Speed Demons

In many (southern) areas, including Homestead, the Monday-morning drive to work following a Sunday broadcast of stock-car racing takes on added ka-clang, sharpening defensive driving skills and firing pulses. Everybody wants to be Richard Petty. Which is the raison d’être of the Richard Petty Driving Experience. After careful instruction and appropriate disclaiming is out of the way, you’re in the driver’s seat of a car just like the ones you recently watched wind up the NASCAR season with the Nextel Cup at this very venue: Homestead-Miami Speedway, which is located at 1 Speedway Blvd., Homestead.

Classes and sessions range from $399 for the “rookie experience” to $1,249 for the “experience of a lifetime” – although that doesn’t have to mean your last experience – and run through Sunday. There are also ride-along sessions and, at much higher fees, actual simulated racing experiences – don’t ask until you’ve been to an RPDE. As Mr. Petty himself would tell you, the essence of all racing is not to get ahead of yourself.
Fri., Dec. 14, 2007