So, You Want to Drive a Race Car?
Suppose you’re sitting at home one day on the couch watching a NASCAR race, and you decide that NASCAR racing is for you. You want to be a rich and famous driver and want to do it now. What’s the first step?
Although you can buy yourself NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series car if you have enough money and you can find a team willing to sell, that doesn’t mean you can sign up for the Daytona 500. NASAR issues its own racing licenses; in order to qualify, a competitor has to meet a long list of specifications, including having previous racing experience. You also have to have a lot of cash – or the ability to get a lot of cash from sponsors, friends, or a rich uncle. Racing isn’t cheap. Running a good car at a local track can cost $40,000 per season, and an engine can cost another $20,000. You also need more money to maintain the car; buy tires, oil, and gas; and fix the car when you dent it. And believe me, you will wreck it – because every driver, no matter how talented he or she may be, runs into obstacles every once in awhile. Some more often than others.
Pre-stock car (not prehistoric) vehicles
If you don’t have enough money to buy a full-fledged stock car, you can race more inexpensively with a go-kart. Go-karts are similar to the ones you see on tracks adjacent to miniature golf courses. They are tiny vehicles – tiny in relation to stock cars, that is – with engines attached to the back. But starting out in go-karts doesn’t mean you’re starting out in racing kindergarten. Certain go-karts can reach up to 100 mph, and they even race on a course at Daytona International Speedway, using part of its high-banked track. Also, you have to sharpen the same driving skills to drive a go-kart that you do for a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series car or a NASCAR Busch Series car. Ricky Rudd showed the virtues of go-kart when he went straight from them to NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing. Go-karts are a viable option – and a great place to get started – if you’re itching to race.
![[Image: tipgk8.jpg]](http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/448/tipgk8.jpg)
TIP
You can also find all sorts of programs for kids who want to start young. Midget cars are one of them. Midgets are specialized open-wheel race cars that are small, fast, lightweight, and have no fenders. They graduate in size, going from quarter midgets to three-quarter midgets to midgets, the largest cars in the class. Quarter midgets are the cars kids squeeze into for some fun, Jeff Gordon started out in midget cars, so you must be able to learn a thing or two there.
![[Image: markmartints6.jpg]](http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/3475/markmartints6.jpg)
[SIZE="3"]MARK SAYS
[/SIZE]
My son, Matt, started racing quarter midgets several years ago, and watching him race is one of the most exciting things in my life. It’s been fun to teach him all about the engine, the racing, and the competition – but it’s up to him to figure out how to win. He’s already done that by winning the championships in his division, showing that he has some racing talent in his genes. Even though he’s young and is involved in the sport mainly to have fun, he’s developing valuable skills when driving and controlling a car. Who knows – those skills may help him win a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship someday!
You’ve got a car – now what?
If you’ve scrounged up enough money to buy a stock car and want to begin your training, what should you do next? Taking a trip to your local short track is a start. There, you can pick up an application for NASCAR license. Your car owner and your pit crew (everyone directly involved in your race team at the track) need to get a license, too. (See Chapter 6 for the lowdown on your racing team members.) After you receive NASCAR license (sent to you or to the track), you’re ready to race.
Memorize the rules and get a crew
MARK SAYS
Which your NASCAR license, your also receive a rule book for the series in which you plan to compete. In that book, you can find a rule for every aspect of racing – especially for all the details and measurements of your car – so you should plan to tweak your car for at least a week or two before setting a date for your first race. In the meantime, gather up people for your pit crew because you’ll need those people – at least two of them – on race day. Your pit crew will be in charge of your car, tires, and fuel, and will talk to you on the radio during the race. So when choosing a pit crew, choose carefully. Your 70-pound kid brother may not be the best choice.
Moving up and out
As you become successful on your local short track, you can move up to a touring series, which travels from track to track – and sometimes all over the nation. To be eligible for a touring series, you have to first get a license for that particular series, just as you do when you first start racing at your local track.
[SIZE="5"]The better the series,
the harder it is to get there[/SIZE]
When you want to try your hand at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the NASCAR Busch Series, or NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series racing, NASCAR officials get more involved in the licensing process. They do this mostly because they don’t want some unskilled guy off the street getting in a truck or a car and taking out the whole field because he doesn’t know how to drive. Before you get on the track in NASCAR’s top series, you have to fill out a resume and application and then send it to NASCAR for review. Officials license you to race in those series when they determine that you’re good enough, judging by your resume and records in other series. Your car owner, race team, and everyone who participates on your team also has to obtain a license – the only difference is that they don’t have submit a resume. After you’re approved, you have to pay an annual fee for your license.
Working on a Crew
It’s much easier to become a member of a race team than it is to become a driver, mainly because each car has only one driver but dozen of team members. Some team employees who work at the shop during the week also travel to an event and serve as race-day crew members, changing tires or putting in gas. In recent years, however, the majority of race day crew members are specialists who don’t work at the shop, while other team members, such as engineers, fabricators, and painters, don’t travel on weekends. In this increasingly specialized field, one way to start working for a team is sweeping the shop floor – not a very glamorous job but an avenue that can be followed by someone wishing to eventually expand his duties.
TIP
You can’t really become a NASCAR mechanic if you can’t fix a car. Some people learn all about cars after getting their initial jobs at race shops. They show interest and learn from experts, all without getting caught under people’s feet. I’ve got to warn you, though, that it may take you a long time to get promoted from sweeper to mechanic or from sweeper to fabricator (the ones who build the outside, or body, of the car) if you’re learning along the way. If you already have a working knowledge of cars, you’ll be promoted much faster.
Another way to sharpen your car skills is to go to a vocational school and take classes on how to fix engines or work on bodies. Some schools offer a specific curriculum that focuses on teaching students how to build and repair NASCAR-type cars. In fact, NASCAR has its own such school, the NASCAR Technical Institute, which it operates in partnership with Universal Technical Institute opened on July 1, 2002, in Mooresville, North Carolina, just north of Charlotte, which is known as “Race City U.S.A” because of the many NASCAR shops located there. In the future, NASCAR plans open technical institutes in other cities.
[COLOR="#0000ff"]If you don’t want to work on the car all week at the shop but want help out during pit stops on race day, there are opportunities for you in NASCAR racing. (See Chapter 10 for more details on making pit stops.) You may have a tough time getting a job on a pit crew if you don’t know somebody on the team, though, so be prepared to schmooze or make friends fast. Also, pit stops have become such a big factor in racing that you have to try out for the pit crew before you get the job. You’d better lift some weights and practice changing tires before you show up at a race team’s door.
The easiest way to get on a crew is to be willing to do anything, including sweeping floors, to get your foot in the door. If you’re an efficient, enthusiastic floor sweeper, people will notice you and you’ll get promoted before you know it. It’s true what say: floor sweeper today, crew chief tomorrow. Well, maybe it takes longer than that, but that strategy has definitely worked in the past. Some people I know, including my former crew chiefs Robin Pemberton and Steve Hmiel, wanted to be on a race team when they were young and were brave enough to make a bold move. They just packed up, left their hometown, and headed for Charlotte, North Carolina, where most of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race shops are, hoping to get a job (any job!) with a team. Obviously, it worked out for Robin and Steve, but others have gone that route successfully, too.[/COLOR]
Going Fast without Going Broke
If setting up a racing operation is out of your budget, there are other ways to experience the thrill of driving a NASCAR-regulation car at above-average speeds. Many racing schools teach the fundamentals of on-track maneuvering, such as safely learning to run down straightaways and trough corners as well as how to pass. These include the Richard Petty Driving Experience, which travels the country and allows you to either ride along with a professional or get behind the wheel yourself, and the Fast Track Driving School, which operates out of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concorde, North Carolina. Students divide their time between classroom instruction and actually driving on the speedway.
Suppose you’re sitting at home one day on the couch watching a NASCAR race, and you decide that NASCAR racing is for you. You want to be a rich and famous driver and want to do it now. What’s the first step?
Although you can buy yourself NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series car if you have enough money and you can find a team willing to sell, that doesn’t mean you can sign up for the Daytona 500. NASAR issues its own racing licenses; in order to qualify, a competitor has to meet a long list of specifications, including having previous racing experience. You also have to have a lot of cash – or the ability to get a lot of cash from sponsors, friends, or a rich uncle. Racing isn’t cheap. Running a good car at a local track can cost $40,000 per season, and an engine can cost another $20,000. You also need more money to maintain the car; buy tires, oil, and gas; and fix the car when you dent it. And believe me, you will wreck it – because every driver, no matter how talented he or she may be, runs into obstacles every once in awhile. Some more often than others.
Pre-stock car (not prehistoric) vehicles
If you don’t have enough money to buy a full-fledged stock car, you can race more inexpensively with a go-kart. Go-karts are similar to the ones you see on tracks adjacent to miniature golf courses. They are tiny vehicles – tiny in relation to stock cars, that is – with engines attached to the back. But starting out in go-karts doesn’t mean you’re starting out in racing kindergarten. Certain go-karts can reach up to 100 mph, and they even race on a course at Daytona International Speedway, using part of its high-banked track. Also, you have to sharpen the same driving skills to drive a go-kart that you do for a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series car or a NASCAR Busch Series car. Ricky Rudd showed the virtues of go-kart when he went straight from them to NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing. Go-karts are a viable option – and a great place to get started – if you’re itching to race.
TIP
You can also find all sorts of programs for kids who want to start young. Midget cars are one of them. Midgets are specialized open-wheel race cars that are small, fast, lightweight, and have no fenders. They graduate in size, going from quarter midgets to three-quarter midgets to midgets, the largest cars in the class. Quarter midgets are the cars kids squeeze into for some fun, Jeff Gordon started out in midget cars, so you must be able to learn a thing or two there.
[SIZE="3"]MARK SAYS
[/SIZE]
My son, Matt, started racing quarter midgets several years ago, and watching him race is one of the most exciting things in my life. It’s been fun to teach him all about the engine, the racing, and the competition – but it’s up to him to figure out how to win. He’s already done that by winning the championships in his division, showing that he has some racing talent in his genes. Even though he’s young and is involved in the sport mainly to have fun, he’s developing valuable skills when driving and controlling a car. Who knows – those skills may help him win a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship someday!
You’ve got a car – now what?
If you’ve scrounged up enough money to buy a stock car and want to begin your training, what should you do next? Taking a trip to your local short track is a start. There, you can pick up an application for NASCAR license. Your car owner and your pit crew (everyone directly involved in your race team at the track) need to get a license, too. (See Chapter 6 for the lowdown on your racing team members.) After you receive NASCAR license (sent to you or to the track), you’re ready to race.
Memorize the rules and get a crew
MARK SAYS
Which your NASCAR license, your also receive a rule book for the series in which you plan to compete. In that book, you can find a rule for every aspect of racing – especially for all the details and measurements of your car – so you should plan to tweak your car for at least a week or two before setting a date for your first race. In the meantime, gather up people for your pit crew because you’ll need those people – at least two of them – on race day. Your pit crew will be in charge of your car, tires, and fuel, and will talk to you on the radio during the race. So when choosing a pit crew, choose carefully. Your 70-pound kid brother may not be the best choice.
Moving up and out
As you become successful on your local short track, you can move up to a touring series, which travels from track to track – and sometimes all over the nation. To be eligible for a touring series, you have to first get a license for that particular series, just as you do when you first start racing at your local track.
[SIZE="5"]The better the series,
the harder it is to get there[/SIZE]
When you want to try your hand at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the NASCAR Busch Series, or NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series racing, NASCAR officials get more involved in the licensing process. They do this mostly because they don’t want some unskilled guy off the street getting in a truck or a car and taking out the whole field because he doesn’t know how to drive. Before you get on the track in NASCAR’s top series, you have to fill out a resume and application and then send it to NASCAR for review. Officials license you to race in those series when they determine that you’re good enough, judging by your resume and records in other series. Your car owner, race team, and everyone who participates on your team also has to obtain a license – the only difference is that they don’t have submit a resume. After you’re approved, you have to pay an annual fee for your license.
Working on a Crew
It’s much easier to become a member of a race team than it is to become a driver, mainly because each car has only one driver but dozen of team members. Some team employees who work at the shop during the week also travel to an event and serve as race-day crew members, changing tires or putting in gas. In recent years, however, the majority of race day crew members are specialists who don’t work at the shop, while other team members, such as engineers, fabricators, and painters, don’t travel on weekends. In this increasingly specialized field, one way to start working for a team is sweeping the shop floor – not a very glamorous job but an avenue that can be followed by someone wishing to eventually expand his duties.
TIP
You can’t really become a NASCAR mechanic if you can’t fix a car. Some people learn all about cars after getting their initial jobs at race shops. They show interest and learn from experts, all without getting caught under people’s feet. I’ve got to warn you, though, that it may take you a long time to get promoted from sweeper to mechanic or from sweeper to fabricator (the ones who build the outside, or body, of the car) if you’re learning along the way. If you already have a working knowledge of cars, you’ll be promoted much faster.
Another way to sharpen your car skills is to go to a vocational school and take classes on how to fix engines or work on bodies. Some schools offer a specific curriculum that focuses on teaching students how to build and repair NASCAR-type cars. In fact, NASCAR has its own such school, the NASCAR Technical Institute, which it operates in partnership with Universal Technical Institute opened on July 1, 2002, in Mooresville, North Carolina, just north of Charlotte, which is known as “Race City U.S.A” because of the many NASCAR shops located there. In the future, NASCAR plans open technical institutes in other cities.
Pit crews aren’t the pits
[COLOR="#0000ff"]If you don’t want to work on the car all week at the shop but want help out during pit stops on race day, there are opportunities for you in NASCAR racing. (See Chapter 10 for more details on making pit stops.) You may have a tough time getting a job on a pit crew if you don’t know somebody on the team, though, so be prepared to schmooze or make friends fast. Also, pit stops have become such a big factor in racing that you have to try out for the pit crew before you get the job. You’d better lift some weights and practice changing tires before you show up at a race team’s door.
The easiest way to get on a crew is to be willing to do anything, including sweeping floors, to get your foot in the door. If you’re an efficient, enthusiastic floor sweeper, people will notice you and you’ll get promoted before you know it. It’s true what say: floor sweeper today, crew chief tomorrow. Well, maybe it takes longer than that, but that strategy has definitely worked in the past. Some people I know, including my former crew chiefs Robin Pemberton and Steve Hmiel, wanted to be on a race team when they were young and were brave enough to make a bold move. They just packed up, left their hometown, and headed for Charlotte, North Carolina, where most of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race shops are, hoping to get a job (any job!) with a team. Obviously, it worked out for Robin and Steve, but others have gone that route successfully, too.[/COLOR]
Going Fast without Going Broke
If setting up a racing operation is out of your budget, there are other ways to experience the thrill of driving a NASCAR-regulation car at above-average speeds. Many racing schools teach the fundamentals of on-track maneuvering, such as safely learning to run down straightaways and trough corners as well as how to pass. These include the Richard Petty Driving Experience, which travels the country and allows you to either ride along with a professional or get behind the wheel yourself, and the Fast Track Driving School, which operates out of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concorde, North Carolina. Students divide their time between classroom instruction and actually driving on the speedway.