Everyone who races has stories. Some are about victory so sweet, but most are more likely about total disasters. Here is the sixth of my seven hairiest moments on track.
If you’re there to work and not play, the SEMA Show is an exhausting experience. We generally have some 40 meetings in four days and attend obligatory parties and dinners with customers that have us out until all hours of the night. At the end of the week, you’re so exhausted that you melt into that airplane seat and say, “Ah, time to go home.”
In 2000, I had introduced David Smith of Factory Five Racing to our friends at NASA, as he wanted to start a racing series using his replica Cobras. The plan came together and Smith invited me to run the newly finished car after the SEMA Show that year.
While mythically exhausted, I kind of had to say yes, as I’d been the instigator of the whole idea. Plus, I’m not crazy. If asked to come race a freakin’ Cobra at a track I’ve never been to, I’m going to say heck yes!
If memory serves me, Las Vegas Motor Speedway contained a twisty infield circuit. As tired as I was, it felt like there were at least 138 turns in that course.
The problem wasn’t really all the turns, as I’m an old autocrosser and love twisty little tracks. The problem was that the early Factory Five Cobras were so evil, they made Satan look like a pretty good guy. No matter what I did, at any speed, I could not keep that beast on track. It wanted to spin, even on the track’s few straights.
In Factory Five and NASA’s defense, this evil handling was soon sorted out, and the cars went on to be one of the most successful series the sanctioning body ever had.
Still, on that day, in that horrible car, totally exhausted, I had one of the hairiest track experiences ever.
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