GT500 Track Tour: Running wild with the herd in the heart of NASCAR country

Running down a dream at \”The Belagio of drag strips\”

Near the shiny left two lanes at zMAX, two columns of Shelby GT500s waited for their drivers to take them down the quarter-mile.

Following a demo of the wild stallion\’s launch control and instructions on how to handle the 760 horses all the way to the line, I selected a silver GT500 to make my maiden pair of runs. Under the right conditions, the most violent of all Mustangs can cross the line in 10.7 seconds at 130 mph. The cool air was perfect for the supercharged 5.2-liter V8, but without any way to warm the tires (guests weren\’t allowed to do burnouts), grip would be an issue.

My silver steed did get a chance to do a burnout in the hands of a pro at the end of the runs during the line-lock demo, though, capping off the brief visit to \”the Belagio of drag strips.\”

Alas, all I have of my runs down the left-most lane at zMAX are memories; no timeslips were available to collect at the end of each run. My second run was worse than my first, lifting off the wrong pedal when the light dropped green. I\’m still pissed off at myself for fucking up the order like that.

One guest noted I did well for my first time on the quarter-mile. When I asked if they saw the time and speed, though, they didn\’t have that info.

Thus, my first-ever passes will be relegated to practice runs; I want my timeslips, damn it.