Wow, what a weekend.
Friday morning I got to California Speedway in Fontana at 7:30AM. My birthday gift finally arrived in town. Thanks to the Andretti Racing School, I could pretend to be an IRL driver for a few laps. I've never been behind the wheel of anything near 600HP. I've never done anything like this. What a rush just seeing the cars warming up in the garage. There were maybe 10 people in this session and everyone looked cool, but my heart was pounding. I wasn't really scared (although you do imagine what hitting the wall would be like), I just wanted to get out there and do well. After a half hour or so of obligatory safety talk we drove around the track in a van together. 80mph in bigass van feels very fast. Of course the instructor driving kept saying "You guys can double this speed, right?"
The fire crew took forever cleaning up debris from the race held ealier in the week. Sitting around gave me time to relax for a while. They finally gave us the green light and we got ready.
When my turn came up I climbed into the cockpit and realized how small Indy cars really are. There is such little room that you cannot move more than a few inches in any direction. It's like strapping yourself into your own coffin. I got the green light, followed the lead instructor out the pit lane and started building speed. With the delay, the school gave us all 2 extra laps (very cool people). Good thing too, it takes some getting used to. Instinct tells you to lift off the gas in the corners. After a few turns I was able to stick the corners and go flat out thru the whole lap. The G forces are incredible! Your body slams the right side wall of the cockpit and your arms get heavy. My left shoulder is still sore from the harness keeping me in the seat. I ran 8 laps, came in got some advice, and headed back out. The next session started bad. The instructor immediately pulled right back into the pit lane after one lap. I thought I had screwed up and they were bringing me in. Turns out he ran out of gas. Another car jumped in and we were off. The second stint was so fun, I felt perfect. The car is so responsive it's unreal. My top speed was 162.52 MPH. From there Brendi and I left for Las Vegas at the weakass pace of 70mph. Felt like crawling.
A warm Saturday night, Las Vegas, Grey Goose, and LA Kings hockey. What could be better? Frozen Fury 9 saw the Kings playing the Avalanche once again. It's awesome being so far from home and seeing Kings jerseys everywhere. Yeah...Kings fans, ... loud, drunk, arrogant Kings fans. The only good thing about seeing your team losing 2-0 with only 6 minutes left is the comeback victory is so much better. Lubo from the blue line, Frolov shoots ala Luc (laying on his ass) in the slot, and future star O'Sullivan scoring on a 3 on 1 with 52 seconds left to win. Years ago, LG went to a playoff game and the crowd was chanting the whole way out. This was the same thing. Constant baggering of Avs fans. The only thing missing was the cries of "Paaaa-triiiick." Fights in the stands, fights on the casino floor...it was a blast. The Hockey News did list "Party with Kings Fans" as one of the top 5 things to do with good reason.
I can't comment too much about Saturday night as I was completely shitfaced. As all who've seen me drink to excess know, I just get happier and happier. By 4am I must have been the happiest man alive.
The best thing about the whole weekend was finally having the chance to be out with Brendi. Between my 60 hours a week and her two jobs, we haven't had much time to have fun. We haven't have had much time for anything. We've been married for 3 years (anniversary is tomorrow) and there have been many hardships along the way. But all these obstacles have been for us to tackle together, not battle each other. This weekend was great because it was just us and a couple of friends who came out too. We needed this. As incredible as driving a race car was, as great as any Kings victory can be, nothing is better than being with your true love.
Happy 3rd Brendi!