Dale Jarret Racing Adv - Talladega(Video added)

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Dale Jarret Racing Adv - Talladega(Video added)

Postby Ken » Tue Apr 19, 2011 3:15 pm

...Brian...you would love it.

So Sunday I went to the Sprint Cup Race at Talladega. I think anyone interested in motor sports should go once in their life....you can't replicate that anywhere. The sheer size of the track....can't be comprehended on TV...nor the speed of the cars. I always had respect for the NASCAR guys...everyone watches on TV thinks "oh...they can do it". Well...after Monday? fawk no way can "anyone" do that.

Trace, Kenan and I got to the Dale Jarrett driving school at 10:30 for our session....there were sign ups and such for the first hour....there were quite a few people there. Then an instructor talked about the video option...etc. They talked about what it will be like..etc. Then we all got on a trolly car to head over to an indoor school. There, they taught us hand signals, how to pass, how to get passed...and where our line should be on the track. Talladega has 3 lanes on the back and turns...but 4 lans in the Tri oval. Our line would be....Right wheels on the right lines for the middle lane on the straight...and left wheels on the left line in the middle lane on the turns...unless your instructor motioned different.

We had to wait an extra hour because of the fire damage to the track on Sunday....Then we were broken up into 3 groups....Ride Alongs in one group....Driver Group Red and Driver Group Blue. Trace and I were in the last group...Blue. We got to watch the Red group go first....we timed some drivers....some were pretty fast...including this blonde...who kept bouncing and clapping...she surprised the crahp out of us. Anyway...we got fitted into suits and helmets....I was in Dale Jarrett's old 44 UPS Car and Trace got 39...from the Nationwide Series..Not sure who;s that was. They had Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch's old cars....my only request was not to drive Kyle Busch. LOL..the most hated driver on the track.

I finally got my chance...I was going to do 10 Laps...Trace 6. I got out 2 laps before Trace got on the track. There are 2 schools to do this...Dale Jarrett and Richard Petty. There are differences...the main 2 differences are...Richard Petty, you drive the car by yourself....with a Pace car in front....You are instructed to follow him...if you stay close...he goes faster....if you fall back...he slows down. There is no passing. At Dale Jarrett...you drive the car..with an instructor driver in the passenger seat. Similar to sky diving....the overwhelmingness of everything..your brain tends to shut down....so he reminds you to remove your death grip on the wheel...and to get your foot off the clutch.

The basic hand signals are faster, slower, go high, go low and brake. He also will grab the wheel from time to time...to put your car where he wants it....in their words...when your instructor grabs the wheel...it's NOT time to let go! So, I slip into the car...it's pretty tight fit. He asked if I had done it before..I said yes...Richard Petty...he asked again...Have you done this before? (and laughed)...I said..apparently not! We started off....and I killed it. LOL. The clutch is super tight, super short throw...and they warn you NOT to burn out....so of course..it doesn't feel natural to have almost 3,000RPM's when you're letting out the clutch! Anyway...I get going...you get up to 3rd gear before turn..still down on the bottom. From the bottom...the turns ARE ENORMOUS...It's like a CLIFF on your right...it's unreal. It looks nearly straight up and down....when you hit the back straight..it's 4th gear and go time.

The first lap..he's feeling you out...letting you get used to it....even at those slower speeds...the G's in the turns become apparent very early on. During the race..the turns are so steep...that you can see the jet blower trucks..the a$$ end of the truck is sliding down..and drivers are crabbing to keep the truck from sliding down...even with duallys. The first turn wasn't too bad...I hit the tri-oval...no problem...by now..I'm getting up to speed more...the instructor was telling me thumbs up...(go faster)...I pick it up for my 2nd turn..(turns 1 and 2)...now the G's are really coming on....the shaking and bouncing of the car was getting strong...now down the back stretch....He corrected me..I tended to stay too low...and not let the car drift up...but sorry Instructor man...I was kinda trying not to drift into the wall!! More faster instructions down the back stretch....Now when I got to turns 3 and 4....it was ridiculous the G forces...at this point...I couldn't even imagine what it was like at 190...when at this point..I was probably around 145-150. 3rd lap around....I pass Trace merging on to the track....now when I hit the Tri Oval...he grabbed the wheel...and changed my line to go down to Lane 1...the pop back out...By lap 4...I was getting near my faster laps...

This is where turns get strange....First of all..your vision on the track? Is FUBAR...you can't see anything...just the lines in front of you. The G forces are to a point....your arms get heavy in the turn...your pressed deep into the seat...you have to force your self to maintain position...your head wants to FLY out of the seat...the helmet gets VERY HEAVY...you can feel the strain everywhere...but your eyes? Get this goofy tunnel vision...the car is bouncing like crazy...just small bumps...but the suspension is so pressed down from G, that every little tiny bump is like a curb....and your vision is ALL F'd up....the blood is leaving your head...it's done! SEE YA BRAIN...gotta go. When you finally come out of the turn...it's almost a sense of relief! Ah...I get to relax and unwind from the TERROR that I just experienced. Never mind the constant ROAR of the engine. I pass Trace again..much to his chagrin...and by lap 5 or so...he's letting me mash the pedal on the straight and slow a bit in the turn....but frankly? I'm not to bummed about that.

I can NOT imagine the skill and concentration level those guys have...to drive 190 in those turns...with cars behind, below and above by inches! It's insane...I was ALL by myself...and my stress level went up every turn...I can not even imagine doing that for 188 laps. My 10+ laps....kicked my a$$...mentally...I was exhausted in my head, trying to keep that car where I was supposed to. By Lap 7....he grabbed the wheel on the back stretch...and we ran right up against the wall...Ironically...I had done it SO MANY TIMES online....that doing it...didn't bother me at all...I frankly felt like I should be there....but understood why they just don't let you ride the wall. The last 3 laps....I had the pedal buried...done...there was nothing left on the straights...and he would give the slow sign for the turns, so I'd let off...but like I said...I wasn't that disappointed...

By lap 10...it seemed like I had been there for 30 laps....honestly...It seemed long....you figure at draft speed, a good lap is 49.9 and I was doing 57-58 second laps....so given the earlier slow laps...I was out there for 10+ minutes..it seemed longer than that.

I can't tell you guys enough...you should do it ...it should be a bucket list item....there's nothing you can do in a car, that can replicate Talladega.

I got the video...and Kenan taped with my cam corder...so I'll have a nice video with 3 cameras (2 in car)...we get the DVD in 4-6 weeks.
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby EigerMike » Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:09 pm

WOW!!! :D great job on the story, sounds like a blast and thanks for sharing.
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby Mr. Green » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:12 am

:mrgreen:
would love to see a vid of it.
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby Ken » Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:04 am

Mr. Green wrote::mrgreen:
would love to see a vid of it.
You will. I have video from outside the car (my video) and in car video (supplied by them). The second is supposed to arrive in 4-6 weeks. I will compile the two, into 1 video.
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby ATV'er » Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:44 pm

Ken wrote:
Mr. Green wrote::mrgreen:
would love to see a vid of it.
You will. I have video from outside the car (my video) and in car video (supplied by them). The second is supposed to arrive in 4-6 weeks. I will compile the two, into 1 video.

Sweet :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby The Modfather » Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:17 am

Sounds like a ton of fun man! Like you, I used to race on TEN pretty regularly (back in the day).

I found this yesterday - for anyone who might be interested...

http://halfoffdepot.com/dallas
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby Ken » Thu Apr 21, 2011 11:07 am

The Modfather wrote:Sounds like a ton of fun man! Like you, I used to race on TEN pretty regularly (back in the day).
Sweet. I was the co-creator of OSCAR....I talked to someone on Pirate about it...just don't recall if it was you. Dave Sparks, myself, Gary Haumann, Darin Gangi and one other dude I don't recall...we created OSCAR out of our league on Hawaii called Late Night With Dave.

TJ Majors from TEN is Dale Jr's spotter now...if you didn't know. Nim Cross...he works at iRacing.com. Darin Gangi runs RaceSimCentral.

I still do iRacing...I have a Fanatec GT3 wheel and Club Sport pedals.
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby GrizzlyGuy » Thu Apr 21, 2011 7:57 pm

WoW! I had no idea it was like that.

It looks really easy when you see them on TV. The relative velocity between cars isn't that much, the turns and straightaways are in the same place lap after lap, so how hard could it really be? I guess now we know: it's FARKING A HARD! :)
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby hemingray » Fri Apr 22, 2011 3:23 pm

Thanks for writing that up - great description. It's been on my loose bucket list, I think I'll have to nail it down - sounds like a blast. I think I'm a pretty good driver - but it would be great to go up against that and test it. I can get claustrophobic - so I'm not sure about the harness things - I hate some of the amusement ride stuff because I can't control it. I suppose it's mind over matter - since I would want to be doing it.

Never thought about the cyclic g-force no g-force of turn and straight. I also liked your description of just seeing the lane lines - I can imagine how speed would do that to your brain, the rapid input of speed.

Awesome. Wait - maybe epic?
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby The Modfather » Fri Apr 22, 2011 7:00 pm

Ken wrote:
The Modfather wrote:Sounds like a ton of fun man! Like you, I used to race on TEN pretty regularly (back in the day).
Sweet. I was the co-creator of OSCAR....I talked to someone on Pirate about it...just don't recall if it was you. Dave Sparks, myself, Gary Haumann, Darin Gangi and one other dude I don't recall...we created OSCAR out of our league on Hawaii called Late Night With Dave.

TJ Majors from TEN is Dale Jr's spotter now...if you didn't know. Nim Cross...he works at iRacing.com. Darin Gangi runs RaceSimCentral.

I still do iRacing...I have a Fanatec GT3 wheel and Club Sport pedals.
Yeh, I commented in your thread on PBB.

I totally remember Hawaii - and I used to use kali to run a few games (racing, FPS over IPX, etc...) back in the day.

This thread made me reach out to Juarez and get another copy of Nascar 2 and Nascar 4 LOL!

EDIT: Looks like Kail's site is still up - although it still has a copyright from 2005 :lol:
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby Ken » Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:04 pm

Ok..

You should be able to watch this....

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.ph ... 7589&saved
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby Kodiak » Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:19 pm

that vid was sick! so were you wide open all the way around?
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby Ken » Mon Aug 01, 2011 3:41 pm

Kodiak wrote:that vid was sick! so were you wide open all the way around?
No...there was a little more left on the floor...figure a NASCAR stock car...set up perfectly...does about 183-184 alone (no draft). So I was 18 MPH less than that.

Since there was no speedometer, and their speed telemetry was broken that day...the only way I could tell my speed, was do a lap average. So I timed each lap..and did the math for the 2.66 mile track. The last 3-4 laps, were all around 165mph....faster on the straights..and slower in the turns...

That's consistent with their pre-race that 170 or so would be our fastest speed.


The part at the end, where Kenan was driving...was their warning to not drive the race car, then drive home. They encouraged all the wives to drive their husband home.
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby hemingray » Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:48 pm

That looks awesome! It's now on my bucket list.

My fastest car experience so far was a '67 Shelby GT500 that a friend let me drive. Coming onto the freeway (101 at Whipple Ave!) he says "floor it!" and at 60 mph that thing peals out...I just held onto it like it was a standing start. I don't know what we got up to, but man that was some kinda car.
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Re: Dale Jarret Racing Experience - Talladega

Postby Ken » Tue Aug 02, 2011 2:31 pm

hemingray wrote:That looks awesome! It's now on my bucket list.

My fastest car experience so far was a '67 Shelby GT500 that a friend let me drive. Coming onto the freeway (101 at Whipple Ave!) he says "floor it!" and at 60 mph that thing peals out...I just held onto it like it was a standing start. I don't know what we got up to, but man that was some kinda car.

Sweet ride...Whipple/101...definitely wasn't commute hour. :lol:


Previously, my fastest was 140 or so in a Vette in Florida on Alligator Alley. I pegged my CRX si at 130 on 280 near Millbrae/Trousdale....and one night LATE....I went across the SM Bridge in 4 min 50 seconds...I think that was a 90+ avg to do that.

I could only guess 170 or so on the straights....it definitely slowed a bit in the turns....maybe 5mph faster in the straight..
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