Lean In

Written by Dennis Kelly, Clive, Iowa.

I would love to share with you a recent adventure I went on. This trip brought

together a number of my passions; travel, people, the unknown, cars and most

important of all, it was a “FIRST TIME” adventure.

Being the son of a small town Ford car dealer, I have always had a real love for the

World Of Cars. Any and all cars intrigue me. A couple years ago the President of the Chevrolet Division proudly announced that they were going to build the very first mid-engine Corvette. They were going to enter the elite Supercar stratosphere. It was extremely exciting news that ricocheted throughout the car universe. This was one of the most AMAZING car announcements to come out of Detroit in years. I had no choice, but to step up, when I heard the performance level of this new machine. It was immediately voted CAR OF THE YEAR by Motor Trend magazine.

I put my order in and patiently waited for a year and a half for the phone to ring.

It took me a couple days to tell my Ford family what I had done, but they were

excited and understood how big a deal this new Corvette was. As I waited for my new car to manifest, I heard about this Ron Fellows Driving Performance School that is offered by GM to folks who have purchased a new Corvette. The resort is located 45 minutes outside of Vegas in the mountains of Nevada. Its sole purpose is to help people learn how to maneuver and safely drive a high performance 500 horsepower mean machine.

All of sudden, things started to happen, my salesman called and said it was my

Lucky Day. My number was up !!!!! It was Go Time. I took 3 of my grandsons to pick up the car, the oldest (11) got the honor to ride with Grandpa back home on the maiden voyage. Goosebumps where exploding everywhere !!!!! We’re talking Major League goosebumps,

It was really exciting to share this high performance car experience with family,

friends and neighbors. I find that SPEED can really be an intoxicating and exhilarating drug, and I was hooked. Between giving rides and enjoying my Misty Red beauty, I picked up the phone and called the Driving School. It was time for me to lean in, I needed to learn how to handle this powerful machine that can go up to 200 MPH on the straight aways.

I put my money down and reserved a spot in February of 2023.

When I arrived at the Resort/Track I had a lot of butterflies that were not flying in

formation. What was running through my head was………….”what is a 71 year old man doing at a race track wanting to learn how to get maximum performance out of one of

the fastest production cars made in America. ”Maybe this time, I had stepped too far out of bounds !!!

It was comforting at check in to see that others were certainly in my age bracket. I

got my room and settled in with a lot of wild thoughts going through my mind.

Could I do this ??? In the morning a 2.2 mile high speed track was waiting to find out what I had in me. The class and the instructors were amazing. They had seen my kind before, men

not wanting to give up on their childhood dreams.

Before lunch on Day One we were strapped in and out on the track performing

what we had learned in the classroom that morning. We were taught how to floor it on the backstretch, wind it down before the curve and pedal to the medal after hitting the apex of the curve. Extremely exhilarating. I found that with each lap my breath was getting deeper and the smile on my face wider.

I cut my lap time from 1 minute and 51 seconds down to 1 minute and 39 seconds

before the sun set that day. Nerves were calmer and my stomach gave me

permission to eat a full dinner.

Day Two on the track brought in tips on how to come out of a skid, perfect your

turning on an auto cross course and how to achieve the fastest time from a

standing start to 60 MPH. I would have to say that the 0 to 60 MPH was one of my favorite exercises. My best time was 3.6 seconds. With this came being thrown back in the seat while the head and neck strained forward with the car’s tires screaming while looking

for a grip. With the instant surge forward, my eyes were bulging in their sockets.

Isn’t it wild what we do for thrills and excitement.

After two full days of twisting and turning at high speeds, my mind, body and

spirit were spent. I was exhausted, but higher than a kite and ready to head home.

I was so tickled that I allowed myself to have this experience. Fear and anxiety

wanted to be my companions on this journey, but they were not allowed to

deflate the excitement of the moment. It was a wonderful feeling to know that I had accomplished the task, performed well, and worked my way through all the initial resistance that came up at different points. Overcoming my own self-inflicted fear was as exciting as the experience itself.

LEAN IN