Wayne Norman goes NASCAR

WAYNE NORMAN GOES 165 MPH AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY

While traveling with the UConn football team at the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, NC, WILI’s Wayne Norman was a passenger in a NASCAR stock car at speeds up to 165mph at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on December 27, 2007. Each player on the team got to ride three 1.5 mile laps as part of the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

Most of the players loved it, while a few were “frightened,” Wayne said:

“It was exhilarating. Your first sensation is the noise–how loud those cars are. Then they put you in a jumpsuit, with a sturdy helmet and a neck brace. Then after squeezing in through an opening (can you say SHOEHORN?) where the passenger window would be–these cars have no doors–they strap and harness you in like Hannibal Lecter. We sat in what amounted to primitive bucket seats.

The professional driver was very friendly. He asked a few questions, which were hard to hear under the snugly fitting helmet. And then…we were off. They ran four cars at a time in a single file line. While those cars were on the track, another four cars were loading and unloading on pit row for the next round.

We must have accelerated from zero to 100mph before the first turn. I’ve never seen concrete coming at me so fast. I saw an exposed pipe near my right knee (appeared to be part of the roll bar assembly) and began to reach for it. Then I said, ‘Don’t be a sissy, he knows what he’s doing,’ and put my hand back on my leg. Other than that one moment, I wasn’t scared. Quite the contrary–it was an incredible rush to be going so fast, and my eyes were wide open for the 3-minute or so ride. The line in ‘Hot Rod Lincoln’ came to mind: “Telephone poles looked like a picket fence.”

He slowed on the steeply banked turns (someone said only Talladega has more of a bank) but it amazed me how tightly the tires held the road at that speed. I’m pretty sure my own car would have fishtailed.

Getting out wasn’t as hard as getting in, but I wanted to get back in and go again.

I’m not a NASCAR guy, but this gave me a whole new appreciation for how good those drivers are and how fast 165 mph is. I’m told race speed is about 180 mph. And they don’t race four cars in a single line–they have 30-40 cars on a track and you have cars on both sides of you and in front and back. No margin for error. And what we did for three laps, they do for about 300 laps.”

Meanwhile, two days later, here’s former heavyweight champion George Foreman, who was our halftime interview:

Steve Slade photo, courtesy UConn Athletic Communications

And this from Chip Malafronte’s New Haven Register blog “The Runway”–

Shake and bake

The hardest part about driving back to the hotel after the Richard Petty Driving Experience this morning at Lowe’s Motor Speedway was resisting the temptation to push my rented Pontiac GT into triple digits while weaving in and out of traffic.

Words really don’t do justice to the feeling of racing around a 1.5-mile oval at speeds up to 165 miles-per-hour, but it was certainly one of the biggest thrills I’ve ever experienced. Of course, it was just as big a hit with the players and coaches, all of whom were taken for three all-to-quick laps in a NASCAR Sprint Cup style stock car by a professional driver. My car looked just like the one above.

Some highlights from a very fun day:

Watching the bigger players trying to get into and out of the cars. Race cars don’t have doors. You enter and exit through an open window. 6-foot-8, 313-pound Dan Ryan and 6-foot-6, 338-pound Mike Hicks provided the most entertainment in this category. Ryan got his legs in just fine, then began to brag to his teammates about how nimble he was before he’d gotten the rest of his body into the car. He then proceeded to get stuck halfway to his seat with both arms above his head and sticking out of the car.

There were also jokes for the smaller players, namely Larry Taylor, the 5-foot-5 inch receiver who caught flak last week for being shorter than Gov. Jodi Rell when she visited practice. “LT can’t do it!” cornerback Tyvon Branch yelled. “They don’t have car seats in there!”

Cornerback Darius Butler liked it, but said the adrenaline rush wasn’t quite as high as it was when he pulled off a Dominique Wilkins-esque windmill dunk in what was supposed to be a layup contest at halftime of the Bobcats-Wizards game last night.

Wake Forest players got their rides, then had lunch. UConn arrived later, ate first, then took their drives. Bad idea? Center Keith Gray, after exiting the car following his run, looked as if he might lose his pulled pork sandwich in a garbage can. Fortunately, no one ralphed. Or cried.

Quarterback Tyler Lorenzen made sure he was first in line to get a ride when it was UConn’s turn. Others weren’t quite as anxious. Desi Cullen and some others watched much of the rides from bleachers before the pack got up to get in line. “Are you finally going?” UConn radio man Joe D’Ambrosio asked as Cullen walked away. “I’m pretending I’m going to go,” Cullen replied. I’m fairly sure the Kentucky Hammer got in a car, though at this time I can’t confirm that.

Players were just as excited to get their free pictures, taken just before the drivers sped off for their laps. I got one too. The fear in my eyes is noticeable. I couldn’t even muster the standard “thumbs up” pose. I was petrified. But the ride turned out to be much more enjoyable than the anticipation of the ride. I’d definitely do it again. As for my photo, well, I’d post it on the blog. But I don’t have a scanner here in the hotel. Oh well.

Randy Edsall and his 16-year old son Corey took their rides at the same time. Edsall’s car was the only one I witnessed pass another car all morning. At first, I thought he had passed Corey, but it turns out it was offensive coordinator Rob Ambrose’s car. “I got passed in the pit lane,” Ambrose said as he exited. “What was that all about?” Edsall claims he had nothing to do with it. He said they had a camera mounted in the car for his ride and it was done for visual effect. No one, by the way, was as amped up as Ambrose after the ride. He whooped it up like he had just won a Super Bowl. I think he’s ready to climb Mount Everest in the offseason.