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NHRA NEWEST DUMB DECISION (3 Viewers)

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Registered member said:
I'm asking how many Former Jr. Racers stay in Drag racing into their 20's? 3-4 Pro racers who came out of the Jr. Drag racing program isn't my idea of success!
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Then why have little league, squirts hockey, kids football or U-5 soccer leagues? How many of those kids make the pro's? Getting to the big stage isn't the goal here.

Many continue their love of the sport and still play and watch into their adult lives. While with other sports, skill is the primary attribute needed. In racing you also need money in order to make it. Like others have pointed out, many keep up at their local tracks.
 
Registered member said:
I'm asking how many Former Jr. Racers stay in Drag racing into their 20's? 3-4 Pro racers who came out of the Jr. Drag racing program isn't my idea of success!
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Joe we have at least 20+ racers that regularly support our track in the bracket classes or super classes under 25 years old who made the move from the jr cars.........
BTW they are some of our best, they come out of the jr cars and start going rounds instantly. Several D5 et final champions in the past years have been former jr drivers.
 
What is the ratio of kids who race karts here in the US and Europe will make it to Indy Cars or F1?

Speed cost money and sponsorship everywhere is more diverse. Therefore, opportunity = $$$$$$$
 
Registered member said:
Then why have little league, squirts hockey, kids football or U-5 soccer leagues? How many of those kids make the pro's? Getting to the big stage isn't the goal here.

Many continue their love of the sport and still play and watch into their adult lives. While with other sports, skill is the primary attribute needed. In racing you also need money in order to make it. Like others have pointed out, many keep up at their local tracks.
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PJ, did you even read my post? I wasn't talking about Pro racers, Im talking about how many of todays SPORTSMAN racers who came out of the Jr. Dragster ranks.
 
Registered member said:
PJ, did you even read my post? I wasn't talking about Pro racers, Im talking about how many of todays SPORTSMAN racers who came out of the Jr. Dragster ranks.
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hey Buddy, did you even read your post? You talk about pro's saying "3-4 Pro racers who came out of the Jr. Drag racing program isn't my idea of success!" Kinda seems you were talking about Pro racing.

As Martin and others have pointed out, there are many racers at the local level that have stayed involved.
 
Registered member said:
Joe we have at least 20+ racers that regularly support our track in the bracket classes or super classes under 25 years old who made the move from the jr cars.........
BTW they are some of our best, they come out of the jr cars and start going rounds instantly. Several D5 et final champions in the past years have been former jr drivers.
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Thanks Phillip, someone who finally answered my question.
 
Half Scale Dragsters (a sponsor on Bode's flopper) and JR Race Cars are taking pre-orders on a new, smaller cockpit, wider stance car for the little kids. Good to see. Chassis are rumored to be in the $2000 range.
 
As a father of a 5 YO, you won't see me putting a child that age in a Jr. I agree there are varying degrees of maturity in kids, but there is a lot going on in a race car at any level. When I attend school programs, 1/2 the kids don't remember all of the words to twinkle twinkle and @ tee ball & soccer games playing in the dirt gets as much attention as the actual game. Now trying to get them to focus on staging, making a straight run, shutting off @ the right time and making it safely off the track is a little more than the 5 YO's I know can handle. As for comparing this to pee-wee football or hockey, just wait until a kid steps on the gas instead of the break and clips a few folks on the return road.
 
As been expressed before, Richard- it's not for everybody. If you feel your child isn't ready for something, I'm sure you wouldn't pursue it.

That being said, with as many kids out there today with the manual dexterity to ride a 50cc bike or drive an enduro kart, I'm sure there are quite a few that will be very good in driving a dragster, especially after an entire year of overseen training. I am always amazed to see, season after season, kids that I remember were in strollers while big brother/sister were racing now in junior cars of their own, strapped in and ready to go in the staging lanes. They all look so tiny- even my son looked swamped in his first car at 8, even though it was a perfect fit. We all, as adults, can't help but think of them as "little kids", but truth is, the kids I see involved in sports seem to mature a bit quicker, grow a bit faster.

EDIT: Eight year old in a Junior Dragster:


EDIT: Five year old in same Junior Dragster:


(The above photos are when we got Emmett's first car on his 8th birthday)

Safety will still be overseen by adults- parents, track officials and other adults in the junior community. It won't be the first time someone will have to be told "don't come back until that's fixed" (and, I might add, then offer to help fix the offense to make the car safe and tech-ready) or "spend a little more time training your driver"... Like I said before- nobody wants to see any of the kids ever get hurt. So everybody spends a lot of time looking out for one another.
 
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We got into this sport because my child could not pay attention in other sports. Baseball, soccer, etc. did not hold his attention. Had dyslexia and A.D.H.D. pretty bad, and hated taking the drugs. Put him in a race car, and the kid had no problem with his attention .... it totally captured his attention and instantly changed the direction our whole family was taking. Yeah, it takes a little training and trusting your kid, but gosh some of you people have no idea what your kids are capable of.

There was a divisional championship race, his second race as a JR, and back before the secondary kill switches. He couldn't get the car to shut down. Way back then they let the kids drive all the way back to the trailer, when I got there he was really shaken up. Crying because the car wouldn't shut down. But he sat there on the brakes and waited (I had gotten into a conversation at the starting line), somebody noticed what was wrong and walked over and shut off the car. He sat there, foot on the brake, crying, and waited for me to return. Yes, it was a moment I will never forget, and that whole process is so much more evolved now, but the kid knew what was expected of him and did his job. It's not always fun, but our job as parents is to help them grow up. If we consider the opportunities available to us, JR racing with your family is a really great thing and I think the NHRA is going the right way with this.
 
Thanks for the story Jeff. You must be one great father to your son and that's something to be proud of.
 
From what I've read here Martin has a excellent program for his kids. Besides just because they don't make it to a pro rank doesn't mean they can't continue to race and have fun. A lot of drivers have a great program bracket racing.
 
Here in Southern California I think the Jr. Dragster scene is very successful thanks in part for the efforts of Butch Hedrick of the American Nostalgia Racing Association. When Fontana was shut down there was much less opportunities for the kids to race. Butch allowed Jr. Dragsters to run at his events, which upset some people but overall has helped his program grow and made a lot of parents happy.
Heck, you may even see one of your nitro hero there racing with their kids from time to time just being dad.
I personally think it’s great to see families interact with each others. It also allows kids to learn how to interact with other adults they otherwise wouldn’t know. That’s how I was raised.

http://www.anra.com/index.html
 
Del is out there with the girls a bunch, and Antron now has both kids in juniors. Papa Force should have a car running by fall, I think and if you peek in a lot of the Sportsman pits and trailers on a non-Divisional or National week, you'll see kiddo rail right there too.

At the National events, a lot of the kids go through their burnout/staging procedures with a "guest" crew member- usually one of the available Pro drivers. That seems like it would be a blast for the kids, but I don't think Avery would give up his job of rolling his brother in to the beams to anyone! :)

 
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Last Saturday morning I was teching a car ( Brainerd International Raceway) and turned to see a truck pulling a trailer to tech, on the truck was Bob Bode motorsports, I thought who bought Bob's truck until I saw him and his son Bobby get out. I said to him that several of our racers traveled to Rt. 66 for the divisional race this weeked and you traveled here for a jr race? (8-9 hours) He said his son wanted to race at the track he runs on (and got his Wally) so they loaded up and made the trek. (It was our Jr Wally race). To bad he broke the motor in second round, and wasn't able to continue. He said they would likely be back and hopefully bring more with. Great to see them involved with the program.
 
Registered member said:
Last Saturday morning I was teching a car ( Brainerd International Raceway) and turned to see a truck pulling a trailer to tech, on the truck was Bob Bode motorsports, I thought who bought Bob's truck until I saw him and his son Bobby get out. I said to him that several of our racers traveled to Rt. 66 for the divisional race this weeked and you traveled here for a jr race? (8-9 hours) He said his son wanted to race at the track he runs on (and got his Wally) so they loaded up and made the trek. (It was our Jr Wally race). To bad he broke the motor in second round, and wasn't able to continue. He said they would likely be back and hopefully bring more with. Great to see them involved with the program.
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Were they in the semi or his dually pick up and trailer?
 
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