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| Its all fun & games until you realize the placement of the hot sauce bottle |
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| This space for rent |
This past Sunday I missed most of the race (and by "race", I mean "rain delay") to go down to Dover International Speedway. Why? Because my parents bought me, as a birthday gift, 10 laps in a stock car around The Monster Mile.
Seriously.
I'm still trying to figure out how a successful company like Monster Racing allowed me to pilot an actual Nascar car, but needless to say, it was BEYOND AWESOME. Here's some stray observations:
--From the "I'm sure you're not surprised" department: All the drivers were men.
--My racing suit was pretty much logo-less, just like Mike Bliss.
--I did 10 laps around the track, and I think I was going a bit slower than the other guy on-track ahead of me, just like Mike Bliss.
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| "AHHHHHH!-- hey, that looks like the old Winn-Dixie car--AHHHHH!" |
--Dover has 24 degrees of banking in the turns, and boy do you feel it on the track.
--The instructor kept telling us not to lift in the turns, but not lifting in the turns meant ignoring every reflex and instinctual thought in my body.
--The cars are actual race-used stock cars, albeit with their paint schemes modified to not advertise the original sponsor. Mine, however, was done up by the graphics guy to resemble Bobby Allison's old Mercury Cyclone. Which makes sense, since both Bobby and I feel like we've wasted far too much time and money on Derrike Cope.
--How I felt requesting an automatic transmission: Really dumb.
--How I felt when the guy ahead of me stalled out: Really smart.
--The fact that my parents got this for me (and my dad went down with me as my driving coach /photographer/consigliere) shows just how cool and thoughtful they are.
--Thankfully I didn't die, although coming to grips with Front Row Motorsports actually winning a race IS pretty other-worldly.