Column: Time To Put Up Or Shut Up

Well, I had to apply that phrase to myself this week. Over the course of the last 25 years, I have said many times that, given half the chance, I’d hop into a high powered, rubber burning race car to tear laps around Peach State Speedway, my home town race track.

Well, that opportunity came around on Monday. I’m proud to say, folks, that I put up.

The folks out at Peach State were getting geared up for their Independence Day weekend race, and invited the media out to the track on Monday to talk to a few of the racers and to tour the facility.

Plus, track media director Allen Hastings added in his email, the newly renovated Peach State “Ride Along” car, a two seater race car, would be available to take folks on a few laps around the venerable old speedway.

Now, I’ve taken laps around tracks many times before, in pace cars, on golf carts, and more than once just driving a pair of sneakers. But I had never really had the opportunity to turn laps at speed at Peach State, which, at one time, was the fastest half-mile paved track in the country (and remains the fastest paved half mile in Georgia to this day).

I think I can honestly tell you that I didn’t once think about not doing it. My 34th birthday fell just a few days before the media day, and I just looked at it as a late birthday present from fate.

So, on Monday morning, I drove out to the track on Lyle Field Road, along with Jackson Herald sports editor Justin Poole, to have a go at the track.

Hastings met us at the gate, and directed us to the infield to wait on the drivers to arrive, along with track promoter Vince Whitmire.

Whitmire, a second-generation racer who competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series and has worked and appeared in several racing movies and commercials, arrived in style moments later.

He hit the track in the ride along car, which, instead of being the GAS late model that I had expected, was a former NASCAR Busch Grand National racer, a car that potentially held a lot more horsepower under the hood.

Remember I said I was looking at this as a late birthday present? Somebody also brought cake.

Before the GAS series drivers showed up, Hastings asked me “You ready to jump in there?”

Absolutely.
I climbed in on the passenger side, and got some assistance hooking up the three-point seatbelt before putting the helmet on. After securing the window net, Whitmire looked over at me and grinned.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“I was born ready,” I said.

With that, he lit her up, and took off.

The biggest sensation I noticed were the g-forces. Even on a small track like Peach State, they shove your body over pretty good, and I was fighting against them to stay upright. I didn’t reach for any kind of “chicken bar,” but I did hold on to a support bar in the middle of the car to help keep me upright.

I never really got worried during the ride, other than when the car came up on the track off the apron, and when it was coming off the banking into the pits. That was the only time the car ever seemed unstable. Other than that, it was pushing up in the turns, so there was little fear of it spinning out.

As we rolled into the pits, Hastings looked in and grinned, asking how it was.

I just flashed the “ok” sign. I looked over at Whitmire and said, “Good run. Felt good.”

I climbed out feeling like a million bucks. I had done something I had always wanted to do.

It made for a heck of a birthday present.

Brandon Reed is a reporter for MainStreet News