Keith, Tom and List,
I've gotto concur with Tom on this one. My son Matt is 9, and he gets a
great thrill out of being my official "Crew Chief". As he gets older he'll
do more than just check tire pressures and hand me tools, but the exposure
to the sport, the machines and the people will be there. If he chooses to
race after he gets his drivers license I'll be both happy and nervous.
Maybe I've investigated too many nasty 25 MPH truck collisions for the
Marine Corps, but in my experience new drivers tend to freeze behind the
wheel when faced with anything even remotely challenging. (Gets real ugly
real fast when they're driving a 13 ton truck.) Both the cart racing and
Jr. Dragsters that I've seen are in a much more controlled environment than
what's being discussed here. Mistakes for them result in a dusty spin-out
or a bump off the guard rail. Higher speeds and heavier machines tend to be
far less forgiving.
I'm in the habit of imagining newspaper headlines to go with potential
disasters, and all the headlines I've come up with so far concerning kids
behind the wheel are not ones any of us would want to see on the front of
our Sunday paper.
Chuck "No smart-alecky stuff tonite" Rothfuss
ECTA #9
Pole Cat Hollow, NC
P.S. Anybody got a recommendation for some good Gas Coupe horns? (couldn't
resist!)
>At 09:10 AM 2/2/2000 -0800, Thomas E. Bryant wrote:
>Group, Maybe I'm missing something here! But in my opinion, our kids
>already are experiencing too much to soon. What do they have to look
>forward to a adults? I'm all for getting the youngsters interested in
>the sport, but why do they have to be in the driver's seat? I say bring
>them to the events, give them something to be responsible for, and set
>some goals for the future.
>
>I think that most of you would agree, especially if you now have someone
>in your family driving at present, that safety is the greatest concern
>when approaching these issues. Nothing that you can put on the track
>with adequate safety is going to be inexpensive.
>
>Tom, Redding CA #216 D/CC
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