How would you start a career in racing?
Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at
11:22 am
My boyfriend and I are very into cars and racing. We believe that our son will have the same interest. We want to be prepared to provide the opportunities prescription medications online for him to enter this business. How do we make this available to him? Would we start with a go cart or something? I find it very difficult to find people in this business in the first place.
Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated!
The easiest way to get your kid to race, hand him/her the keys to your successful racing operation. If that isn’t possible, you have a number of options before you start. There are a number of vehicles you can race, a number of places to do it, and so on:
ATV and Motorcycle Racing: Cheaper, harder on the body. Hold down the throttle nearly all the time, and the body takes the punishment. No roll cage, so the body is the bumper too. I respect these guys, but can’t afford the health care.
Car or Truck Racing: Vehicles are more expensive, more about the driver’s ability than their shape. Braking is more a part of the game, and the ability to cut a clean corner is the difference between 1st and last. For longer races you need pit crews, and this is where things get pricey fast. Hope you have a money tree.
Drag Racing: Vehicles are middle of the cost structure, you can take a junker and get it on a track for under 10 grand. Due to the track, your child is easiest to monitor, they only get 1/2 mile of freedom. Youngsters have great reaction times, and this can work with tools you can store in your garage. No semi required.
Remember that you can’t race until you are at least 12, 14-16 in many states. The younger most are the less they are really able to understand risk. Most of those I have seen who give the keys to their children and let them race really early, hurt themselves.
If you are going to have your kid ride ATV and Motorcycles, hold em back a bit. Let the kid screw around with a 1/2 – 1/4 power vehicles and hurt themselves 1/2 as bad on the farm, or in the back lot. Make them learn to push that bike "HARD". They end up having more respect for the speed, and end up being better racers later. Having better control due to the saddle time, etc. will pay huge dividends when they need to start fighting for position or hole-shot.
If you are wishing for your kid to drive a car, get him/her a go cart, and a few acres to play with it. (cheaper than a race cart, and a season of entries – let alone 3). Now give him a bunch of time in the seat. By the time he gets to the track, he has the skills to drive the car down. He/she then can concentrate on the new skills involved in racing.
Once you start racing, go to school:
Take him/her to Petty Driving School, BMW has a good one, there are a couple in Vegas, Audi and Mercedes have ones too I believe. Most require the kid to be 16 and have valid drivers privileges in YOUR state (YES INSURANCE TOO). This will teach them new tricks and give them seat time in front of professionals who can "HONE" their advanced skills / tendencies.
This gets expensive, but it is fun.
Win / Lose / Draw
This is an addictive family hobby.
Teaches kids sportsmanship, to fix their own vehicles, and the value of money.
They really want parts, but they want to ride rather than go to that tough summer job. Choices, choices.
Make him try out car racing computer games first. Preferably a Need For Speed or NASCAR series. Why? Crashing a game car is much cheaper than crashing a real one. Ask him to race through the tracks without banging into the railings, oncoming cars or other racers. If he masters that, then take him to gocarting clubs, where he can actually get into the spirit of things.
Depends on what he wants to do, be a mechanic, welder/ fabricator, engineer, or some other type of support staff. There’s a bunch of different jobs to do. I went and got an automotive degree from the local school while studying all the motorsports books I could get, spent every weekend (almost) at the race track, sent out a bunch of resumes, and eventually someone hired me. He needs to learn how to weld. That is always a great skill to have, and every race team needs at least one skilled welder. All the schooling in the world doesn’t measure up to hands on experience.
Locally, try the yellow pages. You should be able to find many motorsports businesses that might interest you. Go kart racing or quarter midget racing is a great way to start.
Well, you’re in the Formula One section, so do I infer he wants to go F-1 racing? Or any kind of racing?
If it’s F-1, considering he’s old enough to be married with a child, he’s probably already too old for that.
Anything else, is possible. But today, any start after the age of 14 or 15 is probably too late to make the Bigs. But with that out of the way, there’s a bunch of things he can do.
Start with a local karting club or commercial karting raceway. Take a few rides and see if he likes it. If so, then invest a couple hundred dollars in a good racing sim and a decent wheel and pedal system. If you have to pry him away from the sim to come to bed, chances are he’s got the right mindset.
Another possible direction is the SCCA. Check out their site here:
http://scca.com/home.aspx
They are an amateur/quasi-professional grass roots racing organization. They have several different types of racing including rally and ’solo.’ A relatively inexpensive way to get started. Explore this site in its entirety. If you get involved, you’ll meet a lot of other like-minded folks and – thinking about your son – it’s a very family oriented activity.
As Jay pointed out here, it’s not a bad idea for him to have some mechanical skills or aptitude. Gives him a good entré into racing as well and adds to his value in any racing venue.
From there, you will both be able to decide how far, and where to take this blooming interest. Good luck to you and your Hot Shoe hubby!!
first of all i tell u the first comment by someone called ‘cyber…) who was saying about computer games..and NFS… i tell u NFS is an bad crap…and would spoil what u already know about racing!!..NFS is useless..rather u could learn a thing or two ..from ‘F1 challenge99-02′ which isnt in production …but was released by EA..later or now sony has been producing F1 games…which close to NFS..which means useless…F1 challenge by far is the most realistic.
i would suggest take your son to nearby go karting track..and if he’s aged less than 8 he may practise the cadet karts there on the cadet track.. i would suggest if he shows intrest in racing you may get him into an racing school/racing program…happening usually at gokarting tracks…once u get your son into go-karting u dont need to worry..how to go ahead…u may get it naturally…rather he may get those knowledge himself..
let him do karting till the age of 14..then u may get sponsors automatically who will take him into formula ford..etc if he performs well in karting…
Most important thing…if u see him underperforming often/not much interested in racing and more interested in some other thing..better dont push him into racing…cause it wont take him anywhere..as the competition is cut throat at the top.
I dont know from where u are..if ur frm india/indian sub continent…i could have suggested more proper guidelines…