I've seen that first hand several times. Most recently I was at a Corvette gathering at Road America following the 2012 IMSA race. For a fee, they let ANYONE with a Corvette on the track (bone stock / no experience to full race prep'd licensed cars, all driving together... what could possibly go wrong?).
Guy with a brand new 2012 ZR1 (only ~630+ HP) goes out, does the pace lap, leads the pack down to the green flag bombing down the long front straight at gosh knows what speed. By the time I got to turn one he was 150+ feet into the gravel trap. Luckily for everyone it was only his car involved and he only suffered embarrassment, bruised ego and a car packed with pea gravel. I saw him leaving the track about an hour later after they pulled him out. He didn't even crack the front carbon fiber splitter so he got off REAL easy. On a four mile track he went roughly 4.25 miles (0.25 miles "at speed") before he was completely out of control.
Honestly the only thing keeping me out of wheel to wheel racing now is lack of space. In WI I had a nice 30x20 building with slab floor, heated, insulated, drywall, even connections for water that I never turned on... the whole nine yards with plenty of room for "toys." Now I'm in the Denver 'burbs with a two-stall garage. Unless I install a lift, I just don't have the space to put a track car. So as a result, my track car also has to be a street legal daily driver. If I was living somewhere else, I would likely be doing Spec Miata right now. Just no where to put it unless I rent space, which would strain the racing budget to the point where it would be too stressful.
Maybe years from now things will change again and the opportunity to go racing will present itself. For the time being I'll just keep working on "driver modifications" and be ready if the opportunity arises. Likely making my first trip to Utah Motorsports Campus next month with NASA so another new track to learn...
Ryan
