Rob Boznik recalls his first time at the track with Darth Vader and the PDC.
Where has all the time gone? PDC is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary and I can proudly say that I have been involved with this great club for more than half of those years. As I have a flash back I can remember my very first event, not as a driver but as a spectator! With my leg in a cast and sitting in a very uncomfortable camping chair I was forced to watch some of the finest road cars in the world hustling around the track and all I could do was sit there and feel sorry for myself. But, there would be another day!
Alas my first track day with PDC. I thought I knew it all…in typical male fashion, but was quickly reminded that this was not the case by my instructor Marybeth Harrison. (In which I later found out was an accomplished racing driver and not just a female telling a testosterone filled speed freak what and how to do it). Having raced karts for a number of years prior I thought this would be a cake walk but soon realized that controlling a 3000lb. machine with finesse around the track was a whole lot different and would take much more instruction to be as smooth and quick as possible but far more importantly gaining the skills to be a safer driver on the street. Smooth throttle inputs and a far line of vision was the order of the day and I quickly adjusted to the recommendations set forth by Marybeth. I had never had so much fun in a car until that day and it all cost less than a speeding ticket. I was hooked!
As time went on and the advancement through all the run groups was complete, there was one thing left to do and that’s to give back to the club. I decided to take on the instructor program. Thinking to myself, I thought how hard this could be, well let me tell you! Before my first session, as I waited for our chief driving instructor Dennis Lee in the pre-grid area, butterflies started swimming around in my stomach followed by a nauseated feeling then total shock. As I glanced over, a very Darth Vader-ish looking character walks over dressed in full battle gear and wearing a carbon fibre helmet, oh god it was Dennis! Normally I am a very calm person and not really phased by much but nothing could have prepared me for this. Our first session out together was to be fairly simple, I would drive and communicate to Dennis all the safety areas of our facility followed by basic principles in car control. One problem though. I was so nervous that I had forgotten how to speak the English language. It probably sounded more like a cross between Japanese and Cantonese followed by long periods of silence at which point all that I could hear in the headset was heavy breathing, resembling the sound of that dark helmet clad figure from Star Wars. What followed next was “pull in, we need to talk”. Oh great it’s over before it even started was all that flowed through my mind. This was not a good way to start off my training but after a short conversation we went back out on the track, I redeemed myself, and the rest they say is history.
My time with PDC has been nothing short of extraordinary, from all the wonderful people I have met and the level of instruction to the awesome display of cars that show up to every event. For anyone that has participated in events with other clubs you know what I am talking about and this is a testament to the amount of work and professionalism that has gone into making PDC such a great club. I would like to thank Dennis and Justina Lee for their commitment and dedication to making this club what it is and of course all the volunteers who without their help could not put on such a solid driver training program. Congratulations to PDC for 10 years of helping people become safer/better drivers and big thanks for the opportunity to help make a difference.