Keeping Track: Stock Car School at Pocono Provides Real Life Racing Experience
by Dino Oberto

Attending a race at Pocono Raceway is one thing but to be able to actually go onto the 2.5-mile tri oval and get the perspective of the driver is possible through the Stock Car Racing Experience (SCRE).

The SCRE is a school that allows individuals the opportunity to drive or ride along in a real stock car at speed. The school is the brainchild of former road racers Jesse Roverana and his partner Ove Faulck.

“We opened in 1998 and this is our eleventh season. I had worked for the Bertil Roos Racing School and in 1990 I took over management of it. Through the years we were doing road racing in small formula cars. I had seen were Richard Petty opened a stock car school down south and I realized the popularity of it and no one was doing anything like that here at Pocono,” said Roverana. “At that time I was able to find some investors that were interested. I signed my life away and raised a bunch of capitol to get it all started.”

The school turned out to be a success right from the start. They average up to 5000 students per season.

The race cars are authentic NASCAR stock cars built by renowned car builders Hutcherson-Pagen of Charlotte NC. They are fitted with a 600 horsepower V-8 coupled to a 4-speed gearbox. To provide maximum grip the cars are equipped with Goodyear racing slicks as well as all other performance and safety equipment. All of the engines are built by Andy Jensen of Jensen’s Engine Technologies of Nescopeck.

“One of the secrets to our success is that we built everything from scratch. Our cars are built purposely for the school. All of our cars are identical underneath the skin. We really have a super maintenance program which allows us to run what we do,” said Roverana.

Students are offered a variety of packages on how they choose to partake in the school. Next is a detailed discussion on the operation of the race cars, safety equipment and track rules. This is followed by an informative tour of the 2.5-mile track with one of the schools professional instructors. The fitting of racing suits and helmets then takes place.
“Then it’s time to strap ‘em in and get them ready for what’s sure to be the ride of a life-time,” said chief instructor Steve Fox.

The race sessions are run in a follow the leader format. Instructors, all of whom have extensive racing experience, lead two students following six to eight car lengths behind. The instructor will pick up the pace on each passing lap. Speeds can reach as high as 170 mph depending on individual skill level as well as track conditions. Upon completion of the program each participant will receive a certificate of achievement.

The school serves dual purposes. For the casual fan who wants to see what it feels like to drive a real race car on a super speedway and for race drivers who are seeking needed big track experience.

“We actually had Clint Boyer here with us two years ago when he had just got into Cup. He never ran Pocono and came up and ran our cars prior to the Pocono NASCAR weekend just to see what this place is all about. There have been others including ARCA developmental drivers too,” said Roverana.

Although the primary draw that attendees comes from is the Pennsylvania, New Your, New Jersey areas, Roverana noted that people have come from much further distances including other counties.
“We just had two guys here from Australia. That’s not the norm of course. 90% of our students are from the tri-state area of about a 200-mile radius. With the other 10% we’re seeing people from Canada, some U.K. and Germany so we’re definitely pulling in from a quite a few different areas.”

The school also works closely with the Pocono Mountain Vacation Bureau and has a promotion with Caesar’s Resort. As for the track there remains a solid working relationship between SCRE and Pocono Raceway.

“Our relationship is real good. They (Mattioli’s) have seen the value of Stock Car Racing Experience were it brings people to the track to see what it’s all about, to drive the race cars and I’m sure that all helps their ticket sales. We do a lot of cross promotion with each other,” said Roverana.

Even through this year’s rough economy the school has continued to do well. They are on target to again reach the 5000 per season student mark. There have been some adjustments made to the total number of on track days which has been scaled back from 60 to 38 but without giving up on any student track time.

“We’ve done very good financial planning and going into this economy we feel we’re set pretty well. Our marketing plan is really going after the females. The wives who are buying this as a gift and we’ve been very successful in that area,” explained Roverana. “It’s just so unique. Not many people realize that you can get behind the wheel of a 600 horsepower car and go 150-160 miles per hour for a couple hundred bucks.”

Along with the stock cars there is also a professional karting program, called Team Prokart Racing, which runs on a special road course inside the track.

“The karting we promote basically through SCRE and our website. We don’t do a whole lot of outside promoting,” said Roverana. “We opened the karting in 2004 and it has been very successful up until this year. With the economy that portion of our program is just slightly down.”

The SCRE is an excellent and reasonably affordable school that gives anyone a real racing experience at one of the most challenging race tracks, Pocono Raceway. The season runs through the middle of October. They can be reached at 877-786-2522 or on the online at http://www.877stockcar.com.