photos by Tim Hipps/ FMWR PAO Driving the No. 8 U.S. Army car, Mark Martin holds off Jeff Gordon (24) in the first Gatorade 125 Mile Qualifying Race for the 2008 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. As a youngster, Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, attended Buck Baker Driving School. Soldiers and Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation patrons can receive a discount to attend the school through the ITT/ITR offices.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Army Information, Tours and Travel/ Information, Ticketing and Registration offices are offering Soldiers a discount to fulfill their dreams of climbing behind the wheel of a stock car and zipping around a NASCAR track at the Buck Baker Driving School.

Soldiers and Morale, Warfare and Recreation-authorized patrons can push the pedal to the metal at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, Darlington “Too Tough To Tame” Raceway in South Carolina, or around the .533-mile bowl of Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, home of “racin’ the way it ought’a be!”

The 23-stop tour began July 11 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and concludes Dec. 12 in Darlington. Most of the classes begin at 8 a.m., with a handful of under-the-lights opportunities available at Lowe’s and one at Bristol on Oct. 24.

Depending on the level of instruction purchased, students can ride with an experienced driver, drive with an experienced co-pilot, or get turned loose for the drive of their life.

Student drivers have been clocked in excess of 160 miles per hour at Lowe’s and Atlanta, 150 at Darlington, 135 at “The Rock,” and 110 at Bristol, where fender banging and paint swapping is business as usual for drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Those tracks are close to several installations: Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Campbell, Ky., among others.

Military discount rates range from $81.75 for a five-lap ride to $2,079 for a three-day course in which drivers learn slingshot-passing maneuvers and other controlled exercises.

“Before I left Hawaii, I had to go swimming with the dolphins,” said Sgt. Danielle Colson, Department of the Army’s Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers representative. “Price wasn’t even a factor in that. I just knew I had to go swimming with the dolphins, and we went with the top package and had a blast. When people come back from Afghanistan or Iraq, they have a little bit of money saved up.

“I know they push ‘save, save, save,’ but at the same time, you want to do for yourself, too, when you come back. You’ve just been pent up over there. You want to get out and experience something, and here is a great opportunity to do something you’ve always wanted to do – feel the speed.”

In 1956 and ’57, Baker, who learned how to drive fast while bootlegging in the Carolinas, became the first driver to win back-to-back NASCAR Grand National Championships.

He also finished runner-up in the Grand National standings in 1955 and ’58.

In 1946, Baker competed in NASCAR’s inaugural season. Six years later, he won his first race in Columbia, S.C. One season later, he took the checkered flag in the Southern 500 and was on his way to 46 victories and 45 poles in 635 career starts.

In 1979, he opened Buck Baker Racing School, which helped groom NASCAR stars Jeff Gordon, Ricky Craven, Jeff and Ward Burton, among others.

In 1980, his son, Buddy Baker, won the Daytona 500.

Buck Baker died on April 14, 2002, but his spirit remains strong at the family-operated school.
Students only need a valid driver’s license and the ability to operate a manual shift transmission.
The need for speed is optional.

Minors must be accompanied by a parent willing to sign an insurance waiver.

“The Soldiers coming back (from deployment) are looking for outlets,” Colson said. “They’ve been in that high-adrenaline area so they need an outlet in a safe environment. Rather than doing something stupid at top speeds on the highway, they could take out their anxiety, their stress and their built-up emotions on a track.”

The program is designed to instill the thrill of racing in everyone – from beginners to advanced racers. The school does not use pace cars, but does allow passing.

“We set up quality events that keep Soldiers in structured environments that are not reckless like going out and doing crazy, spur-of-the-moment stuff. Our events are planned out with risk-assessment type of activities,” Colson said. “This is not just a driving down I-95 at top speed with the pedal-to-the-metal type of thing. They’re not risking the lives of themselves or anyone else.”
Advanced students receive on-track instruction via racing radios at Buck Baker Racing School, the first of its kind to employ CD-ROM camera/data acquisition technology in every race car.
The cars are 3,400-pound NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford race cars with 358 cubic-inch engines packing 600 horsepower – slightly less than a race-day setup but designed to last more than 500 miles. Instruction focuses more on driving technique than speed.

The school is aligned with the philosophy of Warrior Adventure Quest, another Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command-backed program for Soldiers.

“We provide activities that let Soldiers, in a constructive manner, get that adrenaline rush,” said Josh Gwinn, director of Soldier programs at FMWR. “We mitigate the risk through structure, instruction and safety devices versus getting on a motorcycle and going 120 miles per hour to get that rush in a very unconstructive manner, which can result in injury or death. A program like this would probably be a much better option.”

After all, Gwinn added, “street racing is an issue for the 18 to 25-year-old age-group, which is a big part of our force.”

While stationed at Fort Eustis, Va., Gwinn knew that Soldiers loved to race on a local go-kart track that sat “right across from the barracks.”

“It was a way for the guys to blow off some steam,” Gwinn said. “The karts had governors on them, but you could bump, and then you would go off into the dirt and the hay bales. It gave them something to do, it was constructive and it maintained some control.

“It was better than running around town doing who knows what. It was a place for the guys to hang out, and it was competitive. They got out there racing each other and had a blast.”
For NASCAR-loving Soldiers, this could be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“How many guys would like to say: ‘I was going 160 miles per hour around Lowe’s Motor Speedway?’” Gwinn said.  “Or while watching a race at Bristol, say: ‘I was in that corner. Yeah, I was there. I did that.’”