One of the first things you notice as you approach SpeedVegas is a small outcropping of what is clearly a dirt track. And that’s very much by design. While SpeedVegas, in the southernmost part of the Valley and just a bit south of the M Resort, was originally built to be a track for exotic cars, its new owners have a much broader experience in store for you, one that incorporates almost every other racing experience in Southern Nevada into one facility.

Yes, exotic cars are still definitely part of the SpeedVegas experience—a fleet of 15 luxury machines including Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Audis, Mercedes, Fords and, coming soon, the Polaris Slingshot—but car fanatics will practically drool over the additional options, including drifting with your choice of five different Mustangs, and the newest addition: Off-roading on a custom-built dirt track in one of 15 custom-built vehicles, each valued at $160,000.

The latter is where SpeedVegas truly distinguishes itself from the rest of the racing pack; Mike Self, CEO and co-owner of SpeedVegas, is a guy you want handling your off-road racing experience. His resume is beyond impressive, including a win in his racing class at the 2012 Mint 400. He also operated an off-road racing company in Boulder City for years, and knew exactly what kind of course he wanted to design upon taking the reins at SpeedVegas last year.

At 1.4 miles long and featuring eight jumps over 20 acres, Self’s track is unlike any you’ve ever seen. “It’s my baby,” he says. “We were meticulous, down to the clay that’s on it and the drainage system so that if it rains we can still be open the next day.”

Self was also meticulous about the driver experience, adding so many safety elements—radio communication, GPS and more—that drivers don’t even need an instructor. “We have radio communication into your ear,” Self explains. “We’re watching you from the sky from multiple points on the track. We can talk to you throughout your entire experience and we know what your car’s doing. We’re listening to what your car’s doing and we’re watching what your car’s doing. And if you have any questions you can just push a red button and talk to one of our three instructors who are standing very close to you and coach you through certain things.”

SpeedVegas also prides itself on not being a classroom-heavy experience. “In a lot of these experiences around the world, you sit in a classroom for 80 percent of the time, and 20 percent of it is driving,” Self says. “We’re the opposite. We get you a quick video, some lessons and then set you loose.”

If customers require additional “experience” before getting into a car, SpeedVegas offers a G-Force simulator, complete with 360-degree access and the ability to simulate the G’s you’ll feel in the actual car. (Self said the company is currently working with Xbox to scan its entire 1.5-mile-long racing track.)

But Self stressed that safety is the company’s top priority, calling SpeedVegas “the safest ride and drive facility in the world.” In addition to partnering with the Motor Sports Safety Foundation, SpeedVegas has its own staff of fire and safety personnel, a minimum of four firefighters on site at any one time, and its own fire truck and safety utility task vehicle.

Whether you’re a pro or an amateur, SpeedVegas is going to give you a unique experience you cannot get anywhere else.

“The No. 1 most rewarding thing about this business is people and customers coming up to me and telling me, ‘You just supplied one of the greatest experiences of my life,’” Self says. “That is what makes me wake up every morning. That is what gets me high about this business. Because people are blown away and are having the time of their lives, and coming back with chills or in tears. Some people have peed themselves! It’s such a rewarding job.”

And even if you’ve experienced SpeedVegas before, Self is ready to give you reasons to come back again and again. While he couldn’t be specific about future expansions plans, he describes his vision for SpeedVegas as “not just a racetrack. I want people to consider this a motor sports theme park—like Disneyland, Sea World, we’re going big with this thing, and we’re not stopping in Vegas. We are just getting started.”

14200 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun.-Fri., 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. (reservations recommended), starting at $49 per lap plus tax and fee, 18+ to drive. 888.261.4925