True Story: First time at the track

[sbash]

Okay, so I'll try to keep this story short. For our anniversary, my wife said, "You're going to do something you've never done before."

As you can imagine, even not knowing what she had in mind, I was all for that! New usually = awesome. Anyway, she had it all planned out that we'd go out of town for the weekend and then to the drag strip. I haven't been to a drag strip since I was a kid, well over 35 years. The cool thing is, we weren't going as spectators- we were going to race.

So as we (I, my wife and our teenage daughter who met up with us) pull up to the ticket booth, the old man collecting the money and doling out the tickets charges us for admission only. I explain that he needs to charge me for a class entry fee too. He seemed bewildered, looked around the vehicle as if we might be pulling some hidden car on an equally invisible trailer and then asks, "If you don't mind, what were you planning to race?" I explain that I'm brand new to racing, but want to try it out and will be racing this car. He grins and proceeds to give me a ticket, forms to fill out and directions of where to go.

Fast forward to my first race (it's a time trial) where I'm lined up against a guy in an S-10 with some kind of transplanted V-8. It sounded pretty tough, but I really had no idea how I'd fare against it.

At the lights and as nervous as can be, I'm trying to focus. My mind is flooded with things I need to think about- Do I have it in launch control, is it warm enough to use launch control, how fast will the lights be, how hard will it be to stage the vehicle, etc....

All the while, I'm totally insulated from any sounds other than my vehicle and the truck occupying the next lane as he does a burn out and revs his engine. My windows are up and I can't hear a word that the track announcer is saying. As my wife later told me, as we are moving to stage our vehicles, the track announcer comes over the speaker and tells the crowd that "this guy in the BMW SUV goes to show that if you want to race, you can bring anything." In essance, the guy is implying that even if you have a porker of a vehicle and it's as slow as mollasses, it's okay because racing is racing.

We stage- orange, orange, yellow, yellow, yellow, green! And off we go. I remember passing the poles that support the signs on the far side of the track, but where did the truck guy go and how did I do? I look in my mirror, but honestly I was too hyped up to even pay attention to whether I saw the truck or not. Looking back ahead, I am startled as I careened toward an "Exit This Way" sign that seemed closer than it should be. Brakes on hard, the car slows and I exit the side of the track. Immediately, I thought, "Crap, I turned too soon!" I had apparently watched the cars before me launching, but I didn't pay attention to where the end of the track was. Instead of driving to the end of the track and making the return, I saw the sign, got excited and took an exit that is typically used for something else.

Okay, that's enough embarrasssement. It's time to find the booth where they are handing out the slips. Using a side access road, I make my way to the booth where a different older gentleman is handing out the time slips. To my surpirse, I finished ahead. My reaction was abysmal (0.6762), but I ran a 7.95 in the 1/8th. The guy in the truck ran a 10.49. About that time, as my wife continued to tell me, the track anouncer gets back on the speaker and proceeds to say something along the lines of, "that SUV is pretty fast, it goes to show you that you never know what you're pulling up next to."

After some helpul tips from fellow racers, I had a best of 0.0817 RT and a 7.90 1/8th time. I even lucked up and won a real race against the 2016 Street Trophy track champion in the process. Most of all, we had a blast and it was really cool to have several people come over, talk and check out the car. The track manager even made a special point to stop and talk with me, thanking me for bringing the car to race and describing it as, "eye-opening".

Thanks for taking the time to read my experience. If given the opportunity, go make you own! You won't regret it.

On a side note, according to an iPhone app, the DA was about 2,200 that day. Vehicle is completely stock and was raced while containing two spare tires - the one it came with and the one this 240 lb man carries around.

[cmyx6go]

That is a great freakin experience and well told story. I got goose bumps reading it and felt your anxiety.

[onfireX5]

Cool story ! Congrats !

[Alan l.]

enjoyed the read!

thanks
Alan

[r33_RGSport]

Congrats!!! The right way to enjoy your beast.

[eonflux]

Great story!!
Thanks for sharing
Any pics?

[deemo319]

Damn that was wild. Great story!!!!! Roll hard my brutha.

[sbash]

My first actual race (and win).

[sbash]

I broke out on my time during the last race. Temps had fallen to about 75 degrees and it was running a little stronger than earlier in the day with 85+ degree temps.

[Luca42]

Great story! Loved it!

Keep on enjoying the car!

[scotty91ss]

That is a great story. Does your daughter think u are the cool dad now?
My teenage daughter enjoys coming to the track and will video my runs. Her favourite memory is when she heard a lady sitting behind her in the stands say to her husband, "look honey, there is a SUV out there, I guess anyone can come here and race"

[sbash]

Originally Posted by scotty91ss

That is a great story. Does your daughter think u are the cool dad now?
My teenage daughter enjoys coming to the track and will video my runs. Her favourite memory is when she heard a lady sitting behind her in the stands say to her husband, "look honey, there is a SUV out there, I guess anyone can come here and race"

I'm not sure she's ready to admit that I'm "cool" just yet, but I think my wife and her both were pleasantly surprised at how fast it was. Fortunately, on that particular day there was not a faster street car, so it was easy to be "cool"...