Petty driving experience

[Boltbreaker]

Me and my brother went to Chicagoland Speedway yesterday and did the Petty Driving Experience. It was really cool. A bit pricy though. We did the King Eperience which is the 18 lab drive your own car package.
I also did the ride along with an instructor which was a head scratcher. I thought to myself when I got out of the car..."I was a passenger in a stock car that was doing 170 MPH with a driver I just met 15 minutes ago".
Anyone done the Ultimate Experience? It was a bit too much for my budget.

 

[Bonehead]

Sounds like a hoot.

 

[bob w]

BB, How fast did you drive it? When you drove, were you the only car on the track? My son & I did the ride along at Las Vegas and enjoyed it a lot. At Disney World there is a Petty track that is only for ride along & u-drive. There are no bleachers and I think no racing. We watched for a while & everyone said it was the best money they ever spent. I knew I'd putt around the track at 50mph if I did it, because I hate to hurt equipment.

 

[DA34GUY]

Did it@ Fontana a few years ago--
After i got out I couldn't get out sum more $100 fast enuf to do it again.
40 laps total that day, a day I'll never forget.

 

[Boltbreaker]

There was an instructor in front of me in a seperate car. We where the only two cars on the track. I was told to stay 3 car lengths behind him and he would know if I was prepaired for more speed by my distance. It is a progression type thing. The correct distance equals faster laps next time around. By the last lap of my first set I was at 145.30MPH and doing a 43.08 second lap time. Chicagoland is a 1.5 mile track if I remember right.
I finished my second session and I asked the instructor why I had to get my foot out of the gas between corner 4 and 1 and he laughed and said I was only allowed to do a 43 second lap time in the "King Experience" at that track. I was pretty damn close by being off by .08 seconds.
My next question was how fast of a lap can I run if I would have bought the "Ultimate Driving Experience" and he said a 41 second lap time which he said would be around 165MPH plus. I will be doing that one next year after I save some more coin!!
It was well worth the money.
My brother did it too and his car DVD player failed midway thru his session and he got to go a second session for free because they want your experience to be perfect and allow you to buy the DVD. That my friends is called a stand up company!!! He got a $900 package for free. Lucky man!

 

[dmw56]

Sounds like you and your brother had a great time. I'm jealous! I would love to do that some day. Sounds like a lot of fun. I did the Jim Russell Racing School at Laguna Seca Raceway a road course in Formula Fords. It was a lot of fun but still a lot of restrictions.

 

[Gastrick]

I'm glad you got to do that Boltbreaker. That's one of the "to do" things on my retirement list. I don't know if I'll ever really get to do it but I hope so.