Hey Guys,

I had a dream come true this weekend (Saturday). NASCAR, had an open house yesterday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Fans could drive on the race track for a couple of laps with their personal cars, all that was required was you had to give a small donation ($30). You know I was with that!!

There were many other cars too, but they only let a few cars on the track at a time, maybe 15 to 20. The only thing was that you could not pass the pace car and you had to keep up with the car in front of you. The pace car was going about 65 mph. I dropped back a bit so I could get in some good speeds. I got the car to about 80/85 mph quite a few times; it still was the BOMB :woot: .

I have some short video the misses took on her phone. I'll post them once I find out how. I also have some pics, they're pretty good considering they were taken with a camera phone. Anyone, know how to reduce file size of JPEG files? I would like to post some of the pics. I'm trying a couple of things...here is a link it should take you to the pics/slideshow.
http://www.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=29554893/t_=33624545


They (Atlanta Motor Speedway) do this once a year, every year. Next year I will have some real video footage. I'm there!!! :woohoo:

I just tried the link you'll need the email: ebhendrick@hotmail.com and password: "newyork" to view the pics/slideshow.

Oh man thats really cool. I wish they would do that at Daytona. I would like to do some laps there. I have done some laps in one of the petty driveing race cars but I want to do it in my own car so I could drive.

If they would do that at Daytona, I would drive down to drive it. Were you able to see the pics from the link?

You weren't bumping anybody into spins like Tony Stewart, were you? :nono: :D

No...Jeff Gordon is out of the Chase, so it wasn't worth it. :p

We did this at CA Speedway for free...some of us got to 100mph or more. ;)

http://www.clublexus.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/605

If you like road racing, why not participate in the supra shootout....www.suprashootout.com. I road raced at that same track and it's great for beginners!

I didn't know that Atlanta was already rebuilt! It got RAILED by a tornado earlier this year... made me cry when I saw it because I was brought up on NASCAR. :cry:

Well, it's not 100% ready but it will be ready for the October race from what I here. It didn't look too bad; you can see where some of the damage occurred, cardboard, blown out windows, that kind of thing.

THis was so awesome, thanks for sharing. :thumbup: :thumbup:

If you like road racing, why not participate in the supra shootout....www.suprashootout.com. I road raced at that same track and it's great for beginners!

Are you going to the road race? Do you know if any Lexus cars are going to this or how many cars are going so far? I'm very much interested. I have some front maintenance to do though.

If any of you guys really want to get the feel of Atlanta, Lowes, Rockingham, etc... sign up for a driving school class like buck baker. You get to race slightly de-tuned (600hp) cup cars. You start with classroom instruction and then move on to the course with the instructor who shows you the prefered line and then you get the car by yourself. There's nothing else like it. :D When I completed my laps at rockingham and got back in my gs430, the steering and suspension felt really loose compare to the cup car.

Are you going to the road race? Do you know if any Lexus cars are going to this or how many cars are going so far? I'm very much interested. I have some front maintenance to do though.

I don't think I'm gonna be ready to run the SC300 with the Supras, I just spent over 2k and i'm right in the middle of turboing the car. I'm guessing that the SC will need better brakes to run there, maybe next year.

On a positive note, the track is wide-open...you really have to mess up in a big way to hurt the car. I recommend it for your first time out. I'm gonna go and watch anyway. Also, if you like import drag racing, drive down for the "import showdown" next month. It's a great mix of cars at varying performance levels, www.importshowdown.com.