busch Series after that. I doubt I'll ever root for a driver the same way again.