Talledega Donate and Drive

On April 27, our area was ravaged by some pretty devastating storms (to say the least). These storms brought with them hurricane force winds and a string of tornadoes that left more than 240 people in the state dead and tens of thousands without homes. We are so blessed to have survived with no damage but so many people in the surrounding communities were not. Over the past month or so, Bill and I have tried to help where we can - from going to a community to help remove debris to donating water, food, clothes, and other supplies.

The most exciting way that we have been able to help was through Talledega Donate and Drive. For a mere $50 donation (all of which went straight to the Red Cross for tornado relief), we were able to take the Bullitt for 4 trips around the race track at Talledega.

The rules were as follows:
- About 10 cars were allowed on the track at a time. The first car in line had to follow a pace car. The last car was followed by an emergency response vehicle.
- No passing.
- No bump drafting (they actually told us this).
- Must stay off the apron.

While it was assumed you would maintain the speed of the pace car (about 70 mph), no one said you couldn't hang back to create a gap between you and the car in front of you before gunning it to catch back up. Needless to say that is what Bill did. He thinks he got up to about 110 to 120 mph coming out of the turns.

The original plan (considering I was 7 months pregnant at the time) was for me to sit on the sidelines and watch. However, there wasn't a good spot for Bill to drop me off before he was on the track and I thought it might be fun to ride along. So I sat in the passenger's seat and video taped the ride.

I must say, it was awesome! I have been to NASCAR races at Talledega, but you can't get an appreciation for how steep those turns are until you are on the track. It's not something I would do again, but I definitely think it was worth it (and all for a good cause).

Here is a picture of the Bullitt on pit road, waiting to hit the track.


Here we are going around turn 3.