[salty dog]

I've always had a love for cars and seeing them go fast. Back in the day (circa 1975), I used to occasionally bring my 440 Roadrunner to Wednesday street (grudge) night at Epping. That was a lot of fun. (Sure wish I still had THAT!) My son purchased 2 Nascar ride along groupons for a Father's Day present. I had never been to the Speedway in person and found it very impressive. Well, I had the ride of my life! It's sure one thing to watch racing on TV or even at the track but totally to different to experience it. Kinda like watching parachuting and then actually going up and jumping out of a plane. The visceral experience of hearing (and feeling) the deafening sound of the engine (should have brought ear plugs), the heat, the raw smell of fuel and uncatalyzed exhaust was such a treat to my senses. I was trying to take it all in while at the same time being rocketed down the acceleration lane and onto the track. The g-force going through the turns was amazing; it just didn't seem possible the car could corner that hard. We hit over 150 in the straights and then the impossibly hard braking took us down in seconds to about 100 into the banks. Definitely, the best father's day present I ever had! When the Andretti ride along experience returns, I would encourage any fans to give it a try. Maybe next time, I'll try driving as robmac did.