BuckeyeZ06

I have been at this road racing thing for seven years now, and firmly beleive that whatever skills I may have developed on the race track have helped me be a better driver on the street.

Many times I have come close to a minor fender-bender and calmly avoided contact. The biggest upside to these occurances is that I don't think anything of it. Those things truly are "no big deal" after doing what me do on the weekends.

Also, during the winter months, I don't mind the car sliding around at all. Inclement weather doesn't bother me at all; where other people seriously consider not driving.

But this week was the biggest pay-off on the street.

Thursday I was driving to the office like I have been doing for 24 years. The road where my office is has a posted speed limit of 40 MPH. It is a 4 lane no-divided road with a center turning lane.

I was preparing to make a right hnd turn from the far right lane (make sense?), and had my turn signals on well before the entrance to the parking lot.

One habit I have developed over the years of racing is to take a quick peek at the inside-of-the-turn mirror just before turn-in. I do this to see if anyone is trying to out-brake me.

This habit served me well this week. I perform my habit and as I do I see this Buick Rendevous bearing down on me, and I say to myself, "He's not going to stop."

So rather than making the turn, I stayed left in the lane and overshot my turn by not applying the brakes.

The Buick goes flying by me, on my right, at a speed of at least 35 MPH! I could not believe what I just saw.

I was fortunate to look in my mirror. If I would have started to make that turn like I have done for 24 years, my car would have been wiped out. I am certain of that.

I wasn't worried about my safety, there was plenty of run-off room in front on me and to the left if contact occured. But the car would have been written off.

Moral of the story: racing can make you a better driver on the street!

Aardwolf

Definitely!

I get better MPG than my co-pilot by being smooth and using all of the road in corners. I don't have to downshift while she ends up in a lower gear. I carry more speed through the corner and scrub the tires less. It's good practice and pays in better gas mileage.

She went in the ditch last winter and showed my her tracks, then said that I wouldn't have ditched it since I control the car better.

andrewdonald1

I totally agree with you.

In my case 30+ years of riding motorcycles (20+ high performance) really helps me out to. Getting the rear end loose is no big deal, in fact I enjoy it.

Running down two lane country roads, I am always looking out for gravel, cars coming out of drive ways in blind corners etc.

More people should take pride in driving or riding. It can save their life, or at least avoid serious injury.

Unfortunately not enough people take pride in this valuable life saving skill.

Solofast

Here was the scene.. I'm in the left lane of a four lane non-divided road going 45 or so. There is a pickup in the right lane and he is slowing down to turn right. My first wife is at that very instant ragging on me saying "when you drive fast you drive like crazy, when you aren't going like crazy you don't drive quickly enough.... yada yada ... You get the idea, there was a reason she was my first wife.....

A guy in the side street that the pickup was turning into doesn't see me since all he can see is the pickup. He pulls out and manges to see me and slam on his brakes but he is dead ahead and the front of his car is blocking my lane totally. I stab the brakes and THREW the car (pure reaction, all instinct) around the guy into oncoming traffic and then back into my lane, missed the guy by about a foot (not a bit more)... About 250 feet down the road is a guy coming the other way and by the time I go by him (accelerating by then) he's stopped with his mouth hanging open...

The woman shuts up and we ride in dead silence the remaining three miles to the house...

About two weeks later she says... You know, that accident we almost had... If it had been any less car or any less driver we would have all been dead.... NEVER heard another word about my driving.

If I hadn't had the experience that you get from tracking or autocross I'd be a statistic....

I've taken my son to the Street Survival program and have taken him out on test days for autocross to give him the skill set that will keep him alive. I think every driver should have those skills, but unfortunately most are about as skilled as the idiot in the Rendevous and we all have to watch out for them...

mgarfias

This is why in 3 years or so (hes 18mos now) my boy is getting a kart/quarter midget. And I'm going to have him racing up until he gets his license.

I know what crap my buddies and I pulled as kids, we were lucky, not skilled. I want to make sure my boy has the skills to save his butt when shtf.

vettehardt

I got my liscense when I was 16 and the very next weekend I was racing my dads, now my, 73 vette. I can't count, nor remember, the number of times I saved myself or others by knowing what a car can do. I am now 31 and I have never had a ticket or an accident, except for two deer. That is why I always encourage a young driver to get involved with NCCC or SCCA and autocrossing.

Driver training in this country is seriously almost non existant. We need more training for any body who wants a liscense. A lack of training is why people insist on talking on phones, reading books, grooming themselves, eating, etc in cars when they should be concentrating on driving. Nobody understands that drving is not a right, it is a privilage. It can and should be taken away if used improperly.

DRUNK DRIVING IS NOT AN ACCIDENT, IT'S MURDER!!!

Aardwolf

Driver training is so poor. My co-pilot always wants me to drive in inclement weather. When I ride with her, her driving inputs are so abrupt they can give me a headache. You can't drive successfully like that in the snow.

larryfs

My kids have commented that I drive smooooooth, while their friends parents drive rough & abupt with the pedals.

1lapRacer

Mine was similar to the story Solofast relayed above but with a slight twist.

My wife who was 7 months pregnant and I decided to go get coffee about a mile from where we lived. it was a two lane road with tall curbs and entrances to apartment complexes on the passenger side. We took the Vette instead of a comfy car for the wife. I had been autocrossing every chance I could for the previous three years but, marriage, mba and a child on the way had kept me from running much at that time. Driving along at the posted speed limit of 35 mph. A women pulls half into the street in front of me with a huge Buick/Caddy, land yacht.. She does this probably 30 or so feet in front of me and panics, hits the brakes leaving me a third of my lane and the oncoming lane. That SCCA lane change training kicked in and I stomped on the throttle threw it sideways into the oncoming lane around the pivot pylon (old lady in the land yacht with a yapping dog in her lap) and back to a dead stop in my lane with the right rear tire touching the curb and the left fender on the dividing line. Only time I have gotten out of the car to yell at someone. The oncoming Grand Cherokee driver stopped and got out to make sure everyone was OK, including himself as scared the crap out of him.

My wife described it later as " all Isaw was car, suv grill and then stopped."

The twist is the daughter my wife was pregnant with at that time, is getting her drivers permit next month. Anyone want guess how many autox's she does before she is 17?

I am sure that day would have turned out much worse if it hadn't been for that SCCA lane change practice drill!

mark b

I can atest to this, i was driving home from a track day at the glen with my vette on rcomps and it was raining all the way.. it really sucked, i had hardly any tread and i was fine until I hit the glass smooth I80 with it's smooth turns entering new jersey..it was pouring!
I was able to sense that the car was starting to hydroplane and instantly reacted, there was really no traction but I managed to get the car under control and not hit anyone or anything.. I spun around after attempting to straighten it out, but kept the spin in my lane... then to make matters worse a big rig didnt even slow down in the lane next to me and just blew by me at 60 missing me buy 8feet!! you would think he would at least slow down seeing me, I guess he thought he's got it hes OK.. slow down anyway!! thank GOD there was no cars around when it happenned they were way in back of me, I always try to stay out of the clumps of car traffic..

another time I was driving on the highway again with my Vette to get it serviced and again a big semi was pushing all the water into my lane causing my car to start to hydroplane but i managed to straighten it out and stay in my lane...when I approached the bridge toll he honked his big horn and gave me a thumbs up! he was watching me in his rear view regaining control of the car.. while I was cursing him

this hobby teaches you to not think fast but think ahead..anticipate what the other person is going to do or not going to do..

in fact I really dont like to drive during the day with all the numnuts out there
even though I can be one of them sometimes

John B

There are a bunch of deer around here that are greatful I race cars.

LeMans05C6

These are cool stories, don't have any specific ones yet, but i know just the awareness of how your car can react and what it is capable of helps you everytime your behind the wheel. If you can be following someone on a racetrack and pick out a time when they might be pushing the car to much, it helps as well to be able to see which drivers are going to make the poor decisions on the roads.

Reactions like you guys describe where you act not think come from all of this.

TWO THUMBS UP FOR RACING!

John B

I have no accidents on my record & many speeds. I'm always driving vetts & they don't get away with much as we all know. My wife has 3 collisions on her record is 7 years youger & pays half what I do. I know doubt believe all of the above stories & have many myself. There needs to be driver competency testing & training. You recognize a stop sign shape & pull off a parallel park job here is your license is stupid. There has to be a happy medium between refined racecraft like Dave is talking about & passing a current drivers test. We would all spend less on insurance.

0Randy@DRM

I have found it easier to just drive, and her ride shotgun. My heart rate climbs every mile I ride with my wife driving. She late brakes all the time, flat out all the time, has a death grip on the wheel, will not give way to anything. But hasn't hit anything (Knocking on wood)

Then the snow comes, and she drives 20 mph, normal, and smooth. I buy her new snow tires every year and we put them on together. Every advantage she can get the better, better tires= better stopping, turning and going then the next car over.

She is looking forward to the winter time so we can parking lot drive again. She said some book helped her understand driving a bit more. Something about "fast hands when going slow and slow hands when going fast" It sounded good to me:o

Randy

0Randy@DRM

My right eye hurts from looking in the ditches around here.

Lawdogg

David, living in MN I have been enjoying 5 months per year of sliding my cars and trucks on winter roads for over 35 years. I look forward to snow storms only for that reason (other than that, snow SUCKS).