Patty KruszewskiHenrico CitizenSunday, September 25, 2005Three years ago, on a visit to the Richard Petty Driving Experience in Atlanta, Sgt. Pierre Tremblay caught the eye of instructors with his skill in rounding the track.
At almost 148 m.p.h., the Henrico police officer's fastest lap was second best in his class.
After finishing at the top of each of his next three RPDE classes, Tremblay drew more than second looks. He got a job offer.
"The instructor and pit coordinator remembered me from Atlanta," he recalls, describing his most recent course, "and said, 'Hey, we need people like you when we come to Richmond.'"
In May, Tremblay began working three days a month at the school's Richmond International Raceway site. With a few minor adjustments, he was able to squeeze the long weekend in around his evening watch schedule at the Fair Oaks Police substation.
Adjusting to the physical side of working "the pit," however, took a bit longer.
Since the NASCAR-style stock cars do not have doors, he must help his students climb through a side window a yard off the ground. And being trussed up in a jumpsuit, helmet and safety harness (another time-consuming step overseen by Tremblay), they are not exactly at their most nimble.
"When they're walking out to the car," he says, "they look like Frankenstein. They can hardly move."
Once a participant is seated, Tremblay reaches into the car to wrench down the waist line and make six or seven adjustments to the safety belts and neck support brace. On a typical day, he helps to shepherd three classes of more than 100 rookies through the introductory process - in addition to assisting any spectators who opt for a ride-along. The job also entails teaching his group of participants the first hour of each course, in which he demonstrates the car's gauges, safety features, and entry/exit procedures.
"My whole body was sore the first day," recalls Tremblay, "and bruises everywhere. Everybody thought I'd been beat up.
"I've lost some weight [since taking the job]," he adds.
Pit Perspective
Through the classes, he's met a variety of people and even a celebrity or two, including Philadelphia Eagles place-kicker David Akers, who participated in the class at RIR earlier this summer. He's become acquainted with many of RDPE's repeat customers and worked with the full range of rookies - from the relatively knowledgeable to those who start from scratch.
"Believe it or not," he says, "we had to teach one how to shift." The woman in her 50s, part of a corporate group, had never driven a stick - but her crash course at RDPE was a success. "The first time she popped the clutch too fast and stalled," notes Tremblay, "but she got it on the second try."
As a new RDPE instructor, Tremblay sticks to "the pit," passing on his rookies to more experienced teachers for the actual driving instruction.
In the on-track portion of the class, students take the wheel of a separate car for several laps, following three lengths behind the instructor. Students are guided by flag signals, color-coded cones and white tape markings "so you know exactly where to be," notes Tremblay. "Each lap gets faster if you can keep up."
Ace from the Start
Until his first visit to the Petty school in Charlotte, N.C. in 1997, the longtime NASCAR fan indulged his passion for high-performance cars at the drag-racing track, where maximum speeds top out at about 110 mph. (He also indulged in Mustangs, and still owns a '96 Mustang Mystic Cobra - number 515 of only 2,000 made.)
When Tremblay and fellow Henrico Police Officer Brian Wilson excelled at the RPDE in Atlanta in 2002 (the subject of a Citizen article in 2002), instructors waived the usual one-car-at-a-time restriction and let them take the track together, so they could get the feel of maneuvering around another car.
"Since you're cops, we know you can handle it," they told the pair, explaining that having a second car nearby would unnerve the average driver.
A former traffic crash investigator, Tremblay believes the Petty course - besides being fun - can help even everyday drivers build confidence and feel more at ease behind the wheel.
"Taking the class has definitely helped my driving skills, on the job and personally," he says, citing quicker reflexes and an improved ability to anticipate. Tremblay - who once drove 155 mph to catch a Corvette on I-295 - says teaching the class has also been good practice for preparing his driving-age daughter to get her license.
So the thought of spending another two or three years in the pit before qualifying as a full-fledged driving instructor doesn't bother him at all.
In the meantime, he will take advantage of his employee discount to attend advanced Petty courses - such as one set for Las Vegas in November.
He will continue to thrill to his favorite "adrenaline moments" on the track - the ones that hooked him on classes in the first place, and that keep him going back for more.
"On that back stretch," he says, describing one example, "all you can see is wall. It looks like you're going straight into it and you have to make a U-turn.
"You're all out of track."
But he looks forward to the day he can reverse roles and guide his students through the lead-and-follow culmination of the course - knowing they are experiencing the same adrenaline high.
"That," he says simply, "is my goal."
For information about the RPDE call 1-800-BE-PETTY or visit www.1800bepetty.com
Editor's note: The following article first appeared in the Sept. 14 edition of the Henrico Citizen.
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