Happy Birthday to me!

[dengood1]

Well folks, my 40th birthday was Saturday and my wife surprised the heck out of me this weekend and told me we were going to Universal in Orlando for the weekend to spend my birthday. She turned left at hwy 44(instead of right) and started heading toward Ocala, the opposite direction, and wouldn’t tell me where we were going. Of course after passing Ocala, I knew we were heading to Daytona Beach. We got to the hotel, checked in, then she said she wanted to go for a walk on the beach with the kids----this was at 9:30pm and dark. I said alright and we headed down toward the beach. When we got down by the beach a bunch of my family and friends were down there hiding behind a long row of bushes and when I got to the bushed the yelled “surprise” and scared the living crap out of me! They had been planning this for months and I didn’t have a clue! That wasn’t the big thing. They were all there to see me get my birthday present from my wife and girls and experience "the gift" with me. Here is what she got me:

http://www.1800bepetty.com/experience/Rookie.aspx

I was signed up to drive a fully race prepped, 650hp racecar around Daytona raceway for 8 laps by myself at 150mph! I've never been so nervous in my life after finding this out, up until the drive. It was unbelievable……just wish I could have gone another 20 or 30 laps. I followed an instructor’s car at 4 car lengths at 150mph for 8 laps! He didn’t wait to get moving either……we came out of the pits in 4th gear HAULING butt!!! They had 2 cameras recording, one on me and one on the track in front of me being recorded on a memory stick which can be turned into a dvd if so desired so I can watch it anytime and remember it, which my wife purchased for me as well. What an awesome experience that I would recommend for anyone that enjoys racing. They still had all of the cars there from the Coke Zero 400 from the week before still in the garages and they were open. My sister knows a woman that works for the same company as her , but in a different office(different city) that has a husband that works at the track……..he happened to be there Saturday and was the flag man! He gave us a VIP tour and took us into the garages. He sat some of the kids in the cars, started them up for us and everything. All of the people involved, from the instructors, ticket takers, and basically everyone treated us like royalty-----some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. When they found out it was my birthday, they even treated me better(doing all kinds of funny things for me, announcing my birthday, LETTING ME DRIVE A LITTLE FASTER than the other drivers, etc.) You want to talk about power, even at 150mph I was only at ½ throttle. After talking to my instructor after the event, I was commenting on how the cars had so much power even at 150mph and he just grinned and said “the car you drove did NOT have a restrictor plate”! Meaning the car was immediately responsive and power on tap. RAW, unbelievable power……..you have to drive it to understand. I pushed the throttle at 150 and it felt like a whole new set of valves opened up and it was like I woke up the motor! I pushed the accelerator all the way down after coming out of turn 2 onto the back stretch and the car pulled like no tomorrow, the power was friggin unbelievable! I would have NEVER expected this gift and owe my wife BIG time! After I was done driving, one of the other instructors reached in, shook my hand and said that my instructor/lead car had NO instructions for me and I drove perfect. Unknown to him I was scared as hell and was gripping the steering wheel with a death grip for the first 2 laps, then it was a piece of cake. The car sticks to the racetrack like glue. After about 4 laps I started taking it all in by looking around the cockpit a little bit, checking out the tack, checking out the guages, etc., when I realized I was really moving and took my eyes off the track for a second and I said to myself "what the heck are you doing, you need to be watching the car in front of you!" I was about 2 feet from the wall at that point and about crapped my pants. I kept calm and got back in his tracks and kept my eyes on his bumper the rest of the time!! lol The only thing that bothered me a little bit is that the car was almost "too" easy to steer and I never really was 100% throttle for more than a couple of seconds----although it was fast enough for sure, but had a lot more left. I have no idea how the real drivers in this sport can go 50mph faster than I was going with 42 other cars within inches of them beside and behind them. The experience gave me a true appreciation of what they do every week. It was a great experience and a million times better than any roller coaster I've ever been on and I highly recommend for those who enjoy racing. Thanks for letting me share! Here are some pics from my "driving experience":


Stuffing my fat butt in a racecar---not fun.......or easy! Nerves were not holding up well at this point. Yes, the suits are quite hot.......especially when you put the helmet on. At one point, when I was driving, sweat was dripping off of my eyelash.

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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']ahhhh........I'm in(and they didn't need vaseline!). The helmet was the hardest thing to get in the window, especially with wearing the HANS device....you can't turn your head with it on.[/font]
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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']me going by at 150....I'm driving the #83 [/font]

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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Last lap across the finish line....[/font]

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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']idling back into pits....I had to rev it a couple of times. It sounded awesome.[/font]

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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']yep.....that's me in there.....[/font]

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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']I'm sure this car looks familiar to some:-) There were still about 20-25 cars there from the Coke Zero 400(previously Pepsi 400, Firecracker 400). Not sure if these were driven in the race, but they definitely had debris all over the fronts of them.[/font]

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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Another car that was being driven by us rookies Yep, me again in the background at about 140mph. And yes, it's kind of scary following a car that close at that speed with no brake lights! [/font]

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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']This is what the driving experience is like at Daytona(video): This is exactly what I did. Notice how much faster the last lap is.




then the ride along(video).....speeds are a little higher...around 170mph. Professional driver.

[ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=axbe3qM1TOI"]http://youtube.com/watch?v=axbe3qM1TOI[/video]
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[Reddwarf]

Sounds like you had a great birthday! Your wife is way cool to give you a surprise like that. Congratulations and Happy belated birthday!

[dengood1]

Sounds like you had a great birthday! Your wife is way cool to give you a surprise like that. Congratulations and Happy belated birthday!

Thanks Don......did you watch the videos?

I forgot to mention.......I've NEVER sat in, nor drove a racecar....

[Gary Sword]

That's really great Dennis. I'm glad you had such a great 40th Birthday old man. Nothing like driving on a track. I must commend your wife for an excellant surprise.

[dengood1]

That's really great Dennis. I'm glad you had such a great 40th Birthday old man. Nothing like driving on a track. I must commend your wife for an excellant surprise.

Thanks "older" man:-)

Just how much, nobody knows

[wisemonkey]

that sound just brought tears to my eyes you are one lucky man to have drove on that track. I sure miss though when nascar was the winston cup and bud tasted better

[67Customs]

Awesome present! Very cool!

[Rsurfer]

Kudos to your wife for a great surprise.

[Meghan]

Wife is a keeper, what a great experience, sounds like she put a lot of work into pulling it off. Happy birthday!

[Jimmie]

Wow, what an experience. Before seeing the pics I didn't expect the cars to be the real mccoy. What a birthday. You pulling for the 83 car next weekend?