NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace on skydiving into Daytona 500 track: ‘I was beyond scared’ briefly
Teresa Rivers • April 16, 2020
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The first time NASCAR driver Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. went skydiving, he landed inside the track at Daytona International Speedway.
Three days before the NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, the No. 43 Chevrolet driver jumped in tandem out of a plane, thanks to race sponsor, the U.S. Air Force. Although he said they missed their mark near the 2.5-mile track’s start-finish line by about 50 yards, they still comfortably landed on the grass.
“When my first foot went off [the plane], that’s when I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’” Wallace told For The Win. “We did a flip out, and I got it all together and we were doing it.”
Wallace — who will start 11th in the Daytona 500 in his Richard Petty Motorsports car — said it was particularly helpful to have someone else, his partner Randy, attached to him and leading the way as they jumped.
“He didn’t force me out, but he was controlling the motions,” Wallace said.
“He started walking, and the next thing you know, we’re off the back of the plane. At that moment right there, I was beyond scared. But it went from nervous to scared to this is awesome in a matter of two to three seconds.”
For about 45 seconds, the 26-year-old driver entering his third full-time Cup Series season said he was free-falling at what felt like 100 miles an hour. But then they pulled their parachute at about 5,000 feet and cruised down into the race track.
It took them about 10 minutes to reach the ground.
Original article here.
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