NASCAR Ride-Along

For my birthday earlier this year my parents purchased a Richard Petty Driving Experience Ride-Along ticket for me. It's been high on the list of things to-do, but with Joshua's Soccer and T-Ball, and the wife's TODO list, it just never happend until yesterday when we headed straight to Lowes Motor Speedway immediately after Joshua's soccer game.

What an experience! The following are a few of my observations:

• The car is nothing more than a frame and sheet metal. Sure, I knew this, but there really isn't anything to these cars.
• The Gs in the corners were more than expected, but I question if this was the driver or the actual track.
• I expected more speed.  It just didn't seem that fast going down the front or back stretches.
• I expected to be closer to the outside wall going down the front and back stretches.  I think I drive closer to the concrete construction barriers on the highway than we got near the wall on the actual trac.

None of this was a disappointment, however.  It was my first time ever in the Lowes infield and on the track in a race car.  If you follow NASCAR at all I have to highly recommend you give the Ride-Along experience a try as it's something you'll never forget.