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Walt Disney World Speedway

Think you're brave for riding Space Mountain. Ha! Come see me after you've driven a NASCAR vehicle 50 laps around the Speedway track in the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Walt Disney World Speedway. But has Benson Myers beat you to it?

- Benson Myers, April 28, 2011

Today we will examine another of the peripheral areas of Walt Disney World that you might not have had the chance to explore: The Walt Disney World Speedway.

IndyCar Racing

Opened in 1995 at the south end of the Magic Kingdom parking lot, the Speedway was constructed to host a new event in the IndyCar racing series, the 'Indy 200 at Walt Disney World'.

While intended as a large capacity venue during the racing season, the facilities at the Speedway were modular. No permanent garages were built, and bleachers around the raceway could be added and removed as ticket sales demanded and when the Magic Kingdom needed the parking spaces formerly used by the bleachers.

The IndyCar was a popular addition to the Walt Disney World Resort, but it soon became plagued with problems, foremost among them traffic.

Races at the Speedway were scheduled during the regular operating hours of the Magic Kingdom. Speedway visitors parked in the Magic Kingdom parking lot, forcing some Magic Kingdom visitors to find space in the EPCOT parking lot. Many guests complained, and the Disney World bus system did not have enough vehicles to meet demand.

These problems, combined with several serious, high-profile accidents and driver injuries at the Speedway, ended the IndyCar races in 2000.

Richard Petty Driving Experience

You might think, with the end of professional racing at the Speedway, that the location itself would be abandoned. Walt Disney World management has, for many years, followed a policy of 'abandon in place' when it comes to obsolete areas and buildings. For examples, take a look at Discovery Island and its River Country Water Park; the incomplete Legendary Years hotel site; the attractions inside the Wonders of Life pavilion; the Skyway stations; and so on.

Thankfully, the Speedway avoided such a horrific fate. In 1997 Richard Petty, the world-famous NASCAR driver, brought his 'Richard Petty Driving Experience' to the Walt Disney World Speedway.

Known as The King, Richard Petty won over 200 NASCAR races in his long career. The Richard Petty Driving Experience allows guests to sit where he sat: in an actual NASCAR vehicle.

What you get depends on the package you pick:

In the passive 'Ride-along Program', you sit shotgun while a professional driver takes you on a three-lap turn around the speedway. The other packages, which include the 'Rookie', the 'King', and the 'Experience of a Lifetime', put you behind the wheel. Each package differs in cost (the Ride-along, for instance, costs $109; the Experience of a Lifetime, $1299). and in how many laps and high-speed thrills you'll experience.

If that's not enough, and if cost is no concern, Disney offers the ultimate package, the 'Speedway Challenge', for $2099. The Challenge lets you drive 50 laps around the track, more than enough for even the most rabid racing fan.

In case you're wondering, they just don't throw you the keys to the car and say "have fun!" For safety purposes, every guest in the Experience receives several hours of safety and operational instructions from a professional driver before getting behind the wheel.

Indy Racing Experience

Car racing fans are insanely loyal and passionate about the sport. My family has nearly come to blows over which NASCAR driver is best, and whether or not car racing is an actual sport. Personally, I prefer bowling to watching cars go round in a circle.

However, if you're an IndyCar fan and the thought of NASCAR makes you sick, you might be interested in the new Indy Racing Experience at the Walt Disney World Speedway. It's similar to the Petty program but less expensive at $499.

Strip and Lynda Weathers

Let's stop racing for a second, and talk about another interesting bit of related Disney stuff.

Richard Petty's Disney connection goes beyond the Experience at Walt Disney World. In the 2006 Disney-Pixar film Cars, Petty lent his voice to the character Strip Weathers, a car racing against the film's hero, Lightning McQueen.

In the film, Strip Weathers is an homage to Richard Petty: it sports the same powder-blue color that has always been a Petty trademark, as well as the number 43, which has been Richard Petty's number for many years. In the film, the fuel company Dinoco sponsors Strip Weathers, and in real life the fuel company STP sponsored Richard Petty. And Strip Weathers itself was modeled almost exactly from Richard Petty's 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner.

Richard Petty's wife Lynda even has a cameo in Cars, playing the character Lynda Weathers. She is visible in the scenes showing the various pit crews. Lynda Weathers was modeled after a Chrysler Town & Country station wagon, the car that the Petty family traveled in to watch Richard compete in his races.

So there you have it.

I will leave it to you to decide which you prefer, NASCAR or IndyCar, or neither.

Either way, the Richard Petty and IndyCar programs are more thrilling options for anyone vacationing at Walt Disney World.

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