Q:My son saw you racing with other media people at Raceway Park. He wants to know how much it costs to build those cars. Also, how old do you have to be to drive there? -Father of Zeke O. (age 5), St. Louis Park
A:Hah! Yes, I was there with some people from radio and TV on Sunday, July 26. They had 11 of us "celebrities" on hand and we raced two heats, one with six cars and one with five. As you saw may have seen, I finished third of six. Shoot! Radio personality, Teri Knight - who has been in five celebrity races there - started ahead of me and stayed ahead (she's won twice), and Chris Hawkey (KFAN), who raced for a season at the track, got by both of us.
The race was to raise awareness for Courage Center's Cars for Courage program. Courage Center collects donor vehicles, sells them to raise money for the center's work and the donor gets a tax deduction for the vehicle's value.
The cars we raced, all basically the same, are part of a batch of about a dozen cars Raceway Park maintains for special, non-professional races. They're all basically the same - old Chevy Monte Carlos with 350 V-8s and automatic transmissions. Of course, they're not purely "stock." The doors do not open - drivers climb through the driver's-side window opening, and the interiors have most unnecessary materials removed, like the seats, carpet and stock gauges, switches, handles. They are fitted with racing seats, five-point harnesses, roll cages, fuel cells, racing tires and suspensions. They probably also have racing brake pads, which last longer and resist brake fade better.
The way the track is laid out, spectators are well separated and protected from the cars, so the likelihood of hurting fans is minimal, even with amateurs driving. Organizers also told us not to bump one another, to pass on the outside only, not to throttle and brake at the same time, and other cautions intended to keep cars and drivers whole.
Even if you did all your own work, it would still cost several thousands of dollars to build a car like this. You need a decent running car in solid condition to start with, and then you need to make all the safety modifications to protect a driver in a crash and reduce the risk of fire. Which modifications and improvements you can make are governed by the rules for the class you want to race in. A main idea behind class rules is to keep the race competitive and to a degree to prevent the best-funded drivers from building cars that can smoke everyone else.
Five is a little young. Raceway Park's General Rules state that a driver must be at least 16 to race and teens under 18 must have a signed release to enter the pits. Lots of drivers begin in go-karts. Give that a try. If your son enjoys it and does well, he'll probably love racing a full-size car - when he's old enough.
