My first time racing at the track.

[05 MAG RT]

I went to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway "Midnight Mayhem", to see what my car could do 1/4 mile and for the experience since I never did this before. ($10 to race as many times as you want, $5 to watch)
I went there with my wife and 3 y/o son, racing started a 7pm and they opened at 6pm, but I showed up at 7pm, which was my first mistake, there were already 50-75 cars doing the line, second mistake: I was in the wrong lane to get checked, so after wasting 20 mins, I had to go to the right lane to pay and get seached for weapons..., so after another 20 minutes I went to the lane I was in to begin with, but I had everything this time.
Third mistake: I went to the back, instead of going straight to race, because we wanted to use the restrooms and I had to drop off the wife and kid at the stands and I stayed there for 10 minutes to see how the lights worked..., but when I got back to do the line to race, it was the return lane, where people had already raced and it was much longer that the lane I was in before, so I wasted another 20 minutes waiting, next time I'll drop them off where they can walk to the stands and stay in the front where the line is shorter.
So I got there at 7pm like I said before and my first race was at 8:40 pm, damn I was anxious, my heart was racing hard 5 mins before it was my turn, when I went, I saw the puddle of water, so I went around it, because I have good, recently purchased tires that are good and I don't wanna burn them, so I got to the staging lane, which I had no idea where it was because there is no white line to give a hint of where to approximately stop, so I let the other guy go first (I car length ahead), then I saw the 2 yellow lights so I knew I was staged (1 light: move up more, 2 lights is good, if it goes back to 1 light: back up), ESP was "off", then my last mistake of the day: I was so nervous and not thinking ahead that I had left my right foot on the brake pedal (normal driving) instead of having the left foot on the brake pedal and the right foot on the gas pedal to get going faster, and to top it off, the light became green in a hurry and I was not ready for it, so my reaction time was 1.076, while the car next to me had a good, quick start and had a reaction time of .416, so he was ahead of me 1 car length, but by the end of the 1/4 mile I was 2-4 car lengths ahead of him, so I didn't look too much like a jacka$$, and I didn't know when it was time to stop, but I saw 2 yellows lights turn on so I figured it was my clue to stop flooring it.
I had minimal tire spin, my 1/4 was 14.737 at 94.14, which could have been sub 14 sec if I had had a good reaction time, the other car did 15.637 at 90.04.
My car had 1/4 tank, all my stuff inside, and tires at 36psi, I didn't want to cheat, so I kept them at 36psi which is what I use to drive every day.
The other car I was racing was a Wolkswagen R32 or GTI, (I'm not sure)
I wanted to go again, but my kid was getting cold and the line to race again was 3 times as long as before, so I knew I would have been there for 40 minutes this time so I didn't race again.
My kid had fun, he was laughing every time a ricer car with its lawnmower exhaust would take off, the noise made my kid laugh, it was funny, and my wife liked it, now she knows what it looks like, and it's loud with all those ricers.
Next time I'll do it right, I'll show up as soon as they open, which is 1 hour before racing, I'll empty out stuff I have in the car, except for tire changing stuff, I'll get in the correct lane (god forbid they put signs or anything for first timers, it's like casinos, they want you to get lost in there), and I'll drop off the wife and kid as soon as I get close to the stands and they can walk to it, so I'll be in line to be first to race, and I'll keep my left foot on the brakes and my right foot on the gas so I'll take off right away and hopefully I'll be ready for that green light and have a good reaction time.
BTW: my car there was the nicest looking (out of 200-300 cars I saw), I never saw so many honda ricers in on place in my whole life, I saw 2 porshes, 2 mustangs, one charger SRT8 (red and appeared stock) and everything else made me think I was in Japan (I like Japan, but damn! what happened to american V-8's, they went extinct like dinosaurs or something?)

[jwroby]

Nice detail, sorry about all the troubles... atleast you beat the VW.

[MadDad]

Good job -- I'm too nervous to race myself

[05 MAG RT]

One more thing: next time I'll plug in my Superchips to see what kind of 0-60 times I get.

[Rickeyboi]

Great story kat...next time you should beat the next guy with your family in the car...imagine if your kids would have rolled down the windows just as you were passing the guy...priceless...j/k once again good story

[4rwheeler]

I hate unorganized events. If you have never been, you have no idea whats going on or where to be. They expect everyone to get it. Glad you got a run in and hope you get your issues straightened out for next time. Good luck!

[05 MAG RT]

Originally Posted by Rickeyboi

next time you should beat the next guy with your family in the car

Is it allowed? (to have wife and child in car?)

I saw a few wrx sti's, so I got lucky I didn't race against a 12 sec car.
I saw a time of 10 sec 1/4 time, but I wasn't close enough to see what kind of car it was, next time after racing 4-5 times, I'll go to the stands and film the action for 5 minutes and I'll post it here and on U-tube (It will be a learning experience too, to see how it works for those that I have never raced before)

[riperoo]

Dude, great story, I am dying to do that myself, I'm not far from english town NJ, have never jumped just caues i don't want to look like an idiot on my first time, your story was great, makes me think i could go and pull it off.

Thanks,

[05 MAG RT]

They have another race event March 21st, I'll be there and I'll film it too.

[05 MAG RT]

You can pratice the light tree here, check it out: Test your reaction time! Virtual Spotrsman Tree