A Day of Speed and a Matter of Trust

As Bryn mentioned in her post below, Saturday was the annual Hyde Park Blast 4-miler. Heading into this race, I was feeling pretty good about the training I'd been doing, the weather was OK, and I had no nagging injuries to deal with.

But, in the minutes leading up to the race, I was feeling pretty sluggy and needed some inspiration and focus. I joked with my buddy Jay at the starting line how we needed a motivational talk from Tom Browning. (Browning miraculously hauls his butt out of bed to emcee the annual Reds 5K, and bumbles through a send-off including such classics as "All you hot chicks be sure to line up on my side of the pack" and "OK, guys, you guys are the best, guys, uuuuh, good luck guys, I'll save a beer for you at the finish... guys.") Since Browning was not an option, I just told myself, "trust your legs." I settled into a comfortable pace, pushed the pace in the uphill parts of the race (of which there were many!), and finished strong for 12th, 1st in my age group.

But the big fun of the day was a trip to the Kentucky Speedway, and a slot in the Mario Andretti Racing School. The premise of this school was that you could drive 6 laps around the 1.5 mile Speedway in a real Indy car. No advance training, no specific experience - just a medical waiver and a valid driver's license gets you in. And 400 bucks. Would you be a little worried about this deal? My friends Jason, Mark, and I sure were. How the hell could they let schmucks like us take control of a car with a jet engine inside and turn laps on a pro track? How many people have perished doing this? Would we all drive like old ladies and get laughed off the track? All these questions were in our heads.

The school consisted of about an hour of verbal instruction and a couple trips around the track in a van to talk you through it. But the best advice we got was to "trust your car." That reminded me of what I'd told myself that morning at the race, and kind of put me at ease.

The idea is that you turn 6 laps trailing a professional instructor. If you stay within the prescribed 4-6 car lengths, your instructor will keep pushing the pace throughout. If you fall behind, your instructor eases up. Pretty simple. I told myself to follow the line and push it as hard as I could.

When you punch the gas on an Indy car, it's like nothing you've ever experienced. The acceleration is totally cool when you let out the clutch and hit the gas. I started out a little tentative, since the steering is just a little different from my Maxima, and you're going 90 mph just about as soon as you pull out of the access road onto the track.

Like everyone else in our class, I got a green flag the first time I went past the starting line, which means to "speed up." As I got more comfortable with the idea, I just told myself to "trust the car" and get into the groove of the track with my instructor. He kept pushing the speed, and I stayed on his tail. One thing I learned is that, when you go around an oval race track, you NEVER let off the throttle. Can you imagine what this feels like? NO, you can't! You've got these crazy G-forces pulling at you, the little steering wheel is vibrating, the engine is howling, and you are (almost literally) flying around the track. All I can say is, WOW!

I got the car up to 167 mph, which was the fastest in our group. But we all did really well. Definitely better than a bunch of old ladies! If you ever have the opportunity to try this, I highly recommend it. I'm working on Bryn for next year's session... Wanna join us? Trust me.