Wonder what it's like to drive NASCAR Nationwide's new car? Then head on over to your local burger joint.
Because - with his Ford Mustang driving with loads of front grip during testing of the new car at the Daytona International Speedway - it reminded driver Carl Edwards of a stunt he used to pull in his younger days.
"I don't know if you ever did this when you were a kid: You pull your front-wheel-drive car up on some trays like at a local drive-through restaurant and then you set the emergency brake and you drive around the parking lot with the rear on the trays and slide around," he said.
Take an expensive sports car, a curious teen and a garage door - and mix together to get one very embarrassed automotive writer
"I don't know if anybody else has ever done that, but that's kind of what it feels like. It's pretty wild."
Edwards drove the Mustang Wednesday on the second day of the Nationwide test as the series gets ready for the car's debut on July 2 in the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series' version of the Car of Tomorrow will make four appearances this year before running the full season in 2011.
While the Sprint Cup's Car of Tomorrow introduced three years ago looks more like a generic racer rather than a manufacturer's model, NASCAR's Tier 2 series allowed car makers the freedom to design something more fun and stylish. Ford came to the track with a car that looks like a street-going Mustang while Dodge brought a Challenger look to the table. Chevy and Toyota played it safe with the former staying with the Impala design and the later with the Camry, which they also use in the Sprint Cup.
So far, drivers have found the new Nationwide car to be more than a handful, which Edwards thinks will make for a great show.
"It's really, really difficult right now to race very close and keep your car going the way you want it to go," he said.
"The thing about that is that when it's difficult like that and it's dynamic, it's going to make for a very exciting race. What I hope for is that it doesn't make it so hard to drive them around one another that there's just wrecks. The car snaps loose and stuff, so we'll have to make sure we can get them tight enough that we can still race aggressively and not be at risk of disaster there."
Edwards races Fords for the Roush Fenway team in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. He won the Nationwide title in 2007.
And while some picked Edwards to be a challenger for the Sprint Cup title this year in both series, things haven't gone well for the Ford in 2010, with no wins in the Sprint Cup despite a strong roster of drivers that includes 2004 Cup champion Matt Kenseth.
"Our cars just have to be faster. They have to drive a little better and they have to have a little more speed. I know that sounds very simple because it is racing and that's what we do," Edwards said.
"But in 2008, if I finished third in a race, man, I was upset. I was mad. I felt like we could win every race we went to, and it was just simpler ... for the last year or so, we've struggled with the centre of the corner, getting the car to turn in the centre of the corner, and it's just been tough."
Two years ago, Edwards won nine of 36 races in the Sprint Cup, but could not unseat Jimmie Johnson from the championship. Since then, he hasn't won a race in 72 starts, taking his last win in the 2008 finale at Homestead-Miami. His best finish so far this year was fifth at Richmond earlier this month. He is 10th overall in the Cup standings after 12 of 36 races and fourth in Nationwide despite his car troubles.
"I feel like I'm a lot better than I was two years ago," he said. "I just can't wait for my car to be better so that we can go out here and win some races."
While the results haven't been there this year for the Missouri native, it doesn't mean his racing hasn't been without excitement. Edwards has been involved in a running feud with Penske driver Brad Keselowski, with the most recent chapter seeing his rival's Dodge do a back flip into the wall at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. Replays showed Edwards deliberately spun his rival and caused the crash.
"A smile and a rosy demeanour sure doesn't get you around the racetrack. Once you get out there and you're racing, it's on. It's time to race," he said when asked about drivers losing their cool.
"And I think that's something that any person can relate to. I mean, when you're competing and it's the heat of the battle, you've got to put it out there and you've got to go."
Take an expensive sports car, a curious teen and a garage door - and mix together to get one very embarrassed automotive writer