Matt, Austin did we get the right x-mas presents?
 

Cause I'm going to little place called Las Vegas to do this:

http://www.1800bepetty.com/index2.html

My Mom and Sister totally suprised me and my Dad!

This is going to rock!

"soon to be full time fan!"

woah dude, thats freaking cool.

have fun out there.

seriously, it's gonna be crazy, on Feb 19th!

I see smokey burnouts and 3 wide into turn in my :lol: future!

Sounds like fun, are you sure you are going to be able to adjust to turning both ways again afterwards? :P

what!

I might just stick to ovals!

I'm waiting for the words from Matt!

A guy I work with did that a few months ago...said it was outragous..you will love it....you better like it because it cost a pretty penny.

Holy Crap Dude!!!! That's the best present ever...You will have a new appriciation for oval racing after you run there! WOWOWOW!!!! I'm jealous yet very happy for you...You will have so much fun... Shit, next time we go back to Altamont, we're all gonna have to watch out...

ha ha

BTW, which package option did they get you? "The Rookie", "The King"?

I'm goona do rookie with my Dad and my sis bf.

That was cool of them... I did this 8 or so years ago in Florida with Petty... At the time, it was pretty cool. I wish my folks had done that.

That said, I need to add a disclaimer...

It will probably be very cool for your father and sister if they have never done any sort of driving at speed while turning.

I think you will enjoy it as well, but it may not be as exciting considering the driving you have been doing for the past couple years.

At my first track event in my own car a couple years later, the rush of driving my own car around Thunderhill at maybe 50% of what it was capable of was 1000 times the Petty experience...

I wish I had spent the money on Bob Bondurant, Skip Barber, or Audi events those years earlier... I don't mean to rain on your parade, but if your family is one of those that understands exchanging gifts, you might want to propose a change.

Again, not trying to bum you out, or anything, just making an observation/ suggestion.

Don't listen to Dean, you're gonna have a blast!

My friend at IGT did it, and he said he was getting up around 130-140mph at Vegas. That's fast enough for a no-joke adrenaline rush. :twisted: I wouldn't trade that away!!

And like it was mentioned, you're going to get a much better understanding about oval track racing. In fact, combine your experience of the Altamont cars with the speeds you're going to see at Vegas, and I think you'll really start to see why oval track racing is so popular. Those guys really are on a knife edge at 200mph diceing it up in rush-hour like traffic!

Also, consider it training, because I'm taking you, Matt and Austin back to Altamont for next October's Spectator Challenge. I think with four of us, we should have a good chance of one of the SECCS folks taking home a podium finish! ;)

The main there here is I get to do something fun involving cars with my Dad. He works hard and never takes trip for himself to have fun.

I knew it wasn't going to be the same race dynamic as a track day. Like Scott said though, I'm still gonna be on the track in a race car and you really can't get around the fact that will be fun.

I'll have plenty of time to do more intenese track days/schools in the future.

You should have seen the look on my Mom's face when she gave us the surprise she was so happy that she surprised us, it was like half the gift right there!

I sure you will have fun with the whole family there. The look on your dads face getting out of the car should be equally as good.

Then your challenge will be to get him into Reno to co-drive your car at autocross. :)

Tyson, either way, you'll end up like this guy before too long...welcome...

Matt, Eeewww. :lol:
Congrats Tyson. You so deserve a gift like that.
Have fun.

Awesome gift Tyson! You are going to have so much fun

I've never done any oval track schools but have participated in numerous schools and events with Jim Russell Racing and there star mazda cars down here at Infineon and it is the most fun I have ever had in my life!!

Tyson My Dad and I did that about 4 years ago its a real kick in the Pants thats NASCAR talk for fun :twisted:

I think Dean was just trying to point out the realistic -- that once you have driven your own vehicle at a track event on a real road course, you will probably have a different impression about the Petty Driving experience. Nevertheless, the experience is in an actual race stock car, like the Petty Experience, and I know I was jealous that Dean had that experience when he went; And, to do it with one of your parents would be AWESOME!!!

I think Dean also had a good idea, that is, get your Dad to come out to give Autox (or, a track event) a try. I think Dean said there will be an Audi Club event coming to Fernley in 2005 - if so, there is NO EXCUSE to miss it!

Yah I would love to get my dad out to an event. He works a lot and lives in Winnemucca. I'm thinking about the only one he would be able to get to without a bunch of hassle, would be of course Winnemucca next year.

I think I talked to him one year, when he came out to watch you. So at least, he's seen it, and knows (hopefully) it's not dangerous. :D

From some of the stories he's told me about him and his brothers and cars I doubt much of anything actually worries my father when it comes to cars!

You should have a great time - if anything you will get impatient with the speed restrictions they start you out with, but it's generally for your own good so you gradually get a feel for what the car is capable of. Even if you have done track events in your own car, a 3500lb V8 stock car with race slicks on a banked oval is going to be quite a different (read: fun) experience.

And yeah, we need to go back to Altamont - if we go organized with 3 or 4 of us entering we'd take over that race. :twisted:

Abolutely :twisted: I'm totally in...

I think I'm pretty much an oval expert, based solely on my viewing of ESPN, "The coverage is excellent". :lol:

You'd be surprised how much you can pick up.