PHactotum Wheneverly

I just finished watching one of the wildest races I have seen. The great, and amazing, thing is that everyone walked away. Congratulations to Ward Burton. One disappointing thing about Nascar this year is that RaceCast is no longer free. In order to follow along with the race on your computer you have have to either pay $4.95 a month or $29.95 for a full year. And RaceCast is always behind the action and hard to connect to. Not to mention that the software is beta software from Real Networks. You don't find out it is beta until after you have already paid for it. I suppose that all of this is alright if you can't see the race on TV or hear it on the radio and this is the only way you can keep up.

My wife gave me the best Christmas gift I think I have ever received. It is eight, yes 8, laps in a Winston Cup stock car at Chicagoland Speedway.

This is part of the Richard Petty Driving Experience. From their page, "Richard Petty Driving Experience provides racing fans and thrill-seekers the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a 600 horsepower Winston Cup style stock car at more than 20 of the greatest tracks nationwide..."

My Mom gave my Dad the same gift. We do this on May 24, 2003 at 2pm. I can't wait. My goal is to do at least 150MPH.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I just read this article, that gives a real good impression of what to expect during the Richard Petty Driving Experience that I'll be doing in May (less than 101 days to go).

What is interesting is that this gives a better idea of what will happen when it comes down to the actual driving. There are only two cars out on the track, yours and the instructors, with the instructor in front. This is much better in that we won't be limited by the slowest in the group.

I can't wait. This is going to be a blast.

It's taken me a week to write about it, but I finally got to drive a race car.

On Saturday May 24th, I went around the Chicagoland speedway 8 times with a high speed of 138.97 MPH. It was a great experience.

I remember the seccond corner, this is the corner where you are leaving the apron, and going on up the track. I remember thinking, "I can't just give up here, I have to do this, or I'm going straight into that wall."

I also remember that I saw very little other than the instructor's car ahead of me and the flag stand. I didn't see the tach after the first corner. I didn't see the oil light. I really got tunnel vision.

Would I do it again? Every chance I get. If I could go right now, I'd do it.

What would I say to others thinking about doing this? I would suggest the ride along first. I didn't do this, but I think that if I did, I may not have gotten so tense and may have seen more than the instructor's car. Also, wear a hat and sun screen. I received a very bad sunburn because I didn't do either.

Look for photos soon. And maybe a short video.

One of Trey's things to do over summer break was to go Putt Putting. We didn't quite make it before he had to go back to school, but those first two days they don't do much.

Of course one of the highlights are the go karts. Trey is still a little too short, so he had to ride with me. Probably a good thing, since he doesn't know how to steer very well.

We even had our very own race fan.