Give it all you've got!
- Kathryn Redner
- Nov 30, 2016
- 4 min read
I can officially say that I have driven a jet car! On Black Friday last week (11/25/16) I made my first few passes down the track at Orlando Speedworld Dragway.
I have to tell you... I was absolutely terrified the day before. On Thanksgiving day, I had mixed emotions. I was convinced my mom and sister were trying to scare me out of doing it! With relatives and friends asking, "Are you crazy?!?" I didn't quite know what to say. Now I can blatantly say "Yes, yes I am."
In reality, I was having second thoughts. I was thinking of what could go wrong instead of what could go right as pessimistic as that seems. Then the day came. We were all going to see if I had what it takes to drive one of these things. Not going to lie, on the way there I was looking up bible verses on Twitter (yes, Twitter) and I found one that spoke to me.
Here is what I found:
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust & not be afraid.
This was my mantra.
We arrived at the track and began to prep the cars. DeWayne Hill and I were both making passes that day.
Parachutes are packed, nose and canard are on, and the final preparations are made on the car. It's go time. DeWayne went first and I watched in the stands with a few of his friends and my parents. DeWayne made his pass and then it was my turn. With a good luck high five from a little boy named Skylar, I went to the truck and finished suiting up. I did my walk around the car, kissed it for even more good luck, got buckled in, and repeated my mantra.
Surprisingly enough, I was calm. I was pushed onto the track and then for once it was all me.
Starting up the car was a breeze; I had done it a bunch of times! Smoke & fire- no biggie...
Now onto the new stuff, the stuff that scared me... The unknown... The BURNER POPS!
I throttled up to 75%. Simultaneously I gave it fuel, struck the hot-streak (afterburner ignition) and let off the breaks a little bit. Burner pops are now my favorite thing to do.
Time to flip the switches. I took my hand off the throttle to flip the switches and I saw my tachometer increase fairly quickly and the car began to roll. What was going on? Don't panic, I thought, even though I was a bit panicked. I flipped the switches quickly and throttled back down. (It auto-accelerated, but now I know it's really nothing to worry about!). I moved forward. This is it, I thought. I can either shut the car off now and forget about ever driving, or go for it.
Elaine gave me the signal to throttle up to 90%, more power for an easier stage. I throttled up to 90% and inched forward to pre-stage and flipped my visor down. Once I pre-staged I pushed all the way up to full throttle and wrapped my hands around the throttle and the primary parachute. I staged and let off the brakes before the tree even lit up completely.
Off I went!
My stopping point came and I pulled the throttle and parachute lever back, reached for the reserve, and flipped all of the switches off. "WOOOO" I yelled. I'M ALIVE!!!!!! I'M ALIVE!!!!!!! I have never felt so relieved in my life.
I "gracefully" got out of the car, turned off the CO2 bottle, took off the hans, helmet, and gloves. Elaine and Chris came rolling up in the scooter and it was over. My first run was done!!! I squeezed back into the car and was towed back to the pit area. The entire way back I was smiling from ear-to-ear. It was practically impossible to stop smiling at that moment. Just a year ago I was the spectator and that day I was behind the wheel. Who would have ever thought I would be doing this?
I made 4 more passes that day and although every pass wasn't perfect (I got stuck in the car at the end of the track at least twice lol), but I was happy with what I did for the most part. I was especially happy with my last pass. I knew I had control of the car and I was comfortable.
When we finished, we strapped the cars back into the trailers and headed back to the shop. The day that I had spent hours stressing over was finally done... And I had a blast!!! Literally! It was one of the best days of my life.
I owe a lot to my mentor, Elaine Larsen who is the best driver-trainer and role-model I could ask for, Chris Larsen for showing me how to be a good teammate, and crew chief, Andrew Larsen for cracking jokes throughout the day and making sure my ride was safe. In addition, thank you to the Larsen Motorsports team and everyone who helped out throughout the day!!!
To end this blog post, I figured I'd might as well include an inspirational quote, because who doesn't love inspirational quotes?? Just a week before I was looking up inspirational quotes for a little motivation and I found one that I absolutely loved.
Here it is!
With this, I encourage you to "give it all you've got." I can honestly say that I gave it all I had that day and if I didn't, I would have regretted it. Take chances, trust, and do not be afraid.
Check back soon to read more about my #JETLIFE.
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