Vroom with a view: what's it like to sit in a Winston Cup weekend office on wheels? Hop in

It's the perfect environment in which to drive a car at incredibly fast speeds. Surrounding you is lightweight, aerodynamically engineered sheet metal that disintegrates into millions of large and small fragments when you crash. The decor is spartan, not that you will pay much attention. Because the land is faster than the eye as you whiz around the track, you have no choice but to concentrate on your fellow competitors--inches from your quarter panel, a mere breath of dirty air ahead of your front bumper. If someone parked that close to you at Wal-Mart, you'd key his door.

Welcome to the cockpit of a Winston Cup car--built for speed, built to last, built to survive more hardship than three generations of Cubs fans.

If you're not familiar with NASCAR, welcome to the weekend office on wheels. This is the batter's box, the slot, the key, the line of scrimmage for the left-turn set.

Each Cup team, and often each driver, has a cockpit specifically designed to suit certain needs. But you, as the driver, have to do more than just jump into the cockpit and hang on. You have to monitor a host of data. What is the water temperature? How much power does your battery have? Have your rpms been increasing with each lap? Is the electrical system working properly? Is the cockpit getting hotter? Did your crew chief say you had four more laps worth of fuel or three?

And, oh yeah, you have to answer these questions while trying to keep Kurt Busch from running you into the wall at 183 mph.

Fortunately, the tools of the trade make it much simpler for you to handle every situation. The cockpit is your toolbox, and every tool in it has its place.

1 Ignition kill switch. This shuts off the engine in case of an emergency, such as when the throttle sticks.

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2 Radio button. This is used to open radio channels to the pits and the team's spotter--to order pizza and cold drinks for victory lane.

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3 Gearshift. As you might expect, the gearshift is used in concert with the clutch to change gears.

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4 Safety seat. The custom-made seal in each car is constructed to provide extra support and protection for your head, shoulders, ribs and lower body. In many instances, seats are made from carbon fiber and form to the driver's contours, giving pause to truckers everywhere.

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5 Head and neck restraint. NASCAR requires its drivers to wear a head-restraint system--either the HANS or Hutchens device--in its three national series, as well as in its touring series. It's also helpful to wear at your desk when you want people to think you're awake.

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6 Main rearview mirror. This wide mirror mainly provides you with a view of what it's like to drive at tear-inducing speeds without having to worry about cherries flashing behind you.

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7 Fire extinguisher. When was the last time you saw a driver use a fire extinguisher? Exactly. This safety device, bolted to the floor behind you, houses flame-retardant material that can be used to douse minor blazes in the cockpit.

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8 Seat-belt harness. Just like in a production car, the six-point harness is bolted to the flame of the car to keep you in your seat in case of an accident, especially a roll.

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9 Fire-extinguisher switch. Not surprisingly, this activates the flow of retardant chemicals from the fire extinguisher.

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10 Fire-extinguisher discharge nozzle. Just under your seat, this dispenses the fire-suppressing chemicals.

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11 Helmet hook. This is where you hang your helmet when you're not on the tracker--when you're having your photo taken by the SPORTING NEWS.

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12 Auxiliary switches. These can serve any number of purposes, such as turning on ventilating fans, a helmet-cooling system or the backup ignition system. They will not activate the ejector seat.

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13 Master switch. This switch is used to shut down the car's electrical system. If you have toggled down this switch after a wreck, the rescue crews can work on the car without fear of starting a fire. The rescue crew flips this switch down if you can't.

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14 Main Switch panel. Switches for the starter, ignition and cooling fans are on this panel.

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15 Tachometer. This monitors the rpms of the engine, helping you decide when to change gears and allowing you to check the power and strength of the engine. Because you only need to know how fast you're going on pit road, there's no speedometer. So you must take a reading off the tachometer in second gear--it should be 4,000 to 4,100 rpms--as the reference to check your pit-road speed. The tachometer also provides you with an idea of your speed on the track.

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16 Engine gauge cluster. This row contains gauges that monitor oil pressure, water temperature, oil temperature, voltage and fuel pressure.