This past weekend we took a trip down to South Carolina. While we were down there we visited the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in North Carolina. I had been there before a while ago when it was Charlotte Motor Speedway, but I barely remembered the tour, basically all I knew was that we would ride around the track in a van. Well we were pleasantly surprised!
When we got there we headed towards the main entrance while hearing the roar of cars going around the track which got me all excited to see it up close. After purchasing tickets for the tour (5 bucks a person! =) ) we went into the stands to check it out. The cars that were racing around the track were part of the Richard Petty driving school. Basically for $ amount of dollars you can either ride a few laps around the track, and for $$$ amount of dollars you can drive one of the cars on your own! It was neat to see the cars go around the track up close. I think the guy said that they go about 170, which I don’t think is full speed but its pretty darn close! They were plenty loud too! If you check out the pictures you’ll see that we were able to go right up to the track…I can’t imagine what a race is like there, it was a lot of fun, and we hadn’t even done the tour yet!
The tour was even better, we loaded up in a 15 passenger econo-van…………..
LIKE THIS, REMEMBER THAT
The tour guide told us all kinds of neat facts about the track as we headed inside, such as:
During the Coca-Cola 600 race weekend, the track becomes the third largest city in North Carolina(ooo–ahhh)
Once inside the complex he showed us all the garages and different sections of the infield, and then we went out on the track. He took us up on turn 1 and stopped in the middle of it, since that turn has a 25 degree bank we all had trouble not sliding in our seats. It was really cool to see exactly how banked the turns are. The something totally unexpected happened.
The dude pulls away and then jumps on it! He starts flying down the straightaway and goes “alright hang on we’re going into the turn!” He took a 15 passenger van into turn 3 – 4 going about 80 – 90 miles an hour! Everybody in the van was laughing or screaming, it was so cool. When I heard him step on the gas in my head I was like, “GO MAN GO!!” He said that we were safe, but I swear I thought he was going to roll that thing. Fortunately we lived to tell the tale. I can honestly say I have never gone or and never will again go that fast in an econo-van. For 5 bucks we got an hour long tour, and the ride of a lifetime in a rather large van.