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Written by Ken Wood
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Monday, 03 March 2008 |
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 I have had the good fortune to ride along with Eddie as he turned several laps on the race track. These were not race events but lapping days. Riding in the car with Eddie is a very intense experience as he is on the edge at all times. He accelerates hard, shifts gears fast and often, and he really gets on the brakes. All of this intensity makes you feel like you are pushing the very limits of the car but you never really feel completely out of control. This has always been my experience riding with Eddie but I do have to mention the day that I thought we were going to hit the wall at VIR, and I mean hit it hard.
Eddie and I were in his Corvette Z06 and he was really pushing it around VIR’s Full course. After several uneventful laps we got a late pass from a slower car as we approached Oak Tree turn. Oak Tree is one of the slowest turns on the course and if you make a mistake you are greeted by guard rail and tire walls only a few feet from the track. To make the pass, Eddie carried a lot more speed into the turn than usual, in fact WAY more speed than usual. I knew we were in for a hard hit as Eddie turned the wheel but the car continued to slide straight for the tire wall. I began to brace myself as Eddie starts to chant “Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God.”
By now reality sets in and I know we are going into the wall at close to 100MPH, my last thought was “This is going to really hurt.” While I am almost curled up in a ball staring at the tire wall quickly approaching I see Eddie start to react. First he really nails the brakes hard all the way to the end of the pavement. Then as we hit the grass he downshifts and pulls up the emergency brake. The car starts to spin and Eddie continues to pull the E-brake and add gas until we are parallel to the wall. Just as I think we are going into the wall sideways, he hits the gas and we somehow manage to skirt the wall all the way around Oak Tree in the grass. I can’t imagine how Eddie saved it, he just did, he just knew what to do to drive that car. As we came back on track it was as if we had just won a Gold medal. We were cheering and celebrating all the way down the South straight and into the pits. We got out of the car and I could not believe what had just happened. We were so close to that wall but we never hit, not one scratch. I took a breather for a second, thought about how lucky we were and suited up for my session. After all, don’t want to miss any track time. Ken Wood |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 April 2008 )
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