WEST VALLEY CITY — My dad's been calling me Mario Andretti since I was old enough to reach the gas pedal. I had my first moving violation before I had my license and broke my first axle a month after I turned 16.
My need for speed has cost me quite a lot of money — and one separated shoulder — so when I got the e-mail inviting any and all reporters out to test drive a 435 horsepower NASCAR-style race car at the Rocky Mountain Raceway, I just had to try it. A company called Competitive Edge Racing School will be at the Raceway in July offering classes to any of those wishing they had the chance to trade places with Jeff Gordon.
While I've driven fast and sometimes furious, I'd never driven, ridden or even watched a car race — unless you count observing drivers racing to get in front of me after I turn on my blinker.
It is a sport that interested me only when Dale Earnhardt was killed, and then it was to feel badly that people watched such a pointless and dangerous sport. I wondered from afar what the attraction of watching cars zip around a track could be. I wondered why people would pay $20 to sit in the stands and watch other people go fast. Frankly, before my mini-school on Thursday, I figured watching track and field was far more fun than watching people drive cars on a track.
My first surprise was pulling into the parking lot of the Rocky Mountain Raceway. Instead of the movable bleachers arranged around a concrete track that I envisioned, it's an impressively modern facility with the oval on one side and the drag racing strips on the other.
I walked to the tent in the middle of the oval track, and as I signed some papers, I listened to other people talk about what a rush racing was. They gushed about it like it was a sacred experience, memorializing the sounds, smell and feeling of being in or next to a race car.
"Nothing can replace getting in a race car," said Doug Binstock, the Raceway's general manager with a wistful smile. A former mechanic, he got behind the wheel on a dare and shortly thereafter found himself, "in debt up to my eyeballs."
I've heard these testimonials before from aerial skiers, bullriders and even boxers. There is an adrenaline rush, and many of us seem to be trying to find a way to capture that feeling on a regular basis. Here it was the same enthusiasm and the same love of a sport that actually has a long history in Utah. Before this modern facility was built seven years ago, there was the Bonneville Salt Flats, and before that, car racers tested their abilities at the state fairgrounds.
Binstock said some of the country's best racers come from the Western states, and many of those can be seen competing at the Raceways. This weekend is one of the biggest for the Raceway with competition on the oval track on Friday and drag racing on Saturday.
And while I listened to drivers and former drivers talk about how addicted they were to the sport, I zipped myself into a padded suit and helmet and then strapped myself into what looked like an oversized infant car seat. The only air conditioning was provided by the open window as I steered the car through cones set up to let me go fast but not too fast.
As I zoomed as fast as I dared, I realized a number of things. First, there is a lot more to auto racing than meets the eye. Second, I'm not quite as daring as my driving record indicates. And third, I now have some idea why people spend thousands of dollars on race cars and others spend a fraction of that to watch them.
It was exhilarating to be in control of a machine with that kind of power, and it maybe more importantly also provided me with a little insight into why anyone who can control a car like that in a pack of speed-hungry racers deserves a lot of respect.
Anyone interested in classes that range from 50 to 100 laps should call 1-800-699-7080 or register at racingschool.com.
Oh, and may the G-force be with you.
E-MAIL: adonaldson@desnews.com