You Must Turn Right To Go Straight
October 5, 2009

By
Deats H. Beaird

Click HERE for photos!

      When is the last time that you purposely set out to do something for nothing but pure unadulterated all out let the good times roll fun and in doing so what you actually ended up doing was not only surpassing the definition of “fun” but achieving what for you anyway could be interpreted as nothing less than a “life time experience”?  Such was the pleasurable situation that I found myself in after completing another of my “Bucket List” items on Saturday, October 10, 2009.

      This story actually began two years ago when my #1 son gave me what he knew was an opportunity to participate in an activity that I had desired to do for a very long time; and was, in fact, and unbeknown to my son, one of the dream activities on my “Bucket List.”

      It was Christmas, 2006.  And in previous years, as is most typical with young adults who are busy being college students and then evolving to young professionals, gifts for Father’s Days, Birthdays, and Boxing Days (Christmas) had taken a back seat to a young man’s academic, economic, and just plain ole life situations; and rightfully so.  For by the time your children get into their twenties, and for some possibly even earlier, the understanding of what a true relationship between father and son exists only to the point that the child is capable of comprehending that such relationships are not built on gifts and material possessions, but rather on life, respect, and a level of understanding one to another.  

      Christmas 2007, however, was not to be the same as previous years had been between son and father.  Oh, the adult valued and much appreciated Christmas card was handed to dad. But unlike previous years the 2007 Christmas card from son to father had a message in it.  And, while part of the message shall remain between father and son a portion of the message I will share.  The shared portion of the message is cash with the attached instructions. “This is to be used for the purchase of a twenty lap Team Texas driving school for yourself. Go and enjoy this as much as I know you have always wanted to do.” Once I was able to get past this, as well as the unshared portion of the message it hit me.  I was finally going to get behind the wheel of a real live hard core, go as fast as your confidence, skill, and just plain ole nerve will let you go, or, up until the point you hit the rev limiter, whichever occurs first.  Simply stated, “pull them belts down tight and let’s go racing boys”.

      For those of you who are not familiar with Team Texas it is an organization who is in the business of providing to the general public the opportunity to ride in or drive an authentic race car that has been  designed and built to NASCAR specifications; thereby having the capability to travel safely at speeds of up to 200 MPH.  Fact is, according to a Team Texas representative, all of the Team Texas NASCAR race cars have been acquired by Team Texas from the actual teams that originally race teams that raced the cars at the NASCAR level. 

      Yes, that is correct.  You, as an individual, can make yourself an appointment with Team Texas to meet them at Texas Motor Speedway, get schooled, suit up, climb into a NASCAR “stock car”, fire up an engine with a few more horse power than what your average (or above average for that matter) grocery getter has, mash the pedal on the right, and go as fast as Team Texas is comfortable in allowing you to go; ie 160 MPH.  All you have to do is provide cash, the desire to go fast, and be willing to turn right in order to go straight.  And if you do not go fast everyone that is at TMS watching you will know you are not going fast. How? Because they will be able to hear you are not going fast. They will also be watching as everyone else on the track at the same time you are will be blowing your doors off as they go by you. Face it, the basic reason for driving a car designed like a NASCAR race car is to go fast, right? No, there are no style points for trying to look cool while cruising around TMS at a speed no faster than what an 18 wheeler does on Interstate Highway 35 located outside of TMS.  Consequently, there is one basic rule once you get on the track.  “Go fast or go home”.  

      Now, as I have previously intimated in earlier articles, I have a job that takes me all over the world.  And I only mention this now because after receiving my go racing gift from my #1 son, my job pretty well saw to it that scheduling such an activity as a Team Texas driving school date was quite the challenge.  This, however, really did not bother me.  You see, I am one of those people who, when they get something new, and or long sought after, they have a strong tendency to relish the fact that they have it, sorta for a very long time.  So while I was delayed in finally getting to use my gift, at the same time I enjoyed savoring the thought, and looking forward to the day when I would finally get to go and mash the pedal on the right.

      So, as time went by, and my travel schedule continued to stay crazy, I had time to think about how my brother and I did so many things together when we were young; and how cool it would be if he and I could go NASCAR racing together.  Finally, one day while  returning home on a 17 hour flight I made the decision.   I would gift my brother a 20 Lap Driving School with Team Texas, he and I would pick a date well into the future to use our certificates, I would tell those who create my travel schedule the date, and my brother and I would go racing together. 

      By the way, do you know Murphy?  You know, the Murphy of the world famous Murphy’s Law.  Well, from time to time ole Murphy likes to visit me and check to see how my constitution will hold up when he applies his law.  Approximately 10 months before it was time for my brother and I to go racing Murphy stepped in, pressed go on his law, and the racing schedule my brother and I had established was put in grave jeopardy.  Simply stated, my brother had a heart attack.  My brother survived the heart attack thank you for asking, but his recovery time was longer than what he and I had planned. And then, to put the cherry on top of this particular Murphy’s sundae my brother’s cardiac specialist said, “go racing?”; I don’t think so big boy.  And that was that.  Murphy had scored again.

      So there I was, the proud owner of two certificates, 20 laps each, both of which by Team Texas guidelines were set to expire 12 months from the date of purchase.  Guess I was going to pull them belts down tight and do 40 laps as opposed to just 20.  Then it occurred to me.  Given that I had “gifted” a certificate to my brother, and I as the purchaser of his Team Texas driving certificate, I could transfer my brother’s certificate to someone else. So why do I not “regift” my brother’s 20 laps to the person who provided me with the opportunity to go drive my 20 laps? (This is a point that you may want to remember; especially if you have any plans on gifting a Team Texas driving school certificate to someone.  If you “gift” a driving certificate, you as the purchaser of the certificate can, if necessary, contact Team Texas and reassign a “gifted” certificate to an individual other than the original person to which the certificate was gifted.  However, the direct purchase of a certificate goes under the name of the individual making such as purchase, and can not be transferred into another individual’s name.  Finally, regardless of whether you do a direct purchase of a certificate, or receive a certificate as a gift, twelve months from the date of the purchase of any certificate the certificate expires.)  You know, the old use it or loose it rule.   

      But this question immediately gave rise to another question. Will my #1 son be interested in going racing, NASCAR style, with his dad?  A strange question you ask?  Not necessarily so.  You see, for the last 31 years the gear head bug has yet to take a bite out of my #1 son. Everything that you read about what I do, photograph, work on, and be involved with relative to my ’32, as well as rodding and racing in general, my #1 son has zero interest in.  My #1 son has not been to the drag races with me since he was eight.  My son has never gone to any car show with me. (Visited my ’32 at Dallas Autorama last year as a courtesy to me) My #1 son has been in my ’32 one time, while it was sitting still. My #1 son does not subscribe to or have any interest in reading hot rod magazines.  My #1 son has a flat big screen TV, complete with HD, and has no interest in watching Power Block, Pass Time, Barret Jackson auctions, NASCAR, NHRA, or IHRA. Like I said, no gear head bug bite, nibble, or even a close fly by has occurred with my #1 son. Given this history, therefore, what were the chances of him wanting to go racing?  

      Well, you can write me up as the most surprised dad on the planet. When I asked my #1 son if he wanted to use my brother’s Team Texas certificate and go racing with me without hesitation he responded back with, “sure I would”.  After me hearing my son’s response you could have knocked me over with a feather.  Talk about surprised.  But I was cool.  I was careful not over react to his answer.  I just responded with “word”, told him the date we needed to go, what time we needed to be at TMS to check in, and that was that. And as I hung up the phone (actually closed my phone) from talking with #1 I could not help but wonder that having received a positive response from my #1 son on going racing with me would Murphy drop by again to pay me a visit so soon?

      5:00AM, the first hour of the magical day finally arrived After waiting for 53 years  I was finally getting out of bed for the sole purpose of driving to a NASCAR track, walking up to a NASCAR race car, sliding through the window to helmet up, buckle up, fire it up, drop it into gear, mash the peddle on the right and see just how good of a paved oval race track driver I could be.  My Bucket List was just a few brief hours from having one more life goal removed from its list of entries.

      5:00 AM you say.  Why so early?  Answer; atmospheric temperature.  Given that I had no desire to drive in any level of heat the Team Texas 1st class of a day (7:30AM) was the perfect time for me.  Check in time was 7:00AM, I think class began at 8:00AM, and from there I have no idea what time it was when I did what because the last thing on my mind was the time. What I can tell you is that by 10:45AM I had completed fulfilling a life long dream, picked up my photographs, said my good byes to all, and was headed toward the parking lot with a big chasseur cat grin on my face, a feeling of success and satisfaction in my mind, and a sense of closure having done something very special in my heart.

      From the moment you begin the check in process with Team Texas until you start your walk to the parking lot to depart there is no doubt in your mind that aside from having participated in a most unique experience, you have done such through one of the most well planned, well organized, and well executed event processes you will every have the pleasure of going through.  Stated in more simple terms, when it comes to running a racing school and amateur race car driving experience, Team Texas more than has their stuff together.  Sign in is smooth.  The driving class is informative as well as entertaining. The division of the large group into small groups based on the reason each person is there (10 lap driving, 20 lap driving, ride along) is efficient, timely, and no non sense. (As an aside, if your drive in life is to insure that you are always the center of attention, life of the party, or to be disruptive to gain attention, do yourself a favor. Do not go to a Team Texas managed driving school. There is no time or tolerance for such behavior by the TT team, or for those of us who are their for the specific purpose of successfully driving a NASCAR race car.  

      After being divided into groups each group was loaded into a van for an 80 MPH cruise around the track. During this van cruise much of the track driving information that was explained during the school was once again repeated by the van driver.  It is during the van ride that, for me anyway, what was said in the driving school really came together.  The final result was that I stepped out of the van feeling very comfortable in my mind that I was more than up to the task of successfully navigating the TMS track at a speed at which I could be proud. All that was left for me to do was to take this comfort level in my mind and translate it into controlled speed on the track.  It was just about time for the most famous words in sports; “gentlemen, and lady, start your engines.

      Once we left the vans we were sorted again, with the unlucky blokes who were put in Group I proceeding immediately to suit up.  Groups 2 and 4?  We had time to make one more, and for some, most important personal pit stop.  Then, while Group I went over the wall Groups 2 thru 4 began suiting up and then proceeding to a designated location along the pit wall.  From there it was just a matter of minutes before the members of Groups 2 and 4 we all would begin to turn our various driving dreams into driving reality. 

      One more time we were gathered by Group number, each of us given car number assignments, and then with helmets in hand waited for our car number to appear on pit road.  And then 53 years of waiting came to an end when my ears heard a TT member say, “Group 4, go to your cars”.  My time in the NASCAR sun had arrived.  It was show time.

      As I climbed into Old Spice #14 it was as I suspected.  It was easier to get into a NASCAR race car than it is getting into my ’32.  I lifted my right leg through the window, reached in the cockpit to find a roll bar in order to stabilize myself on top of the door sill, pulled my left leg up and through the window opening, and gently slide down into the perfectly angled seat which sat the perfect distance from the pedal on the right.  Sitting there it reminded me of the time I had my first “sit down” in a top fuel drag boat driver’s capsule, only more comfortable.  With the assistance of at TT member standing outside #14 I was able to locate all of the seat belt ends to include the submarine strap, buckled up, pulled the belts down comfortable but tight, and watched as the window net went up. 

      There I was.  Double hand full of steering wheel all ready to rock and roll.  Well not exactly.  As I looked to my right Tim (my ride along driving instructor) popped through the rider’s side window, buckled up, and introduced himself, all in one smooth motion.  Just think about this.  This man named Tim, and many others just like him on the Team Texas staff, climb in to a 160 MPH race car with someone behind the wheel that they know basically nothing about.  Tim had no idea of my actual age, health condition, my motivation for wanting to be in the driver’s seat, whether or not I had ever driven a race car of any kind; and last but not least if I would or would not mash the pedal on the right hard enough to make our ride together to some level above boring.  Think about it.  Can you imagine being a race car driver and having to sit in the rider’s seat and have some “weak sister” drive you around a mile and one half banked oval NASCAR track no faster than what some people drive down an interstate highway?  What a nauseating thought, right?

      Tim took me through a few more items that had been mentioned in the driving school portion of the program; ie can you drive a standard, mash on the clutch pedal and get a feel for it, shift from 2nd to 3rd to 4th, go back to 2nd.  We then reviewed the push start procedure (you know the one we had to use as teenagers in our stick shift cars when our battery always died just at the most inopportune time in your life) and then we were set.  I pushed in the clutch, made sure one more time we were in 2nd, and then felt the four wheeler behind us begin the push start down pit road.  When we got to the proper speed Tim gave me the signal, I let the clutch out, the engine came to life, and there I was, driving 750 horses down pit road at the Texas Motor Speedway and heading out on the track between turn one and two. Nope, did not have time to say one word to Elizabeth. As I came out of turn two, Tim gave me the go sign, I headed up toward the wall and mashed the pedal on the right.  First goal? Get up to the rev limiter and then drop down just below it, stay off the wall, and get ready for turn 3.

      The first thing that I was the most surprised about was how absolutely easy #14 was to drive.  Rolls, Mercedes, Buggatti, Porsche, Cadillac, and all the rest eat your hearts out! #14 drove like a dream.  Acceleration like you would not believe.  Glide through the corners like melted butter running down a stack of hot pancakes. The feeling of total stability, regardless of where you were on the track.  What an absolute rush; controlled rush, but rush none the less.  

      As my first 10 laps went by two things that could be done better began to show themselves.  I got passed twice.  Why?  Not hustling through the corners hard enough.  Given that I had never driven #14 before I was not sure how fast was too fast in a corner.  No excuse. The way you find out how fast is too fast in the corners is you go into a corners #1 and #3 on the correct line, mash on the pedal on the right until your instructor signals to level off, or you come shooting out of turn #2 and #4 feeling like you have a rocket sled tied to your back side.

      The second issue.  On the straight away you must turn right to go straight.  That’s right. A NASCAR race car is designed to automatically go left.  So if you want to go straight you must turn the steering wheel approximately ¼ of a turn to the right (this is what worked for me in #14 anyway) in order to go straight.  Talk about having to over rule your mind.  Get within 24 inches of the wall on the back straight (which is where you really need to be in order to get ready to go into turn 3) and keep turning the steering wheel to the right, aka toward the wall, in order to go straight. This takes a bit of concentration when you do it the first few times. 

      And if you do not remember, or can not make yourself turn right to go straight?  You will make the back stretch twice as long because you will be zig zaging all the way from turn #2 to turn #3; or, a Tim will be reaching over and correcting your line so that he does not have to sit and wonder if you are going to eventually hit the wall or spin out due to your ever widening zig zag pattern.

      On lap 9 I took the white flag, hustled my way through the last lap, and then took the checkered flag while driving almost directly under the starter’s stand.  Drove #14 in to  turn #1, lifted per previous instructions in the school and from Tim, pushed in on the clutch, Tim killed the power, I shifted the tranny into neutral, and we then proceeded to coast a mile and ½ and finished up by rolling #14 down pit road and stopping at the place I was directed to by Tim and the TT team on the ground.  My first ten laps were under my belt, in the bank, history.  Tim and I did a debrief of what I could do better on my second ten laps, we got out of #14, and I went back over the wall, was given time for my brain to catch up on everything I had just jammed through it, and at the same time started getting ready for my second 10 laps.      

      When it came time for Group #4 to go over the wall again I was more than ready to get back out on to the track.  I did my #14 reentry again, Tim climbed in again as before. I pulled the belts down tight, check the tranny for 2nd, mashed in on the clutch, and then Tim and I had a brief chat.  The goals for the upcoming ten laps?  Get through all turns as fast as possible.  Go fast enough that no one can pass us. 

      The four wheeler leaned into us. We began our roll down pit road.  The engine fired.  I was so ready to go I was all over the rear end of the car in front of me in no time. Tim gave me the “cool it a little” sign, I backed off a bit, and then it was time to go for it.  We all took off down the back stretch and into turn 3.  The car in front of me (which just happened to be my #1 son) hustled through 3 and 4 better than I did so pulled away from me by half the length of the front straight.  I hooked it down the front straight just under the rev limiter and rolled into #2. It was at this point that I received a bit of instruction from Tim.  What Tim did was reach over, take the index finger on his left hand, and start mashing on my right leg quad muscle.  The more he mashed the more I mashed the pedal on the right.  The result? For the first time I felt how hard I could put #14 through the corners and still have total control. Go through the corners on the correct line and at the maximum speed and you literally get to feel the G forces mash you down into your seat. There is absolutely no feeling like it in the world.  And experiencing this feeling one time is all it took.

      For the next 9 laps I drove #14 down the straights and thru the corners as fast as Tim would let me.  My #1 son shot passed the car in front of him coming off #2 and I caught the same car he passed going in to #3.  I drove in to #3 deep, which put me right on the rear bumper of the car in front of me.  Tim signaled me to lift just a bit, and then maintain a constant speed. We both came out of #4.  The car in front of me moved up the track towards the wall. Tim signaled me to pass.  I dropped down just a little and shot passed the car in front of me like I he was standing still.  That’s right, while we were told we would only be allowed to pass coming out of #2 Tim let me also pass coming out of #4.  What a rush.  What a blast.  What an experience.  Tim and I shot down the front straight away and hauled into #1 and #2.  New goal.  Catch my son. 

      I was able to close up half the distance that my son had on me and then it happened.  I ran out of laps.  As I shot under the starter’s stand I saw the white flag fly.  Closed up as much as I could to my #1 on the last lap, but the checkered flag shut me down before I reached my final goal. 

      Did anyone pass me on my last ten laps? No.  When we stopped on pit road for the last time, and before we got out of #14, Tim told me someone was considering passing me after our 1st lap.  But when I came out of #2 and from then on they could not get anywhere near us to pass.  Achieved two out of three goals.  Next time #1. Next time.  

      Tim and I climbed out of #14. Tim came around to the drivers side of the car. I got my #2 son to shoot a couple of photos of Tim and me, and then of my #1 son, Tim and me. I then sincerely thanked Tim for his assistance.  After thanking Tim I told him I had one more question. That question was, the next time we rode together what was it we needed to do in order to get the rev limiter set higher? Tim smiled.  We parted.  

      #1 and I went back over the pit wall, put our helmets back on their racks, and then removed our driving suits and hung them back on their racks.  We met up with #2, walked over to the photo trailer, picked up a couple of “memory plaques” with our pictures mounted on them, and then bought a disk with our digital pictures installed.  I then stopped by the check in trailer, told Dawn goodbye and also thanked her for everything that she and the Team Texas gang had done in order to make my NASCAR driving experience a most memorable one. #1, #2 and I then walked out to my 2004 Ford Focus, climbed in, and headed for the house. 

      Fifty three years of waiting for an experience, once finally initiated, took only 3 hours and 45 minutes to transpire.  When completed on one hand it seemed like it took 30 minutes.  On the other hand, it felt like 8 hours.  Either way it was all good, more than worth the 53 year wait, and will be done again as soon as the opportunity can present itself.  (“Opportunity can present itself” is code for as soon as I can get the money together)

      Would I recommend that you take a shot at a NASCAR driving school? If you have any need for speed, challenge, and satisfying a dream anywhere in your psyche my answer is yes.  But my yes answer comes with a condition.  The condition is that you do your NASCAR drive with Team Texas.  Of all the other NASCAR driving schools in the country Team Texas comes as close as you possibly can come to experiencing the “real deal” when it comes to mashing the pedal on the right until you reach your, or the race car’s max.  And this, after all, is what it is all about.

Keep Driving Them Safely
Deats

Thanks again to Deats Beaird for his great story and photos! HRH