Fish tales

A little role reversal took place last week when Sprint Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. and B.A.S.S. Elite Series fisherman Mike Iaconelli spent the day together at Charlotte Motor Speedway and nearby Lake Norman, giving each other insight into their respective sports.

Truex took Iaconelli around the 1.5-mile speedway in a Toyota Camry Hybrid pace car, and then Iaconelli took Truex on the lake to catch some big bass. Iaconelli later reflected on the day.

Martin Truex Jr. watches as Mike Iaconelli makes it look easy.

Q: What were your initial impressions of Charlotte Motor Speedway?

Iaconelli: Everything's bigger. You watch it on TV and everything kind of looks a little smaller ... and you get out here and this is big. It's a little intimidating, but it's great. It's a cool track.

Q: Were you nervous when Truex drove you around the race track?

Iaconelli: They have a little gripper on the side for the passenger to hold on to; you can probably find my DNA and finger nails on the rubber of that thing. It's tense. I know that's half the speed of what they normally would go, but it was wild. It's crazy going that fast. I had it up to a blistering 90 miles per hour and I was happy.

He [Truex] says the normal speed is about double that -- 200 or so into the corner. That to me is mind-blowing. Hopefully one day I'll get out in a real car and feel what that's really like.

Q: What was your impression when they let you take a few laps behind the wheel at the track?

Iaconelli: Unbelievable. I was scared to go out there that fast. I know it's not even a real race car, but it was amazing to be out there and to realize what these guys do every day. It's the real deal. For a guy like me that's kind of a fan from afar -- I get a whole new appreciation for NASCAR and what these drivers do. It's awesome.

The neat thing about it is that for the fan that's not too hardcore like myself, you get the idea that these guys are all over with the wheel. You have to be really fluid and smooth in the turns. It takes a lot of practice, I imagine. In the 20 minutes that I drove, it wasn't enough time. I wasn't very good at the turns yet.

Q: What was the fastest you had ever driven before taking to Charlotte Motor Speedway?

Iaconelli: The fastest I ever went was 78 miles per hour on Highway 10 and I got pulled over and got a ticket.

Q: Are there any similarities between what you do professionally and what Truex does?

Iaconelli: A lot. We talked a lot at the speedway and on the lake. I think our careers really parallel. I know he talked a lot about his love for what he's doing now and he developed that as a kid and through his family.

The same thing for me with fishing. He got to where he's at, he's as good as he is, because he works hard at it. It's his passion. He does it every day and that's what I do with fishing out on the water. There are a lot of similarities there, a lot of similarities with our fan bases on how important sponsorship is and some of the companies we work with in our sports. So there are a lot of similarities. I still have to drive home and he gets to take a jet [after competing in events] -- that's really the only difference.

Q: Had you ever fished at Lake Norman previously?

Iaconelli: It's actually really neat to come back here. In our sport, a lot like NASCAR, you've got to kind of work your way up the ranks and when I fished as an amateur back in college, the second event I ever fished was here at Lake Norman. I was 23 years old -- just a kid -- and I won that event. My career really started here at Lake Norman and this area. So it's neat to come back here and have the opportunity to fish here again.

Q: Did Truex know what he was doing with a fishing pole?

Iaconelli: The neat thing about it coming in, a lot of bass pros and professional anglers are hardcore NASCAR fans and I was kind of on that outer fringe and didn't know really a lot at all. ... Then I was put on the track with one of the best drivers in the world and really got a lot of information first-hand.

That was awesome and the nice thing about it was that when we got to flip-flop at the lake ... well, in a lot of these deals we do, you get put with another athlete that says he can fish and he can't. This was really nice because I could see just with what happened in a couple hours, he's a true fisherman. To cast around those docks like we were, you've got to know what you're doing. I appreciate the fact that he was honestly a true angler.