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From the Marbles - NASCAR

From the Marbles

Wed Apr 27 12:46pm EDT

Race fan takes a drive around track for her 100th birthday

By Jay Busbee

In a year that's already seen the youngest-ever winner of the Daytona 500, it's only appropriate that we hit the other end of the spectrum with what has to be the oldest driver ever to take a spin around a NASCAR track.

Meet Rachel Gilbert of Laconia, N.H. She's approaching her 100th birthday, and she's a NASCAR devotee. And as a birthday present, New Hampshire Motor Speedway gave her a chance to drive around the track in a Toyota Camry pace car.

And she wasn't in the shotgun seat. She was driving.

So how fast did she go? Well, let's just say she'll have to pick up the pace if she wants to qualify for a race:

"I wish I could have [reached 100 mph], you know, but I went up to 53 or 54," she said. Heck, still faster than a couple of the start-and-parkers.

Gilbert will be attending the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup race in July as a guest of the track, and she'll get the chance to meet her favorite driver, Carl Edwards, at the race as well.

One other note: This was Gilbert's first time behind the wheel in about five years. So it's probably good that there was only one kind of turn involved.

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