Would you let your kid practice motor sports?

[JulianWilliams]

Suppose your kids comes up to you today and tells you he/she wants to start driving go-karts with an aim of maybe becoming a pro in some form of motor sports in the future. Would you be happy to let him/her have a go at it? Would you be worried about his/her safety? Would you try to steer your kid towards other activities instead?

[G. David Felt]

Awesome thread!

 

I would totally encourage my kid, this is no more dangerous than any other physical sport. I would be all supportive of them driving a go cart, riding a dirt bike, etc. In some ways I can see this building responsibility faster in a youth due to what can happen with a motorized product.

[kd3pc]

Forsure, if I had the finances to do so and he/she kept her grades and school up.  My son absolutely loved junior drag racing and won quite a bit before moving to SCCA racing.  Although he is working on his doctorate, he still takes a spin at the local SCCA parking lot tracks.

The other thing that we noticed in drag racing was how many families raced, together.  At our track there were at least 10 families in TOP out of 40-45 cars.  I watched the kids grow up and become really good racers as well as people.  Some went to tech school for mechanic work, a few to NASCAR teams.

The kids, if we parents let them and make our selves available to mentor/guide them learn a LOT about life, dealing with people, losing, not preparing the car properly, how some treat the "winner" (has to be doing something untoward, to be that good) and even the bad side of human nature, theft, lying cheating, etc.

 

My son, the wife and I really enjoyed his racing and supported him all along.  He is a much better person for having participated.

[js85]

I think the same thing comes into play with any question about "would you let your kid.." I think it's all very subjective on the child themselves. Can they handle the responsibility? Do they take it seriously? Do they know when to goof off and have fun, and when to not? As long as the basic safety precautions are in place and you can trust your kid - absolutely! I plan on teaching mine all the safety elements and opening up the world of motorsports to them. 

[vegito12]

I would let my children do it if they know about safety and are responsible and know how to follow the rules and have fun as well, and know how to drive the go karts in a way it will not harm others or cause any damage when driving. I would make sure, they are doing well in school and keeping up with passing the class or the course work than they can do this I would not want this to distract them from school. I would go to the events with family, to show that we support them and that will give for motivation to do it. 

[changecups]

As long as they are responsible I would really love my kid to do karting. It's just something I wish I was able to do when I was younger. Hopefully my child will enjoy it!

[karmaskeeper]

I think parents should encourage their children, and stand behind them. That being said my son's both begged me for a dirt bike. It never happened, but when my oldest got out on his on you guessed it. He bought a dirt bike. I suppose if a parent has the time, and money to help a child develop their talent in any sport it's okay. I wasn't having it for my kids my nerves couldn't take it.

[PeteHubinsky]

I have a 17-year-old son who just got his driving permit. I have to admit I'm a little bit nervous that he will be on the road, but overall I'm not immediately too worried. My son is responsible, for the most part. He's even going to be buying a truck this summer when he begins his first job. If my son wanted to get into motorsports, I would not try to prevent him from doing so. Sports are sports and sometimes injuries and fatalities will occur. They can happen when you walk out your door in the morning just as easily. It doesn't do any good in life to sit there and worry about what's going to happen, and I would never prevent anyone from living their dream.

[57caddy]

Suppose your kids comes up to you today and tells you he/she wants to start driving go-karts with an aim of maybe becoming a pro in some form of motor sports in the future. Would you be happy to let him/her have a go at it? Would you be worried about his/her safety? Would you try to steer your kid towards other activities instead?

 

 

I agree, sure why not.  When we were young, one of my uncles was into this sport, big time.  I see in another post, you talk price.  I am just going to respond to that question here, so I am not double posting content.  Got to tell you, he did it on a teacher's salary and it rocked the budget so much, my aunt had to wheel him in, so to speak.  He never gave it up, but closed the pocket book a little bit.

 

For example, he liked to buy new go-karts.  I know because he gave one of his old ones to me and my sisters.  My dad would not let us put a engine on it.  We use take turns pushing each other around in it around the block.  Did not last long, some SOB stole it out of our garage,  Pretty sure knew who it was, too, some rich punk, never figured out why he could just not have his parents hook him up.

 

But back to your question, I know if my brother had been born at this time and old enough to walk, he would of let him race.

[Robert Hall]

I just wish I had pursued it myself as a kid, as I lived right down the road from a regional karting track, used to go to races there all the time...

Edited April 12, 2015 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[57caddy]

I just wish I had pursued it myself as a kid, as I lived right down the road from a regional karting track, used to go to races there all the time...

 

Well, you could still pursue it, as an adult.  As the saying goes, never too old to try new things.  Just saying... Or maybe you do not live so close to a track anymore.

[Robert Hall]

I'm too old to pursue professional racing, but I have thought about eventually taking up amateur racing or the parking lot events...