richard petty driving experience

This was an amazing experience. I was able to do a 5 lap ride along that was amazing. I had a very good driver, Chris, and would recommend this to anyone. I can't wait to get the chance to do it again. Christina

best experience of my life. definitely will do it again! driving the race car was the single most exciting thing I have ever done. The cars are really great shape and handle fantastically. I would say absolutely everything was perfect. My ONLY complaint was that the in car video was a little too dark to really see what was going on out of the front of the car. They did give me a discount because of it but it would have been neat to be able to show family and friends my driving experience. Like I said though everythin else was great and I had a fantastic time. Even if you don't have an interest in driving you can do the ride along and do it just for the adrenaline rush.

This was a great experience for my son and I. Since we had not done anything like this before, we did the ride along first to get familiar. That was fun but the real experience was the opportunity to drive. I was worried that the experience was not going to be real but it was. My instructor told me what to do as we went along and as I got familiar with the car and track, I reached 145mph. The instructor let me reach the limit of my ability. They had a great offer to extend the number of laps but my adrenalin was pumping so hard that I didn't feel I could handle more laps. Everyone at the track were very helpful and pleasant. I highly recommend the experience. I hope to do it again.

We have done the race car driving experience twice at this location. The first time a couple of years ago it was Richard Petty. It's now the Rusty Wallace Driving Experience. We had great experiences both times. They've changed some things. First, there's no pace car to send you off. Second, the spotter, who is the person speaking and guiding you in the headset, now only speaks to you, not the whole field at once. You can hear them. They can't hear you. The benefit of one-on-one with the spotter is that now you know when they're talking to you. There's no way to see where any other cars are, so communication from the spotter is crucial. I have driven three times. The first time the spotter spoke to the whole field and I couldn't tell when he said 19 or 16. It gets really loud at high speeds, and all I could hear was "teen" so I didn't know if he was speaking to me. The second time, the spotter was speaking only to me, but only said a couple of words at a time. So I heard things like "dfhdj turn" and "aksk lane" but had no idea what he meant so I ended up driving slower. Third time, the spotter was awesome. He spoke only to me, had a dialog going, and was encouraging. It made all the difference in the world and I felt confident driving the car fast enough to rev out a couple of times. My husband has driven three times and says he didn't catch all the words, but was comfortable that he knew what his spotter wanted. So, if you're not comfortable with how you hear the spotter at high speeds, do as the instructor suggests and go into the pit to get adjusted. Our teens have done ride alongs twice. I thought the second time they might not have been so impressed, but I was wrong. They loved it just as much as the first time and always compliment how funny and personable their drivers are. They've also changed the way they do the in-car video. Previously, they mailed a CD to you a few weeks later. The husband got one, but it didn't turn out so they refunded the money with no problems. Now, they use SD cards. The paperwork says they still have issues with the cards malfunctioning, and if it does you don't get to re-drive for free. We bought two videos this time and they both came out fine. We buy the $60 insurance each time because $1000 deductible is much better than $15000 if something happens. Listen and definitely pay attention during instruction time. There are other drivers and the professionals doing ride alongs out there at the same time and you want to make the most of your laps. Driving takes about 3 hours. Ride alongs are called first come first serve, but pre-drive ride alongs go to the front of the line.

Had a blast running around the 1.5 mile track at an estimated 160 mph. My family came along to watch and even got to take the kids in a van around the track. So much fun that you have to try it for yourself.

I purchased a Petty driving experience for my husband and he really enjoyed it! I had mixed feelings about "hanging out" while he did this, but was pleasantly surprised. It is a well run event, has plenty of seating, very clean. I would have appreciated a snack vendor though! They did have water and souvenirs for purchase.

Fantastic. Do the drive a car and then you'll know what it's like to be in a race.10 laps is amazing- you can get the package 1/2 price through Groupon and the ride along deal is about $66 for 3 laps at race speed