Spectator racing: it just sounds dangerous, letting mere fans race their own cars on a track built for professionals.

Of course, anyone who’s been to the races has heard that guy, six beers in, talking about how he could go out there and do just as good as the real racers. But anyone who’s been around a racetrack at speed knows that it’s a lot harder than it looks.

But there are some that just don’t get the message, and that’s what spectator racing is all about. Every once in a while, between the poor lines and slow speeds, someone gets enough conviction in them to go out and test the edge. Unfortunately for them, they typically fall off the speed mountain. 

That’s what happened Friday night at Ocala Speedway. All of the ingredients were present: a middle-aged man in a car that wasn’t his, a front-wheel drive small sedan that can’t make a hard left turn, and a cheering crowd egging on one of their own.

Brad Forbes drove his father’s car, a 1999 Saturn SL2, onto the Ocala Speedway during intermission for the Street Car Showdown. After besting a Nissan pickup truck in his first race, he faced a V-8 Chevy Caprice Classic in the finals. 

Forbes got a 10-carlength head start, but the Caprice pulled even halfway through the first of two laps. As they came off turn 4 on lap 1, Forbes swung wide and flattened the right rear corner of the Caprice. The two headed off into turn two when Forbes banged wheels with the Caprice, keeping the inside lane as they went down the backstretch.

But then came turns 3 and 4, the tight end of Ocala Speedway that only professionals should be able to tackle. But that wasn’t going to stop Forbes. He plowed into turn 4 with a full head of steam, way too much steam – too much steam for even a race car (remember, this is a Saturn). 

Forbes entered the turn but was far from turning. His car headed straight, slamming head-on into the turn 4 wall at over 40 m.p.h. He knocked the entire front end off the car as airbags deployed.

But he arose unscathed to a cheering crowd before the smoke even settled. Though the car he drove to the racetrack was totaled, he mustered a smile as he waved his trophy, a T-shirt that read, “I hit the wall at Ocala Speedway.” 

“The thing is it’s my dad’s car and I got to pick him up from the airport tonight,” Forbes said. “I don’t know exactly how I’ll explain it to him.” 

What do you tell your dad after you wreck the family car? At a racetrack? Without his permission?

Here’s to hoping this guy is a better story teller than a driver, though he seemed to take it all in stride. For he proved Friday night why the disclaimer, “Professional Drivers on a Closed Course – Do Not Attempt,” was invented.

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