Racing: Something New at 62
Story and Photos by Paul Kennedy
The move to Kingston, Ontario from Port Coquitlam, B.C. in September 2006, was a big change. But being only two kilometres from our first two granddaughters made it more than worth it. Of course, my son and his wife are expecting our third granddaughter in September, in Surrey. Can you say air miles?
When we moved, we shipped both of our vehicles by rail to Toronto, with Lyle Hansen Forwarding. It was reasonably priced, and saved wear and tear on the 2003 GT Cruiser, and my 1979 Malibu, 350, five-speed, 3.73 Eaton posi, bench seat, ex-little old lady car. I soon found out that the car scene in Ontario is very active. From May to September, there are cruises virtually any night of the week, all within 45 minutes of Kingston. Then, on Sundays, there are car shows at one of the many small towns nearby as well. NASCAR has quite a following here, and there are two tracks within a day’s drive. This rekindled my interest in The Richard Petty Driving Experience, which I had read about and seen ads for on TV for years. I had never seriously considered it before, because in B.C., all the NASCAR tracks were a flight, not a drive, away. Since going fast is always a good option (except on the 401), I decided to sign up for The King’s Experience (18 laps) at New Hampshire Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire (about an hour northwest of Boston).
After the beautiful drive through Vermont and New Hampshire on Saturday, we arrived at the track Sunday morning at 8:00 am, under very grey, threatening skies. After signing the track waiver, we went through one of the two 20 foot-diameter, 120 foot-long tunnels to the infield. The place was huge, and has grandstand seating for 95,000! This was definitely not Langley Speedway! The Petty Experience people were personable, friendly and very professional, exemplified by operations manager Don Wetmore Jr. In very short order, we had on our driving suits and had been fitted for helmet size. We also received our ID lanyards and a memory stick for our wrists that would allow them to record our entire driving session. After we watched the introductory video with greetings from “The King,” we were split up into three groups for safety, car layout, and on-track expectations information sessions. After waiting for the heavy misting (don’t even think the “R” word), we finally moved out to the track and had our pictures taken with one of the cars. When the cars finally started up, there was no doubt that these are race cars.
Before you get in the car, they put the HANS device on your neck, then in through the window into the very tight seat. After attaching the steering wheel, having the five-point harness made TIGHT, and having your picture taken, the window net is put in and you await the command to start the engine. Butterflies are present - in swarms. Finally my instructor’s car pulled in about three car lengths ahead of me. The engine snarled to life and settled into an idle. I slipped the clutch at about 2,500 rpm and away we went. Up to four grand, shift to second, then third and exit the pits following the instructor. We stayed low through the corner, since there are ride-along cars flying by at speed. As we
entered the back straight, it’s up to almost five grand and into fourth. You’re up towards the wall and trying to catch up to the instructor and follow in his car’s tracks. If you fall back too far, he will flash the green LED taillights on the left rear of his car, if you get too close he will flash the amber lights in the right rear taillights. This is the only way the instructor could get you to go faster. In my eight laps, I only ever got green lights, and my wife said I was far more than three car lengths back, which explains my 51-second lap time. In my own defense, many years of trying to maintain one and, two and … spacing on the freeway does not help you to tailgate at 85 mph (137 km/h). My brain kept screaming “too close!” Both Don and Steve Ring said that in my next ten laps, I should make it a point to get close enough to the instructor to get some amber lights. Everyone got out from their first eight laps grinning like maniacs; speed is a drug.
Finally, I get to go out again, same car and instructor car, too. I was encouraged again by Steve, as he did the belts, to go out and get some amber. Once out on the track I began to get it wide open on the 1,500 foot straights, and I managed to keep up to the instructor in the corners. This is not as easy as you might think, since the g-forces generated in the corners are several times more than you will ever have experienced on the road, and sliding off the track feels like a real option. Of course, I eventually accepted that if the instructor could do the corner at these crazy speeds, then if I followed him smoothly so could I. My last two laps got down to 44.3 seconds, with my top speed rising to 106 mph (170 km/h). On the back straight, this meant that the sweet-sounding 358 small block was in the 6,200 rpm range, and liked it! This time, I bounced out of the car with thumbs up from both Steve and Don. What an adrenalin rush! I’m already planning the return trip next year to try and lower my lap times. Maybe I’ll see you there.
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