RCR's Trip to School

I recently got to attend a one day stock car racing school, compliments of Autolite and NAPA. (And you wonder why I sell more Autolite plugs?) The school was Gary Suttons Winston Cup Driving School. I had a blast, and gained a whole new respect for the drivers. Gary is a former Busch series and ARCA driver. He would love to run a partial schedule now...but at $70,000 per race in cost...he needs a sponsor to do it.

I arrived at Peachstate Speedway in Jefferson, Georgia around 7:30 am. I didn't have to be there till eight...but I couldn't wait! In case you are not familiar with Peachstate, its a 1/2 mile oval with, I would guess, around 17 degrees of banking. Its a former Winston cup track, and I sure do wish they still ran there! The first person I saw was Gary Sutton. The car was still on the trailer and I got to talk to him a little about the car before the other students arrived. The car was a Chevy...an ex-Hendrick car to be exact. Here is a picture of me and the car if you want to see it. Its decaled up as an ARCA car as that was the last race he ran with this car. The only modifications were a slightly detuned engine, and the addition of a passenger side seat. The engine was detuned so it would not run hot at the slower speeds, and the stop and go driving us rookies require. He told me it dynoed at just over 600hp. Not quite what the Winston Cup racing engines do...but much more horsepower than I had ever had under my butt before.

The first thing we had to do was sign the disclaimers. I took a few minuites to read mine and the most interesting thing was that he has a legal right to charge you for flatspotted tires if you spin, or the repair of the car if you put her in the wall. That in itself was enough to make me be careful. I don't think my wife would understand me selling the house to repair somebody elses racecar!

After our little hike, we came back inside for a few hours of class room instruction. I got a lot out of this. He talked extensively about tire patch contact, and what adjustments can be made to the car, and how they relate to handling. One thing he said that stuck with me was that if you think you have your car adjusted perfectly....just wait 5 laps and it will change. As tires wear, and fuel is burned, the weight shifts change and your back to making adjustments again.

Now came the fun part! We went down to the pits, and we all got in our private cars, and followed him around the track a few times. Again, trying to get down the proper grooves. I never realized that by putting your tires as little as 4 inches out of the groove on entrance, can drastically change your turn exit and can kill your lap times. How these drivers hit the same groove lap after lap is beyond me.

We came back in the pits and suited up. I put on a drivers uniform for the first time in my life. Now I know why Kyle Petty always has his tied around his waist. 'Dem baby's hot! But I looked good! :-)

Now it was our turn to drive a genuine Winston Cup Race car! When my turn came around, I climbed into the drivers window. If you've never experienced this, let me tell you, its tight for an old fat man like me! I can't for the life of me understand how Dale Earnhardt can get in and out without taking the steering wheel off the car. It was all I could do to get in there! (just for the record, I ain't all that big, it just seemed that way at the time)

I got the steering wheel put back on and even got it on straight. In case you have never noticed, drivers put a strip of colored tape around the wheel at top dead center. This gives them an idea of what straight ahead is, when they are deep in a turn, or when they are fighting the wheel in a spin.

After I got strapped in it was time to go. I flipped the ignition on and hit the toggle switch marked "start". I got a genuine rush when that baby fired off and responded to my right foot. I stuck her up in first gear and eased, and I do mean eased off the clutch. A few of my classmates had stalled the car and I was determined I was not going to do it. I did pretty good if I say so my self. Now...when I went to second..thats a different story. I didn't have quite enough rpm's and it begin to lurch on me. I gassed it and it responded nicely and the lurching stopped. I exited pit road and climbed the banking and eased out of turn two, onto the backstretch. I made it to third gear without any disasters.

The purpose of the five lap run was to get us used to the feel of the car a little...and for him to show us once more the proper line. He was strapped into the passenger side seat and yelled directions to us as he saw fit. These five laps were run at about 50 mph. That is an estimation on my part. I can tell you for sure, it was 3000 rpm in third gear. He disected my laps and showed me where my mistakes were. As I came off the back stretch into turn three, I waited a little to long to make the turn. That made me have to turn it a little too sharp and he pointed out that had I been running at full speed, I would have been in the wall. I corrected by turning slightly right and he told me once more, "Your in the wall agian!" By now my line was completely screwed and I was having to turn hard left to make it come off four at the yellow line. As soon as I turned left he said, "There you go in the wall again!" Three times in the wall in one turn, Man...this ain't as easy as it looks!

Finally I got a little better on my last few laps. I think he was comfortable with the fact that I wasn't gonna act a fool and that I really did try to pay attention to what he was telling me.

Then the rain came. It came a shower for about 15 minuites, then the sun popped back out. We were standing around talking and he asked if anybody wanted to take their personal car out for a few laps to help dry the track. I promise you he didn't have to ask me twice! I went out and ran about 30 laps in my car, all the while practicing my line. I noticed that some of the others were playing, passing each other and such. I just kept watching my groove and when they came up on me, I just pulled high and let them by and went back to work. I was determined I was gonna do good when I got to make the hot laps.

When the track was dry we pulled back into the infield and walked over to the car. There was one guy who was gonna have to leave early, and didn't care to drive the car himself, but wanted to ride with Gary at speed instead. I told the guys I would go home happy if I got to do that. When he pulled back into the pits he asked..."Anybody else want to ride?" I was at that right side window before he could finish the sentence! Now...If I thought the drivers side was hard to get into, this was 10 times tighter! The roll bars were not modified at all for the passenger seat, so you kinda had to let your legs slide under them. There wasn't much clearance and I had to twist like Elvis on stage to get in. Finally...I dropped into the seat and my first thought was, "I ain't never gonna be able to get outta this thing!"

I reached down to my left and grabbed the waist belt and pulled it over. I got the left side shoulder strap...then the right side sholder strap hooked into the left waist belt and then reached for the right side waist belt. I was sittin' on the damn thing! I had to have a little help to get it up as I couldn't move. Finally, I got them all hooked up and cinched down. I slid the goggles on, (just like Dales) and then the helmet. I gave him a thumbs up and said, "Were ready".

He fired it up and wasted no time burning out. He was in second gear before I knew it and its a good thing there was no speed limit on pit road or we would have been black flagged for sure. He eased it out of pit road and into third. As we exited two...he begin weaving back and forth to clean the rubber off the tires. When you watch them do this on tv, you don't realize how sharp they are actually turning. As we went into turn three...he continued to weave back and forth through the turn. I had thoughts of telling him, "You just hit the wall!", but I thought better of it. As we exited four it was like there was a green flag flying. He showered down on it and I could feel the pure acceleration. It sounded almost like an automatic transmission when he shifted into fourth. He stayed in the gas well past the start finish line and eased off the gas while easing on the brake as we entered one. He hit the line exactly like he had been telling me to do, and about half way through the turn he was back in the gas full song. I was half way down the back stretch before I realized I was white knuckling the roll bar in front of me. I told myself to relax, and I did just that. I eased off the grip and stuck my right hand out the window and scooped some air in on me. I had only been in the car a few minuites and already I could taste the sweat rolling down my face. We made about two laps at what I thought was full speed.

He looked over at me and I could see the question in his eyes, as to how I was handling things. I looked him back in the eyes, gave him a nod, a smile and a thumbs up. He looked back ahead and dived deeper into the turn than we had yet. He barely touched the brakes while barely cracking the throttle. We got to the middle of the turn and he nailed the gas and I could actually feel the car wanting to break loose it seemed. Maybe it was my imagination. I never saw him fight the wheel or turn into a skid or anything, but in my mind we were on the ragged edge. The acceleration was something else off the turns. I tried to pay attention to how he was entering the turns, and the lines he was running, but the speed and excitement made it hard to do.

I was oblivious to anything except the car and the track for those 15 laps or so. I wish I had thought to time them...or have one of my buddys do it, but it never crossed my mind. I know we were flyin'. I can not imagine what that must be like with 35 to 40 other cars out there with you.

Finally I felt him come off two without nailing the throttle. He pushed in the clutch and downshifted to third and when he released the clutch...third gear was MIA. It was nowhere to be found. He fought and fought the shifter but it would not go in third for nothing. He eased on past the pit entrance and came to almost a stop on the front stretch. He nailed the gas again, and went up through the gears. It went into third fine on the upshift, but still he couldn't get it to downshift. He kicked it up into neutral and we coasted into the pits.

Now it was time for me to try and get out. I unbuckled the straps and threw the shoulder harness backwards. I took off the helmet and goggles and handed them out the window. Here we go. I pulled myself up and lay my shoulders back on the window. My knees were trying to bend in the wrong direction! I kept doing the Elvis thing again untill I finally was able to get my upper body out the window. I had to pull with only my upper body and let my legs drag behind. Finally I stepped out of the car, and unzipped the drivers suit down to the waist. The 90 degree air felt so cool after sweating for a while.

He then took another student for a ride, but they cut it short when he realized that the clutch was slipping. I'm sure that was related to the fact that he couldn't downshift. Gary decided that rather than risk further damage to the car, with us Rookies driving....that we would call it a day.

I have to admit, I was pretty disapointed that I didn't get to drive at full speed, untill I heard him say that we would reschedule for a Sunday afternoon and we would get our hotlaps afterall. I like this idea! Now I will get two days in a cup car instead of one.

Man....I can't wait!

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