Tom Hits the Track

One day I was sitting at my computer, Pat was at hers, when she asked me if I would be interested in a racing school at Stockton Speedway. I told I would, but doubted we could afford it. She told me that she had a half-off coupon. I jumped up and trotted over to her computer to see.

So a month later we make the trek to Stockton. We got there early and got to look around town some. This is not an activity I would recommend, unless you have a strong desire to have a drink in one Stockton's several structurally unsound bars.

So finally it was time to head to the track. Got all checked it and suited up. Pat and Tonya took their place in the stands to watch. Then I stood around for nearly an hour waiting for my class to start. The people running the show seemed to have no actual plan and several employees ran around doing all the work while several other stood around chatting.

Finally the called my group. We all piled into the pace car, or rather pace SUV, for a tour of the track. This was not an entirely pleasant experience. The SUV had a frightening amount of body role and the majority of the time the guy at the wheel, our instructor, was busy yelling at the cars being paced.

Finally the cars were paced to satisfaction and we were dropped off at the outdoor classroom. Where we sat for a long time while the instructor went and paced a few more groups. Finally he came over and gave us about fifteen minutes on the theory of cornering and instruction on the odd gearbox which consists of two levers, one for first and reverse and the other for second and third. Fortunately, once you get moving you leave it in third so that got rid of my shifting anxiety.

Then is was time for the ride-along with the professional driver. Actually it was time to stand around for quite a long time waiting to be picked at random for the ride-along. I finally got tired of waiting and put myself in the face of the pit manager and got put in a car.

The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't see anything. The seat was so low that I couldn't see the front, back or side of the car. Then we were off, and I do mean off. The speed was surreal. It was pretty frightening to see the wall rushing by the window and the corner leaping towards you up front. At the same time though, there was no real drama going on. The pro driver was moving like he was on a relaxing drive in the country, and the car had no body roll at all and there was never a peep from the tires. The four laps went by very quickly. I was left feeling very intimidated.

Then there was another wait. But finally my name was called and I was assigned to car number 1. Always a good sign. I got strapped in and sat waiting while the others got their belts adjusted. Surprisingly, sitting in the car was comforting. I was still scared though. First there was the lingering memory of the ride-along. Also, I hadn't driven a standard transmission car in several years. I was praying that I didn't stall it out and look like a fool.

Finally we got the order to start engines. The monster fired right up. Then I got waved forward. I pushed in the clutch, put it in first, let out the clutch and the car rolled forward without incident. Then as I approached the gate to the tack I was warned not to hit right wall, which I could not see. I steered slightly left and entered the track, apparently missing the wall. I took my place behind the pace SUV and waited for the others.

We ran the pace laps and did the passing drills, which was comforting, because now I knew that if I was in anyone's way, the flagman would tell me to pull over and let them pass. I worried less about going too slow.

Then the pace car pulled off and the green flag waved and the car in front of me barely accelerated. After a couple corners the flagman had him pull over to let me by. I went by and let the engine roar for the first time. It was surprisingly easy. Then next few laps I pressed a little harder and went much faster. I was amazed at the power of the brakes.

Then I came quickly upon another car and it took half a lap to get past him. A lap later I had to wait for another car to get out of my way. i had now passed all the other cars on the track. The ego took over. I pushed harder and found it no harder to slow it down for the corner. Each lap I pushed harder and went faster. Then I got caught behind a slower car. It was the one I passed on lap two. Two more quick laps and I got caught behind the other two cars going quite slowly. This time though the flagman didn't move them over. Turns out the session was almost over so I was stuck for another lap and a half till we pulled into the pits.