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View GarageMy first Texas Mile
My friend Miguel approached me and mentioned he wanted to go to the Texas Mile a few months back. I was not too enthused about it but did not totally reject the idea. He mentioned the trip being one of his bucket list items, and that kind of sealed the deal for me. He then insisted the entire trip was going to be on his dime.
We began by registering him for the Mile and adding myself and his son, Jose, as drivers on the list to pilot his 2014 Core SRT8. Excitement was building more and more as the date approached. The weather took a turn for the worst and brought rain to the forecast for the weekend. It began raining on Thursday before the weekend and continued off and on through the night and into the next afternoon.
We loaded the Core in my enclosed trailer and the four of us, my nephew Robert along as our crew person, headed south at 7:30 pm Friday. It rained most of the trip to Beeville with only a few miles here and there with little to no rain. We arrived at the hotel in Beeville around 1:30 am. The four of us tired from the trip went straight to our room in anticipation of the long day that lay ahead.
Alarms go off at 6am, we proceed to have breakfast and leave the hotel headed to the air field in hopes of getting all our registration and tech out of the way early. We arrive to find the air field wet and scarcely populated by some die hard Miler’s who have camped out overnight. We find a spot in the pits and park. Our buddy Sam joins us in the pits later that afternoon and we head to town for some lunch. We return to the pits and hang out in the trailer sharing war stories of our cars and families. We head back to the hotel to get some rest about 10:30.
We awake the next morning to more rain. Dejected we lazily head down for breakfast and then head to the air field. We arrive to a bit more action this morning. We get through registration and tech with no problem. Driver’s meeting was all we needed to get in the que. Problem was, no one was available to do it, since they were all out trying to dry the track.
We go ahead and pull the Core into the que and find one of the Texas Mile Staff. We get our driver’s meeting sticker taken care of and then sit in the paddock for what seemed an eternity while the crew continued to dry the track. While waiting we met several great people including Doug, Chuck and Lisa and several more.
About 2 pm the track goes hot and the anticipation begins to bubble even more. Miguel is visibly nervous and asks me to go first down the track. I told him with the limited time we had, he should go first and Jose second, if we ran out of time and I did not get to go down the track I would not be disappointed.
After a long wait it was finally his turn. He pulls out to the track and lines up for his mile long run. A brisk tail wind of 20 to 30 mph at his back. A good launch, like at the drag strip, is not the key here, as the track surface is not designed for maximum traction. He leaves the line with a little tire squeal and accelerates down the track chirping the tires into the next gear. A few long moments pass, and the 162.0 MHP flashes on the board. A huge smile comes onto my face as I turn to see Jose, who has the same smile on his face.
Miguel comes back to the paddock and now it’s Jose’s turn to wheel the Core down the track. A long wait in line and then Jose lines up for a run down the mile as the tail wind has subsided a few mph. He gets a bit more aggressive than Miguel and spins the tires a bit, but recovers and accelerates down the track. A few moments later the board flashes 160.4 MPH.
Jose returns to the paddock and then it’s my turn. The racers are getting anxious with the looming threat of darkness and the track shutting down. The race master selects a car a few behind the Core and states he will be the last to go down. I was one of the last allowed to accelerate down the track.
As I rolled off the starting line I short shifted first and ran second gear up a bit farther, shifted to third a bit harder and broke the tires loose momentarily. I ran third to red line as well as fourth. As I shifted to fifth and the track was getting darker by the second. I crossed the mile marker and began braking for the turn at the end of the track. 160.1, was all I was able to muster from the Core on my pass.
I returned to the trailer where we began packing up and loading the car. Now came the long 5+ hour drive north back to Fort Worth.
I was glad Miguel went first and ran the fastest mph but I was disappointed that Jose out ran me. I’m sure I’ll never live that down. I can say it was a fun experience I shared with good friends and family and look forward to doing it again.
Thanks to Miguel for allowing me to be part of his experience and checking off one item from his bucket list.
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