AWSM Intern Tries Life in the Fast Lane

Briana Gorman is an AWSM Intern at The Detroit News this summer. View the story with photos.

Briana Gorman / The Detroit News

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- I was coming out of turn two on my eighth lap around Michigan International Speedway when I had to let off the gas pedal to avoid rear-ending the instructor driving the car in front of me.

Even though the stock car I was driving didn't have a speedometer, it was then I realized I was going pretty fast.

I was told after my drive my top speed was 143 miles per hour, not bad for someone who had never gone faster than 90 on the highway.

But as I followed the pace car, as instructed, I grew more frustrated. I wanted to go even faster.

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I thought taking a crash course in race car driving would be fun. But it was also a chance to try and understand a little more about NASCAR and its popularity.

As I drove to MIS early Saturday morning, I was excited but apprehensive.

No one has ever died at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. I didn't want to be the first.

After checking in at 7:30 a.m., the 20 of us were given full-body jumpsuits and shown a 10-minute instructional video narrated by Richard Petty and his son, Kyle. The video ended with a montage of former participants, including celebrities Ellen DeGeneres and the Wayans brothers, saying things like, "That was awesome" as they climbed out of the cars.

We then broke into smaller groups to get more instructions about driving on the track.

My group jumped into a passenger van that circled the track so we could see where the driving lines were located. There were white markers painted on the track at almost every turn. The markers indicated the space in which we were to drive.

Our instructor, James Stephenson, told us we would be following a race car driven by an instructor so it would truly be a one-on-one experience. Stephenson told us to keep two-car lengths between us and the instructor. If we got too close the instructor would give us a "wave-off," literally waving his hand so you could see it through his back windshield.

The idea was to get at least one "wave-off" because the instructors were there, not only to make sure we didn't go too fast but, to make sure we went fast enough.

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I sat in the car, my heart beating a mile a minute. A pit-road crew member attempted to give me some final advice, but I couldn't hear him as the blood pounded in my ears. I tried to remember everything I had been told that morning.