Imagine requesting a Lyft ... only to have your driver measure up every other car at the red light and take off like it's a race.
Well, that's part of the experience that unsuspecting customers of the ride-hailing app were treated to when they ordered a Lyft car and had none other than an undercover Danica Patrick scoop them up for a ride around town. Make that a fast ride around town.
In a video that Lyft published on YouTube on Thursday, the Nascar driver — thinly-veiled with a winter hat and some sunglasses — picks up users of the ride-hailing service in Charlotte, home of the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Immediately, she makes small talk with some of the customers, dropping subliminal hints about her real profession in the process, telling one that she's just "logging laps," in response to him asking her how she's doing.
She warns another passenger, "Buckle up for safety ... you might need it," and tells a different rider, "My boyfriend thinks I'm a horrible driver because I don't follow the rules. I drive too fast, I ride too close ... gosh, come on, light. I hate waiting, but I love making laps."
Despite telling a customer, "Sometimes, I come around a corner here and I pretend like I'm crossing the finish line," her identity remains safe.
Patrick even gives herself away saying, "I try and get like 500 miles in on Sundays, and I try to do it in like under four hours."
Still, it's not enough for that particular customer to make a connection from her Lyft driver and the Nascar racer.
The real fun comes when Patrick sizes up another car at a red light, challenging the driver to a race and mashing the gas pedal, sending one customer slamming back in her seat in pure, thrilling enjoyment.
The edit on the video does a great job showing the reactions of her passengers when Patrick really starts to rev the car up in an impromptu street race, before revealing her true identity and taking one-by-one selfies with her customers.
"The brakes are smelling, the tires are smelling, which means I definitely beat them by a lot," Patrick says to end the clip, referring to her street race.
If only every Lyft could be so much fun, right?
