Скачать или смотреть Ride a Cars Car at Disney World! History of The Richard Petty Driving Experience in Pi Minutes!

At Walt Disney World tourists used to be able to pay to drive like Richard Petty at high speeds near the Magic Kingdom Parking lot!

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Part One!    • Mickey Mouse and the INDY RACING LEAGUE! H...  

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History in Pi Minutes is a series where I look at some popular topics in Disney or Theme Park History and cover them in a bite size format.

In 1996, Michael Eisner teamed up with the Indy Racing League to build the Walt Disney World Speedway on the edge of the Magic Kingdom Parking Lot.

In 2001, the deal fell apart between Disney and the IRL leading to the end of professional auto racing at Disney World.

So, what do you do with a speedway when there are no more races?

Obviously the answer is to let untrained tourists drive around at over 150 miles per hour.

Our story starts with The King. Richard Petty. The most accomplished stock car racing driver in history. The first driver to win the Cup Series championship seven times. He even voiced a character based on himself, Strip Weathers aka the King, in the Cars franchise.

He raced from 1958 to 1992.

After that, he started looking for other ways to occupy his free time.

When his attempt to run for North Carolina Secretary of State in 1996 failed (yes, that happened), Richard Petty went on to create the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

This gave guests a chance to get behind the wheel of a real NASCAR vehicle around an actual race track at high speeds. Or ride along in the passenger seat with a professional driver who can show you what these cars could really do!

This high octane, thrilling, premium experience gave people the chance to live out their high speed racing fantasies.

Which made it the perfect fit for the place where dreams come true.

In 1997, the Richard Petty Driving Experience came to the Walt Disney World Speedway.

And yet not only did it last until 2015, but the program was expanded multiple times.

Indy cars returned to the Speedway with the addition of the Indy Racing Experience in 2008 which functioned basically the same as the Richard Petty one just with a different style of vehicle.

In 2012 a third program was added with the Exotic Driving Experience giving people the chance to get behind the wheel of Ferrari’s and Porsche’s.

In 2014 they added the Piston Cup Junior Ride Along Experience giving kids the chance to ride in real life Cars Characters. Sage VanDerSpin and Aiken Axler.

It seemed like these Driving Experience were just gonna keep growing with more and more new offerings. And yet, it closed only a year later in 2015.

Some people more click baity than me might blame it on the death in 2015. There was an accident with the Exotic Driving Experience. The guest driving the car lost control and while he was okay, the instructor riding along in the passenger seat was critically injured and passed away.

This was a tragedy, but had nothing to do with the closure. The Walt Disney World Speedway was announced to be demolished before the accident happened.

The real reason for it closing wasn’t as shocking or dramatic. Magic Kingdom needed more parking and the Speedway was in the way.

Want to learn more about the history and go in depth?

Midway to Main Street (the artist formerly known as Rob Plays) did an excellent video covering this topic!
The Walt Disney World Speedway and the Indy 200
   • The Walt Disney World Speedway and the Ind...  

Alt_Driver did an excellent write up on the History
https://altdriver.com/racing/walt-dis...

B-Roll and Reference Videos:

Richard Petty Driving Experience at Walt Disney World
Courtesy of WDW Radio
   • Richard Petty Driving Experience at Walt D...  

IndyCar & Stock Car Racing Experiences at Walt Disney World
Courtesy of Attractions Magazine
   • IndyCar & Stock Car Racing Experiences at ...  

Exotic Driving Experience overview at the Walt Disney World Speedway
Courtesy of Inside the Magic
   • Exotic Driving Experience overview at the ...  

Piston Cup Junior Ride Along Program
Courtesy of Rikki Niblett
   • Piston Cup Junior Ride Along Program  

Other B-Roll Footage:
   • Видео  
   • Richard Petty: NASCAR used to be a race, n...  

This Video was made by Zach (AKA Pi the Disney Guy).

Tourists driving 150+ MPH! History of The Richard Petty Driving Experience in Pi Minutes!