Kansas City Speedway

Kansas City Speed Way

Location: Intersection of I70 and 435, Kansas City, KS

Website: http://www.kansasspeedway.com/

Appropriate For: Dad's Call.

Cost: For the practice run, free.

What makes you a cool dad? Maybe you let the kids have donut's in bed. Perhaps you let the kids play with shotguns while riding the lawnmower. Maybe you even give the kids your credit car and drop them off at the toy store.

You still would not be as cool as us because we took the kids to the racetrack. To a three year old boy, this is a candy factory wrapped in a awesomeness and delivered by a racecar.

What we actualy did was attend the practice sessions the day before the big race. There was no actual race but we were able to see cars go around 5 to 10 at a time testing out the racetrack. We were even able to see a mock start.

Now I'm not a fan of Nascar, I don't really care for it. But I will admit, I am hooked now. I didn't realize that you could feel the engines. I didn't realize that you could smell the burnt rubber. I didn't realize that the thunder coming down the track made you think of Greek Gods. And I forgot that we were there for the kids.

And now back to them and what you need to know should you choose to. Headphones are essential to anyone wanting to do this. You can rent them at the track or bring your own. Without them though, and you won't be there for 5 minutes. So be careful and make the investment.

My boy was three when we took him and he couldn't get enough of it. He totally forgot that he was with me. He totally forgot about everything. All he could do was look at the race cars going up and down the track. The kid was mesmerized.

Another great thing about going for the practice runs was that there was nobody there. We had a 100,000 seat stadium as our own private playground. We could go anywhere. We went to the nose bleed seats and we went to the front seats right at the fence to see the racecars up front. It was one of the most amazing things we have ever done.

After we got tired of seeing the racecars, which took a while, we toured the rest of the stadium and saw all the big trailers that the drivers bring. It was a good way to end our day.

One more word of caution though, you will be walking quite a bit. So if you have a kid that doesn't like to wal, bring a stroller. This ranks as a top 5 outing boys, do it if you can. Check the Speedway website listed above for special promotions.