Today I spent the whole day on the race track driving a Ford Crown Victoria in a very exciting way that would have my mother tossing her cookies! What a BLAST!

We started out on skid track, a smooth paved track loop that was watered down to allow us to practice getting out of skids and slides. This was like “doing donuts in the snow’ on steroids. It took every bit of self-control to follow my instructors commands and continue to accelerate towards a slippery curve that I knew I could not maintain traction on. Growing up in New England I am used to driving in snow and ice, so I did well, and had a fun time!


Then we went on the regular dry track which was not a big circular race track, but more like a large go-kart track with hills and dozens of curves and intersections. We then practiced controlled braking and steering at high speed and on sharp curves. Again, the urge to slow down on the sharp curves, some so violent that the other occupants in the car were thrown around in the back, was intense. Instead of slowing down, the command to “step on it” was scary as hell! And then half way into the curve, with my whole body being tossed towards the outside, the instructor would yell’ STOP!” and I had to stop the car as fast as possible without sliding into the other lane. The car was going so fast that as the weight lifted off the back tires they would loose traction and lock up, but the front wheels did not. This allowed me to keep steering around the corner while creating a huge smoke plume from squealing brakes and burnt rubber. So much smoke that the blue cloud would obscure the vision in the front for a few seconds after I came to a stop!

Next, we moved to driving very fast down the straight highway, only to have an obstacle in the way that we had to avoid at the very last minute. This was simulated by a cone in the road that I had to accelerate towards until my instructor would say “Right” or “Left” indicating which way I was to avoid it. At first it was easy, because he gave me enough time to avoid the cone without too much trouble. Soon he wouldn’t say anything until I was sure I would hit it – and then the commend would come out and I would swerve so hard you could hear the helmet of my rear-seat passenger smashing into the window. All the while, I learned to maintain just enough pressure on the brakes to slow the car down but not lock it up.

Then we practiced driving off the road and recovering back onto pavement without loosing control. That was easy for me, as I have done it many times in my life and learned to simply drive straight and slowly ease the car back onto the highway. Indeed, this is one of the leading causes of death on highways as drivers instinctively turn hard back towards the road and end up rolling their vehicles.

The we learned how to drive backwards – over hills and curves, and through a cone obstacle course! Weaving around tight cones is one thing, it’s something else to do it in reverse! The set up was quite realistic. I would drive around (forward) and then without warning the instructor would yell “attack – reverse” at which point I would stop the car quickly, throw it in reverse and speed backwards (at a terrifying speed) until we were clear of the threat and then turn the car around and quickly speed off.


Next we practiced a dead driver. My instructor would drive, very fast, and then steer off the road (literally) and slump over. I had to quickly grab the wheel and maintain control while moving my left leg over to his side and continue to drive. We pretended that we where being shot at, and that I must not stop. So there I am.. driving around the track at a high speed, from the passenger side of the car! Since I am so short, I had to release my seat belt with my right hand, and sit with my face in the windshield. The body of the “dead” driver prevented me from getting in his seat.

Then we tried again, only this time we simulated a frontal attack. I had to take control, stop the car, reverse and drive backwards – around cones, and tight curves – all from the passenger seat! Man that was TOUGH!

Finally, we ended the day with driving a car into other cars! We had a car set up across the road, virtually blocking it. We learned how to drive into the rear end at just the right spot to plow through with almost no damage to our vehicle. We did this both forward and – yes, you guessed it, in reverse! My class totaled 6 cars in about 30 minutes. To drive backwards into another car, watching the spray of broken glass explode across my rear window was exhilarating!

So tomorrow we put all these skills to test in a simulated combat environment. I asked another Diplomatic Security Agent who has been through the course before and he explained: There will be “terrorists” along the race track, armed with explosives, guns and RPG launchers that actually shoot things at our cars! Our car is wired with small explosives to simulate it being hit and damaged too.

I am beat right now – so I’m going to bed early. While it was a lot of work, today was one of those days that I step back and say “I can’t believe I am getting paid to have this much fun!”