Chicago & Road America, WI October 2007

This trip is the highlight of my entire year! I got a chance to do the ultimate test drive a vehicle manufacturer could offer, the SRT Track Experience at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Of course being addicted to travel I didn't want to fly into Wisconsin directly, no! Well, technically I would have but unfortunately Jet Blue doesn't fly there so Chicago O'Hare was the next best thing. This gave me an opportunitey to meet some Internet people from the message board and tour downtown Chicago for an extended period of time. I also went a little crazy and drove down to Indiana, just to take a picture of my face with the welcome sign. But its not as crazy as it sounds, the state line is only about 30 miles away and I took the scenic route following Lakeshore Drive all the way around the south part of Lake Michigan.

So as I mentioned Jet Blue got me to the fastest track in America. The ticket prices as I usually like to comment on were not anything to brag about, I've seen them at $36 bux when the route was first introduced. But at $69 bux each way and $50 credit for traveling to the Florida destinations I've written about before, it cost me just over $100 bux round trip, which is pretty amazing. Go Jet Blue!

This being a Chrysler/Mopar event required an appropriate rental car, so I asked my Enteprise customer rep to put me in a Dodge Charger. The guy behind the counter though was a dork. I don't mind being denied a request for an upgrade, but don't lie to me... right? So apparently I booked a Compact, I thought it was an Intermediate, but thinking back while I was put on a spot I realized my mistake, Chicago is an expensive city and I figured I'd go with the cheapest car which was still $25+ plus a day, about double what I paid in Florida. Enterprise has invited me to join their Enterprise Plus frequent traveler program and send me a voucher for a free upgrade so I tried to use it, but the dude wouldn't budge. I asked for the next best thing then and pointed to a Dodge Avenger, but he still told me it was several classes above an Intermediate which I'm now entitled to. I argued some more and the guy finally let me have it... Phewwww!



I drove around downtown Chicago for a few hours, looking for a place to have breakfast but more importantly taking in the sights. I was impressed with Michigan Avenue, especially the area around Chicago River and the draw bridges on it. I found Sears Tower by accident, drove down to the water and saw some of the Museums on Lakeshore Drive, went to Chinatown and Korea town, and then headed south.


After driving around in Indiana and Illinois I headed up to Wisconsin taking the scenic route again on US41/Shoreline Drive. It was great! But I burned way too much fuel. I booked again with Choice Motels and found an awesome rate in Milwaukee, where thanks to a current promo I was able to pay for one night and stay another night free. How great is that? Anyway, since Milwaukee was about 60 miles from Elkhart Lake where the SRT Track Experience was held, I'm pretty sure I paid the difference in gas money. But it was well worth it!


SRT Track Experience

The SRT Track Experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It normally costs $500 to drive (race really) or $60 bux to spectate but thanks to one of the contributors to my web site, JP from Michigan, I was able to enjoy it FREE of charge. Boy did I have fun!


The day started out with registration bright and early, followed by a quick breakfast and instructor introductions. The first module of the day was Autocross in the new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Keep in mind I've never even ridden in one of these before so before you know it I'm being told to flog on it as hard as I want while going around a cone laid parking lot. GREAT! My first lap was miserable, I plowed right though the first turn, slowed down way too much on the straightaway, knocked over a couple of cones at 2 seconds a penalty each, and basically took it easy. The other two laps were several seconds faster and I was starting to get the hang of it. I really lucked out because this Sunday there were only 10 drivers and about twice as many instructors so it was imperative that we all will get plenty of wheel time!


And we got a ton of it. The next challenge on the autocross track was group autocross, using a poor Jeep to race around the same track switching drivers all whiel being timed and going against the instructors. We surely thought we would loose especially after the first driver forgot to put the truck in park as he got out of it, but they let us win in the end and I got a nice labeled cone as a trophy to take home from the event.


The following module was advanced vehicle control on a bigger autocross track in an SRT-10 Dodge Viper! Yes, Dodge Viper... I got to drive both the Coupe and the Convertible as fast as I could, and even went sideways a few times while meshing on the gas pedal. It was insane... I got about a dozen laps on my own and took a crazy drive with our instructor John "Hammer" who was kind enough to spin out as I was recording the whole ride-along on my camera, it was a load of fun!


After lunch we went drag racing. Again, I got so much wheel time I was starting to get tired. Some people drove only once or twice and sat out the rest of the competition, but I was able to make it into the final four. I really made it into the final two but did something embarrasing (red-lit) so I don't wanna talk about it. Than again, I lost to a good competitor and the prize for winning is a free Petty track experience which consist of a ride along in a NASCAR stock car. Thanks to another contributor to my web site Mango from New Jersey I already have a pass for this thing, and will be taking advantage of it at the SEMA show on Las Vegas Speedway. Woo Hoo!


The final module of the day was balls to the wall racing on the four mile track... not just any track, but the famous Road America that is used by professionals in every type of racing from CART to NASCAR and everything inbetween. Once again I got a chance to push some SRT's to the limit. I think I drove every single car there, some even more than once, and most importantly I got a ride-along with an instructor in a beutiful SRT-10 Dodge Viper at full speed. I was bouncing around the car like a fool but it was sooooo awesome. Another vehicle that really took me by surprise was the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 which for a 4 wheel drive SUV turned out to be quite a racer. Even the instructors were commenting on how stabled and glued to the surface it was. On my own I went significantly slower than the instructors but still managed to open it up on some corners. I went slightly sideways over some rubber strips and got separated from the lead car which prompted me to push the pedal to the floor and before long I was doing 130mph in an SRT8 Dodge Charger with some Mopar intake/exhaust modifications. The SRT6 Crossfire was even more fun as it was the first car that day I hit over 120mph. Everything else I got to about 110 on the straightaway before braking to a near stop on a 90 degree corner, luckily the Brembo brakes did their job and nobody had any troubles keeping the cars on the track.


So that was my track experience! My very first time on the track, and I had a great time. Normally I would start wrapping this up, but my trip wasn't over yet. I had one more stop on my agenda before heading back to O'Hare.


Shifting gears from my Mopar hobby to my Ford obsession I got an opportunity to visit a great shop in Wisconsin that specializes in chopping the roofs off the new Ford GT supercars! Yes, chopping them right off. Genaddi Design Group has been represented on my web site for a few months now thanks to my buddy Rich from California who own's two Genaddi conversion, Ford GTX1 supercars, and it was great to meet everyone there in person.


The owner Mark Gerisch gave me a private tour, taking me around the facility, showing me all the prototypes in development, all the current conversions, and handing me random stuff to amaze me... For example, he handed me a huge rear wheel off of a new GT with one hand. I wasn't sure whether to brace myself or look foolish if I dropped it, but it was surprisingly light. Another crazy sight was two cars upside down with people working on their floor boards... one Mustang and one Corvette convertible, both getting the prototype floor strenghtening treatment that should be developed in the near future for mass production.


Well, after all this I hit the road for the airport. I was four hours away from Chicago in Green Bay and had no time to waste. My rental Dodge Avenger was reasonably good on fuel mileage but the gas was significantly more expensive than it is in the New Jersey and that kind of killed my budget. But I have no regrets. I was making good time and decided to get some lunch in Chicago before returning the car and found a great hole in a wall burger joint a few blocks from Wrigley Field. I gotta say I'm a big fan of Chicago right now. I like Green Bay as well, especially around Genaddi's offices which is just blocks away from Lambeau Field the home of Green Bay Packers. That whole area looked really cool, and I would love to go get dinner at Brad Favre's restaurant in the future.

Links:


SRT Track Experience: www.drivesrt.com
Genaddi Design Ford GTX1: www.gtx1.com