Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted a flavor of Charlotte on his first visit to North Carolina, so he strapped into a race car with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday.
"We're going to start slow," Zuckerberg nervously joked in the front passenger seat with NASCAR's fan favorite driver at the wheel. "Just going out for a little stroll."
In seconds, the car's sudden burst of speed caught America's most famous internet sage completely off his verbal guard.
"Holy ----!!!" Zuckerberg exclaimed during his 800-horsepower adrenaline rush, as cameras zoomed in for viewers on Facebook Live. "All right. We're a little close to the wall."
Then, amid the noise of the engine: "I can't hear anything I'm saying! Whoa! What a crazy experience. This is amazing."
Zuckerberg then drove solo, with Earnhardt in radio contact. Zuckerberg smiled the whole time.
"One more lap?" Zuckerberg asked after a while. "What do you say?"
"I think you could probably run as many laps as you want, Mark," Earnhardt replied.
Zuckerberg's trip to the speedway was part of his year-long challenge to visit every state and learn more from communities.
He earlier toured the nearby Hendrick Motorsports facility and met with Marcus Smith, Charlotte Motor Speedway president and general manager.
As for his experience with Earnhardt at the speedway: "If this is all we get to do in Charlotte, that will be enough," Zuckerberg said. "What an amazing experience."
