Cottle lives life in the fast lane
BY SUZANNE LOUDAMY Staff writer

The life of a funeral director might appear very quiet and subdued, but that's not the case with Phyllis Cottle of Troup. Not long ago she was flying around the track at the Texas Motor Speedway.

"It was the drive of a lifetime and I lived to tell about it," Mrs. Cottle said. "I'd always wanted to drive a NASCAR, so I paid my money and did it."

Team Texas is a Nextel Cup Driving School that operates at the Texas Motor Speedway. Team Texas uses 2005 Nextel Cup cars. They offer programs that take "wanna-be" racers into the classroom and on to the speedway to drive at speeds up to 150 mph.

"I drove very very fast," Mrs. Cottle said. "I don't know how fast because the car didn't have a speedometer in it."

After the classroom instruction, racing students are taken out on the track in a van and taught the proper way to enter and exit the speedway, as well as how to "drive the track."

"Then you are matched up with your car," Mrs. Cottle said. "The seats and all are not adjustable on the cars so they just match you up by size with how the car is already set up."

Once paired up with her car, the Coors Lite Silver Bullet, she worked her helmet on over the meticulously placed bun of hair and prepared for the drive of a lifetime.

She impressed her in-car instructor with her skill. He gave her the "thumbs-up" to go faster. And faster she went, and faster and faster, to the point that he gave her the OK to pass. She not only passed one car but two.

The entire experience was everything Mrs. Cottle expected it to be and more.