Richard Petty Driving Experience

[VBdenny]

Well I did it. Last Sunday my wife and I cruised on down to the Lowe's Speedway in Concord, NC so I could do my Richard Petty Driving Experience.

Mannnnnnnnnn! Probably the most awesome thing I have ever done. I just did the Rookie one where you get to drive 8 laps, but that was what I needed. The Cup cars have quite a bit of power, but I figured they had done something to them as the acceleration was only slightly better than my LS. They really handle great, and it is so cool driving on the 24 degrees of banking.

It was fun and nobody threw any beer cans at me!

Denny

[SW03ES]

I told you you'd love it.

No they're actually pretty slow to get up to speed, takes a lap or so actually. They're geared for all out top speed not acceleratopn.

[VBdenny]

I know what you mean Steve. I have been in several cars in my life that have more raw acceleration of the line. But man do they stick. You are able to drift up to the walls almost and you never worry about hitting them.

Perhaps the best part of the whole thing was the staff. What a great bunch of people dedicating to making sure you have a good time. My only complaint would be is about all the pictures and placques they want to sell you at a very high price. It would be better if they just video taped your run and gave it to you on a DVD for free as part of the package.

[SW03ES]

When we did it the pictures were free...

Oh well...

[silvermate]

thats awesome denny!!!

i've got to do that, been wanting to try that for a couple of years now, works been hectic lately,, i need a vacation

about the engines, i don't believe they are the 800 + HP engines that the nextel cup cars have, or even the 600 HP cars the busch cars have, they are seperate engines built for longevity and reliablity (none the less still a hot rod) :P

were the cars loud?? running straight off the heads?? 4,5 speed?

man i gotta do that

[99lsguy]

What was the top speed?

any G's in the turns............??

Glad you had a blast!!!!

[VBdenny]

I asked the guys straight up what the difference was between the Petty cars and actual Cup cars and he said they are identical except that they use fibreglas bodies. They sound the exact same and I will say they certainly had plenty of power. I noticed as I hit the end of the straight that I was turning about 6,500 RPM. I know these things can crank to almost 10 grand in actual use so I have to gather that they are the actual engines with some modifications for durability. The guy said that they use different tolerences and camshafts because race engines are designed to last 500 miles and qualifying engines less than that and they need to do better than that for general use by semi-professionals like us.

It was so cool. When you finish, all you can think about is doing more laps. My suggestion is to drop a hint to your significant other, parents, kids, whatever. Most of the people said their experience was a gift. Interestingly, out of the 33 people in my group, none were female, none were minorities. Bunch of old white guys, most with guts, but that made it fun watching them get in and out through the window. A couple of the dudes surprized me when they fit in the car. Someone told me they have a few different size seats, and they also can later the steering wheel size.

The practice I did on my XboX driving simulator really helped as I knew the lines ahead of time. My lap speed on the track was significantly lower than what I can do on the Xbox, but I attribute that to having the instructor car in front of me as I know I could have gone much faster. In fact, I am sure I could have turned just as good a lap in my LS400, maybe better. Of course the sound wouldn't have been as good.

Drop the hint, they have this at all the tracks. 1-800-BE-PETTY

Denny

[93lexuses]

That sounds really fun. I know for sure that my husband (not old and no big belly LOL ) would love to try that. You sound like you had a really good time so i will have to mention that to him.

[VBdenny]

Coolest thing I have ever done. I would have like to go faster, they said I was going about 140 and I've done close to that on the Interstates before.

Remember they use 4 speeds. A couple of "automatic" people showed up which was somewhat amusing to the rest of us. Big heavy clutch with brutally mechanical shifting. Felt like you had you hand on something as you ran thru the gears.