 First full weekend of celebrity race traing
Danny McKeever
(03/14/07) We have successfully completed the first training weekend for the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. The weather in the desert was picture perfect (and this is not always the case in lovely downtown Rosamond, CA). Our Saturday and Sunday participants were Mike Skinner, Martina Navratilova, Joshua Morrow, Robin Quivers, Kendra Wilkinson, and Kathryn Morris.
 Mike was our resident “Pro” for the weekend. What can I say, he’s a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (Toyota) race car driver and was very fast out on the track. Sometimes drivers coming from other disciplines, especially NASCAR where they drive big heavy cars/trucks on ovals for the most part, don’t have the finesse for a production car on a road course. But, Mike learned the track very quickly and was great fun to be around. It should be an action-packed race with both he and Todd Bodine in the starting line-up (Todd will attend the second weekend of training).Mike was also great with the other students, trying to help them out whenever he could.
 Martina is a returning participant and quite frankly, I will be surprised if she doesn't qualify on the front row. Professional athletes who sign up to do this race always amaze me. They come in having never set foot in a race car, but they completely understand the mental aspects of competition and the required discipline it takes to train. Martina is no different. She is a very smart racer and has great potential to win the race this year.
 Joshua is also a returning participant, however, he hasn’t been out on the race circuit for five or six years. He was (and still is) very quick but tends to overdrive his Scion. He just needs to relax a bit and focus on the fundamentals. If he’s able to do that, he should do well. Either that or we'll slap him around a little and he'll be just fine - just kidding! Like he said in the classroom, the training is the most fun! He's great to be with and is definitely having a blast.
 Robin is such a delight! She is doing reasonably well for rookie. We were told she had racing experience but I’m not so sure about that. She definitely needed some seat time to put everything together and seems to be having a great time. What I love most is Robin’s determination. She is very easy to work with and made great strides from her first day to her second - she really built up her speed on that second day and I saw some natural abilities.
 Wow, what do I say about Kendra! She’s very competitive – that’s for sure -- but will need more track time to work on techniques and speed. She is very determined to do well, but will have to pick the speed up on the race track. Since we had a small group this weekend, there were not a lot of cars on the track at once. I actually think having more cars on the track will help her pick up the pace. When she sees other race cars creeping up in her rear view mirror, I’m betting that she will step it up rather quickly. Overall, Kendra did very well over the 2 days.
 Kathryn had an extra steep learning curve as she hadn'tdriven a stick shift in quite some time and it showed. She had some trouble grasping the concepts of race lines through the turns, etc., but no one was trying harder than she was. She made huge improvements on the second day and I think a few more cars on the track may help her as well. As a rookie driver, it’s sometimes hard to find your own limits. Other cars could help Kathryn by giving her a barometer of where those limits are. I’m looking forward to getting her comfortable and up to speed.
The first day of training is always the hardest, especially for the rookies. All of the participants made great improvements on the second day, which is typical. There is so much information to process and it’s the second day when things start to get organized in their heads. Instead of having to think through every step, some things start to happen instinctually. I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of the group and get them all ready to race!
By Danny McKeever
FAST LANE Racing School
Women racers have an impact
 (03/12/07) I think this year’s field for the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is shaping up to be quite interesting. When I first started training celebrities for the race 22 years ago, there weren’t any women. Over the years, we trained a few – Cameron Diaz, Martina Navratilova, Mary Lou Retton come to mind – but it was still a race dominated by men.
This year, about half the field is made up of beautiful, intriguing and competitive women with amazingly successful careers.
It’s going to be fun and exciting. Racing can be a very humbling experience, especially the first ride you take in a car on an actual racetrack. The straightaways and turns go by in a blur as the car bounces around and the wind blows past the open top. It’s definitely an adrenaline rush. Guys tend to humble themselves more frequently because they don’t listen as well as women. They think they know how to handle the car and are only interested in how fast they can go.
To hear the roar of the engines as cars thunder by awestruck fans…the danger…the fame – no wonder celebrities are attracted to the electrifying world of race car driving! As a racing instructor to the stars I’ve found that the drivers who come out on top are not necessarily the fastest on the first or second day of training. The ones who excel really focus on learning the technique. Race car driving is a mental exercise. Perhaps the biggest lesson is to find the limits—your limits as a driver and your car’s performance limits—and then to stay within those limits. Over time, a driver can gradually stretch his or her limits with practice and discipline.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll see how things shake out. Stay tuned and be sure to check back for new Web log entries! |
