During Grand Am’s last appearance at Miller Motorsports Park this past season, we were given the opportunity to go for a hot lap before the race began. This, of course, excited us. We reached full teenage girl about to touch Justin Bieber excitement status when we learned we would be riding shotgun with none other than Hurley Haywood. Don’t know who Hurley Haywood is you say? Well, let us drop some knowledge on you:

3 time 24 hour of Le Mans winner
5 time 24 hour of Daytona winner
2 time 12 hour of Sebring winner
Trans Am AND IMSA GT Champion

Hurley’s record speaks for itself. This guy can drive and we experienced it firsthand (please excuse the shaky camera work and girly giggles from yours truly):

YouTube - Daily Derbi- Hurley Haywood Hot Lap

Chad Waite, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Derbi, had this to say of his driving experience with Hurley:

Besides a blitzing ride on the outer course of Miller Motorsports Park, the experience with Hurley was unique in three ways. During the entire event, Hurley said but a few words and remained insanely focused on the upcoming apexes of turns two corners away. After winning one of his many 24 Hours of Le Mans titles, he was quoted saying, “If you have one ounce of energy left, then you haven’t done your job properly”- a quote that he completely embodied while driving the Miller Mustang. Simply put, the dude must have been beat after.

Nearly contrary to his focus, however, was his very relaxed presence in the car. He was lightly gripping the steering wheel- not putting fingernail marks in it with some adrenaline-fueled death grip. He took deep breaths and maintained a comfortable yet alert posture in the driver’s seat; basically opposite of my tense, breath-held body in the front seat just waiting for a crash.

Finally, it was amazing to see the skill that the car was driven with. Let us not forget that a big, heavy Mustang GT has the engine in the complete opposite spot of Hurley’s favored Porsche models.

As for me, well the video pretty much shows it all. Driving is genuinely an art and Hurley Haywood is one of the true masters. It literally is second nature to him. Throttling a full bodied Mustang WITH track officials randomly scattered around the track didn’t faze him at all. He looked just as comfortable as you or I cruising down I-15. Even at 63 years old, Hurley continues to race and instruct others on his proven winning method.