Now that the NASCAR season is finished, the NASCAR Channel, excuse me I mean the Speed Channel, has free air time to show other forms of racing. Speed is now showing A1GP, LeMans Endurance, Australian V8 Supercars, British Touring Car and German Touring Cars (DTM) races. Sadly Speed is showing these races during weekdays, while most fans are at work. And World Rally Championship fans get no love, because Speed still no longer shows WRC races.

Several months ago I came up with the perfect story idea, one that involved all of my favorites, Germany, race cars and German engineered cars. The idea, was simple — fly to Germany to see a DTM race. If you are not familiar, the DTM, formerly known as Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, is Germany’s version of NASCAR. As a born-and-raised southerner from Charlotte, Narth Kackalacky, I know NASCAR very well. Just like my love of slow-cooked Bar-B-Q, syrupy sweet tea, smash-mouth football, professional wrassling, tobacco road college basketball, and toe tapping Blues music — stock car racing is in my blood!

Oh, before we go any further, since this involves racing, let’s do the old hat dance that the drivers do after they have won a race. We need to thank Audi, Mercedes Benz, the DTM and Stubhub.com for their help with this feature.

Alright, back to the story at hand. This was my first — hopefully not the last — time flying to Germany and the date of the trip could not come fast enough.

After landing, an Audi A8 was waiting to be slung across the autobahn. Best of all, Audi had its concierge service handle customs, which eliminated waiting in line for security and baggage. The service was just like its cars, first class. Shortly after they brought my baggage, I was off to drive the autobahn for the first time. All the years of getting caught by my teachers with my face in a car magazine featuring articles of journalists doing what I was now doing myself! While on the autobahn I got a lump in my throat just like I do when I watch the movie Rudy. You know the parts of the movie when the sad flute music starts to play.

There I was driving the awesome Audi A8, one of my top two luxury car picks, at 155 mph! Oh, by the way, the A8 was a diesel and it was very smooth, quiet and very fast.

As a Formula One fan, I have watched many races broadcast from Europe and soon I was going to be at the Euro Speedway watching one live and in person. The Euro Speedway is one of Europe’s most expensive and largest tracks, which cost $160 million Euro and seats 160,000 fans.

Just like NASCAR fans, DTM fans will drive their RVs to the race, tailgate, watch the race, drink lots of beer and make an entire weekend of it. And just like their southern brethren, they too collect crash damaged parts and used race tires. Excuse me, tyres. The highlight of the trip came when I was able to get a “Taxi” ride in an actual Mercedes Benz DTM car albeit with a passenger seat. From the outside, a DTM car looks like a typical Audi A4 or a Mercedes Benz C Class sedan. However, there is not a rear seat in a DTM car, and the driver sits much lower and further back than in a “normal” Audi or Mercedes Benz.

As you can imagine the acceleration and grip in the Mercedes Benz DTM car was absolutely incredible. Before you can catch your breath, the driver had shifted through four sequential gears and was already breaking for the hard left, followed by a sweeping right. The noise of the powerful V8 race engine was intoxicating and my ears could not get enough. As a graduate of the Jim Hall karting school, and the Skip Barber racing school, I have been behind the wheel of many race cars on many different tracks. However, this was one of the most memorable track experiences I have ever had.

Like NASCAR, the DTM field was very competitive with all competitors qualifying within split seconds of each other. Great looking race cars, awesome speed, thrilling sound, on track passing and few bumping and rubbing incidents made this one exciting race.

Aufrecht is like the Jim Franz of the DTM in that he is the founder and the only president the circuit has had over its 21 years of operation. Similar to NASCAR, the DTM also has plenty of other activities to entertain fans for any given weekend. There are car and motorcycle stunt shows before DTM main event races, along with support races like Polo Cup races, Formula BMW races and Porsche Cup races. Other activities include driver autograph sessions, concerts, driver question and answer, parties and manufacturer car shows. “Considering that our fans are spending their entire weekends with us, we want to provide more than just the racing action on the track,” noted Werner Aufrecht.”

If you ever get the opportunity to go over to Germany, try to schedule it in conjunction with a DTM race. Just as a NASCAR race will instantly hook you, so too will a DTM race. Even non-motorsports fans will have a great time. The DTM governing body, the manufacturers, the drivers, the cars, the extra activities, the racing and the people make a worthwhile trip. However, if you can’t, check out the DTM races in person, check out the races that the Speed Channel is now airing during the week. Just go to www.speedtv.com and check out the program schedule for German Touring Car races.

Last but not least, I have to thank everyone again (Audi, Mercedes Benz, the DTM and Stubhub.com) for finding tickets to the sold out Coca Cola 600 race which was a part of this story that did not pan out. Oh and one more thing. If you want Speed to show A1GP, LeMans Endurance, Australian V8 Supercars, British Touring Car and German Touring Cars (DTM) races during prime time or on weekends call or e-mail them. After all, its not like they cant claim that they dont have available airtime during the off season.