My wife gave me an anniversary present of the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure several years ago. I drove at Talladega. If I understand correctly, the difference between Jarrett and Petty driving experiences are with Jarrett, the instructor rides in the car with you giving you instructions by hand signal. In Petty, you are alone in the car following the instructor in a lead car. I can give you feedback on the Jarrett experience.
One word: INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
There are up to eight cars on the track at a time and if you catch someone, the instructors will let you pass. The instructors are connected via radios so the front car will stay high and the passing car will pass to the inside. I was able to pass three cars during my ten lap session including one on the bottom side of the banking going into turn one a half-lane up from the bottom. The other cars I passed going through the front-stretch tri-oval. I cannot adequately describe the adrenaline(sp?) rush. It literally took me hours to wind down. It is also set up for spectators. My wife and cousin went with me and both wound up going on a "ride-along" - three laps as a passenger with the instructor driving.
On the first lap, the instructor will gauge how well you are controlling the car based on your line through turns three and four. Smooth line and not fighting the car gets you a "thumbs-up" signal to speed up. The G-forces through the banking are awesome. A Talladega, if you are smooth, you can run flat-out for the entire lap. The top speed of the cars is 165. You can get DVD's from the in-car camera system so you will have something to remember it by.
To anyone who is a NASCAR fan or just is car-crazy, it is great. I am sure the Petty experience would be similar. Given the similarity of the tracks, I don't know how much difference there would be between Daytona and Talladega although there are a lot of other attractions at Daytona.
