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I have never personally drove a race car or ever been on dirt. But would like to start racing late models in a crate class. Was considering going to dale mcdowells racing school and then go from there. How hard is it to drive a race car for a first timer whose never had any experience? What intimidates me more than anything is just money and getting started? What kind of mess am I looking at? Lol
I was almost in your shoes about 4 years ago. Only difference for me is that I had been doing some asphalt road course racing for a year before I decided to switch over to dirt oval racing. So I had a few races under my belt, but I decided to do the Dale McDowell school before I even bought a dirt late model to make sure it was something I liked and wanted to do.
I've talked to a few guys that have been doing this alot longer than I have, and they said that the cars are easier to drive now than they ever have been... but what I've found is being consistent throughout a race takes time and experience. The guys that do it the most, usually are up front and win quite a bit. These cars have a ton of adjustability in them and you can get way out in left field quick if you don't know what you're doing.
I think it was Dale telling us when I took the school (2012) that it takes a good 6-7 years to really develop into a great dirt late model driver. I'm sure it's taken some less, but I know going into my 4th year that I feel that I'm still learning a ton each race and still plenty to improve on. Don't get discouraged your 1st or 2nd time out there and you get lapped or run in the back... if you keep working at it, your finishes will improve. There also will always be guys that have alot of money that you have to compete against, but you can only worry about what you can do yourself.
You don't have to have a brand new car, but do get one that's in good shape and one that you can get help with on setups. Keep it simple at first and work on your technique... these cars are very capable and most times better than the driver is.
How much do you feel you learned from the Dale McDowell driving school? I've been at it a year or two and still feel like I'm out in left field and also what was the approximate cost? It's not on the wedsite
If I remember right, it was around $1500 and that was me using the school cars. It would be less if you brought your own.
I feel like it helped get me jump started since I'm a 1st generation driver that really had no family racing history that I could fall back to for help. Their classroom and shop discussions in one day probably saved me years of questions asking random people at the track for help. It's quite a bit of money, but in the long run... I think it'll help you enough that you could recover that money spent by finishing in the money better on race nights.
So you feel that the school was worth it? What all do they teach you?
For me, it was completely worth it. Dale and Ray were really good about explaining things in a way that just about anybody could understand. There were some stuff I was still clueless about until I got my hands on it and started to understand what they were talking about a few months later. But they give good feedback on the track day part and go over your car to tell you what you're doing wrong/right out there.
There's a book that goes with the class and I still have mine and refer back to it every now and then if I'm stuck on something.