Texas Motor Speedway

My MIL's birthday is the day after Thanksgiving. She went out to dinner with her boyfriend (seems weird to say that word when you aren't a child let alone talking about parents or grandparents). He gave her a ticket to drive 10 laps in a racecar around the Texas Motor Speedway. Apparently the fastest track in the country? Today was the day. There was a lot of excitement out there. For her privacy I'm just showing images that don't show her.

She drove the number 20, Home Depot car. I have no idea which driver this would be associated with. This was actually my first time to the race track at all. In order that they don't strip the engine (I'm sure there is some sort of technical term for that sort of thing) they have everyone start in 2nd gear. Then to get them up to speed to be in 2nd they have the guy on the 4 wheeler actually push the car out to the track. He veers off really quickly though so as not to get hit by the next car.

This image is right after they pulled the cars out of the garages. I thought it was pretty funny that I got a shot of her car even before she was told which car she would have.

This sort of thing is best seen on video don't you think? She's off...

Speeding by where we were standing...

Racing by again. In this video you can see the "Limo" in which for 20 bucks a piece 12 lucky people can race semi-quickly around the track.

And the ride is over.

Crazy fast. Crazy loud. Crazy windy today. Everybody climbing in and out of windows. Apparently the whole experience is better if you are a rider rather then a driver, unless you've driven before. The "instructors" tend to freak out really easy and its not difficult to forget everything you were told in your short intro class once you are out there.

And why not let your dog hang out? This guy looked like he was enjoying himself.

One more because I really like this photo.