A lap round The Lady in Black

I have always wondered what it would be like to take a lap Darlington Raceway with a NASCAR driver and I was able to do that Saturday.
Former driver Brett Bodine, who drives the pace car for every Cup race, took me and a few other media members around the Lady in Black in a 2008 Dodge Challenger before Saturday’s race.
And it definitely lived up to my expectations.
We weren’t going as fast as the Cup drivers, who get around the Cup race at about 180 mph. Instead we topped out about 120 mph but like the Cup drivers we were running right up against the wall going into Turn 1.
But one thing I didn’t realize was the amount of space between Turn 1 and Turn 2, which Bodine called like a “third straightaway.”
But as quick as you are driving between the turns you must almost have to slow down what is seem like was almost a stop coming off the Turn 2 into the back straightaway. Then you get back in the throttle and head into Turn 3 right up against the wall then dip a little back towards the bottom coming off Turn 4 and do it all over again.
And if getting around the track isn’t tough enough, you must also deal with entering pit road. It sneaks up so fast when you are going into Turn 4 that when Bodine ducked down into pit lane you felt a big jerk to your body. I couldn’t imagine doing it at 170 mph or so.
The trip definitely was an eye-opening experience and made me appreciate the job the drivers do and also left me wanting to do it all over again.

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