Video: When you let Dale Earnhardt Jr. drive your Miata

How do you double check this? The best way is probably to get someone who knows what they are doing around an oval to jump in and give it the beans. Thankfully for Mazda, they had Dale Earnhardt Jr. on hand.

Jr, as he has long been known, has raced at the very top level of NASCAR 631 times. He’s added an extra 144 second tier starts (where he was a two-time champion). So he knows a thing or two about chucking a car around a track that only goes to the left.

So when he was presented with an MX-5 and Martinsville Speedway – a short track oval in Virginia – he wasn’t being presented with any real problem. Perhaps the MX-5 Cup car that he jumped into might not have really known what was about to hit it, but Earnhardt Jr. did.

As he ragged, and the only term here is ragged, the MX-5 around Martinsville, the 26-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner finds, and goes beyond, the limit multiple times. Catching the MX-5 in a lurid slide time after time, but no doubt having the time of his life. It might not have had the power of his old stock cars, but the ferocious noise coming from the Mazda’s little engine was certainly making itself known.

Might have added some value to the car afterward too.

Welcome to Goodwood Elevenses, a helping of motoring-related amusement to help break up your day. Watch the last video: Rabid rally cars on the 'Ring