Sunday, May 18, 2008

Boys Night Out

Jason called me on Saturday afternoon asking me to go go-karting with him and his brother and dad. Since the girls were horse-showing, and I had my mowing, door-hanging, weed-spraying and garage door-installing done, I said "OK".
I have done a small amount of racing in my life. I have raced at Kentucky Speedway with Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure, did the driving experience at Myrtle Beach Speedway and ran the 1/4 scale cars at the Smoky Mountain Speedway along with numerous go-kart tracks, including Dawnview Raceway, our own exclusive dirt track in our yard. However, last night's racing experience left me asking the question, "Where are the HANS devices?"
Fasttimes in Indy was the location. And fast is the word of the day. I think you run somewhere around 45 mph at times. It is out of the pits with a left turn, hard on the accelerator, a sweeping high-speed left, then set up for a 180 to the right. That sets you up for the high speed part of the track. A right turn is followed by a right turn, up the hill to the second level, into a FAST sweeping right, and get ready for calamity corner as you barrel into one more hard right, before charging down the hill into, finally, another left that takes you past the pits and into another lap.
I think it was on Lap 3 of our first heat that I found the wall up there at the end of the high-speed sweeping rights. Being new to the track, I hadn't discovered the danger points yet. I slammed the wall, hitting on my left side, at maybe 40 mph. That's when I wondered where is the HANS? HANS stands for Head And Neck Restraint System and is worn by all the Nascar drivers. I got airborne a little and my neck snapped sideways. That will wake you up a little. I bumped the wall a few times the rest of the evening, but I found a way to get through that turn, quickly and safely the rest of the racing time.
That was easily the most exciting go-kart racing I have ever done. I posted the 24th quickest lap at that track for May 17. That was about 2 seconds slower than the fastest laps. I went as fast as I wanted for the evening, though. Thanks, Jason, Aaron and John for the fun and exciting evening.
To be honest with you, there was a freak fatality at that track a few months ago, apparently at the same place that I smacked the wall. I wasn't ever worried about being seriously injured while driving, but it can happen, and one should be careful when participating in sports like that.
By the way, I am hurting this morning. The neck is stiff, there is a place on the left side of my back where that series of sweeping rights forces the back into the seat and somehow there is a bruise on the right leg. One last question from me. How does it feel to hit the wall at 160 mph, like the Nascar boys do week after week? They just earned a little more respect from me.
Before long, I plan to tell you a little about the Dale Jarrett Driving Adventure that I participated in a few years ago.

2 comments:

Dani said...

Well glad ur ok..did u visit the infield care center :P

Regi said...

Let's just say, the racer in our household has been complaining all day long.