Fast Cars & Superstars, June 19: Sparks a'Flyin'

Tonight on Fast Cars & Superstars, we will see the last of two Accuracy Challenges! On Sunday, John Elway, Ty Murray, and Tony Hawk advanced to the Finals while Laird Hamilton was sent home. Tonight Ty’s girlfriend Jewel and Laird’s wife Gabby Reese will compete along with Bill Cowher and John Cena. Young Gun Jamie McMurray will be in charge of shepherding these celebs through the challenge.

Kenny Mayne begins his voiceover. We began with 12 superstars. John Elway wants to win. Jewel trash talks the guys. If John Cena has to scrape the wall to win, he will do it.

The Gillette Young Guns are here too! The surviving eight will face the toughest round of competition yet. Seeing as it’s only the second round, that’s not saying much, is it? It’s time for Fast Cars & Superstars!

We’re still under the lights at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Cue cheering crowd. Brad joins Kenny and reminds us what happened last time. You already know that though. Tonight’s celebs are introduced, but you already know who they are. Training them is Young Guns driver Jamie McMurray.

Kenny and Brad welcome Jamie and Kenny asks him if the celebs should have air bags in their cars. Jamie says maybe the coach needs one. Everyone laughs.

Kenny asks Jamie which is harder, stopping on a dime in the pit box or hitting the arrow clusters during the Time Trial. Jamie says he stressed to the celebs how slick pit road can be when they’re used to running as fast as possible on the track. The brakes can lock up and that makes it very hard to stop on the “X.” So, pit road is harder.

Brad reminds us of the format of the show—Time Trials, Accuracy Challenge, and Finals. The celebs have been broken into two groups of four for the Accuracy Challenge. Tonight’s group is Jewel, Bill Cowher, John Cena, and Gabby Reese, in case you haven’t been paying attention.

During the Accuracy Challenge rounds, the celebs will follow Jamie around the track for three timed laps. On their first two laps, each celeb must hit six arrow clusters placed around the track. There will be a two second penalty for every missed cluster.

Upon completion of their third lap, the celebs must return to pit road and try to land in the pit box. Missing it will add seconds to their time. The size of the penalty will depend on how far outside the pit box they end up. The three fastest celebs will advance to the Finals where they’ll compete against John Elway, Ty Murray, and Tony Hawk.

Jewel climbs into her car as boyfriend and Fast Cars finalist Ty Murray watches. The crowd cheers and Jewel waves. She asks for her booster seat as Kenny reminds us that she was the best of her Time Trial group.

Jamie fastens his steering wheel and leads Jewel out on her warm-up laps. He tells her he will lead her towards the arrow clusters during their warm-up. She appears to hit them all as she gets up to speed.

Ty and Laird Hamilton watch as Jewel takes the green flag and immediately heads up over 140 mph and even over 150 mph. She hits her first three arrow clusters and slows down a bit. She hits the fourth arrow cluster but misses the fifth and sixth for a four-second penalty. She finishes lap one with an average speed of 127.66 mph.

On lap two, Jewel drives a bit faster, maintaining the 140 – 150 mph speed for the whole lap. She hits all six arrow clusters so she suffers no further penalty. Her lap two average speed is 131.20 mph. Jamie reminds her that she does not have to hit the arrow clusters on lap three, so she can take whatever line she feels comfortable with.

Ty watches with Gabby Reece and says what makes him nervous is that Jewel went from being too poor to have a car to being driven around in a car. Now she’s driving up over 130 mph. Jewel decelerates nicely as Jamie tells her they are heading down pit road. She doesn’t slow down quite enough, however, and must stand on the brakes to stop the car. She finishes with only the back tires and back bumper inside the green pit box, and her front tires and bumper are outside the red line. This earns her a 15 second penalty, for a total time penalty of 19 seconds.

Jewel’s time is 2:07:98, with the penalty her total time is 2:26:98. She climbs out of the car as Ty grimaces, and then gives her a hug and kiss. They’ll have to sit back and watch the rest of the celebs before finding out if Jewel will join Ty in the Finals.

Bill Cowher is strapped into his car receiving his last-minute instructions from Jamie. He tells Jamie he doesn’t do anything slowly, so Jamie has to be sure to go fast enough. Jamie tells Bill not to run over him coming down pit road, and says he’s scared for his life as he walks to his car. And they’re off on their warm-up laps. In an interview, Bill says he’s the underdog in this race because he just learned how to drive a stick a few days ago, and proclaims John Cena the one to beat.

Bill takes the green flag and quickly climbs through the 125 mph range up into the 140s. There’s a wide gap between Bill and Jamie, but he hits the first three arrow clusters with no problem. He closes the gap and hits the last three arrow clusters for no time penalty on lap one. His average speed is only 111.62 mph though.

Bill heads into lap two as Gabby, Laird, Jewel, and Ty watch. Bill remains cautious, only driving between 120 and 130 mph, but hits all six arrow clusters on lap two. He ties Tony Hawk with no time penalty for the arrow clusters and finishes lap two with an average speed of 113.28 mph.

Jamie leads Bill around on lap three as John Cena and Gabby discuss strategy. Bill leaves a wide gap between his car and Jamie’s car, and slows down almost to a crawl as they head down pit road. He still squeals the brakes but lands perfectly inside the green pit box for no time penalty, again tying Tony.