Richard Petty Ride-Along review

The track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  The tri-oval is 1.5 miles (2.41 km) long.  The banking at the turns is at a 20 degree angle.

The cars: 360 cubic inch (5.9 liter) engines rated at 600 horsepower.

Price: A pass costs about $100 for three laps.  You can get a second pass for 1/2 off.  So you can get six laps for a little over $150.  I bought six laps.

The experience: I went to the morning session which started at nine.  I arrived at the track about a half hour early and there were already more than a dozen people in line buying tickets.  The customers ran the whole gamut from teenagers to grandmothers.

You are given a Simpson racing suit, an open faced helmet, and a HANS device.

You can't bring a camera on-board because they make money selling pictures and on-board DVDs.

The cars definitely have that V8 rumble, but are not that loud.  There's quite a bit of room inside.  Given the oval layout, I really couldn't gauge the car's acceleration or braking abilities.  I estimate my driver was driving at 6/10 to 7/10.

What really surprised me was the car's grip.  At every curve, I thought the car was going to snap loose and hit the wall.  All those skidmarks that lead to and abruptly end at the wall didn't help my mindset.  But we were in control the whole time.

I estimate that each lap took about 40 seconds.  I got dizzy and nauseous almost as soon as we got on the track (I get sick easily).  I was pretty giddy and excited during the first lap.  By the second lap, I wished I had only gotten the 3-lap package.  For the rest of the ride, I was just trying to keep my breakfast inside my body.  Thankfully, the Petty crew did not need to hose down the interior after the ride.

This is not a video of me, but I began to feel sick at around the 0:58 mark.

All in all, it was a fun experience.  It's definitely a good alternative activity if you are tired of the casinos.  There are other car-related things you can do on/near the track, including:

• U-Drift: Teaches you to drift in the track parking lot in 240SXs.
• Exotic Racing: Drive supercars (Ferrari, Lambos, etc.) on the track.
• Shelby museum and factory.

More info on the Richard Petty program here.  You can also drive the stock cars.