Too *Young"? For a (Crate) dirt Late Model...?

[Jimmy McKinley]

Messin' around on YouTube, I came across tis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkE5iC8mwsM

11 year old Macy Causey practicing her Dirt Late model Sportsman car at Langley Speedway!! She didn't even stall the car out taking off!! We had to practice on the asphalt track because the dirt track had not opened yet.

An *11-year-old*...?? In a (crate) dirt Late Model Sportman?? How the h*** does she even see over the hood of the car...?

[egspeedway]

Can they drive, yes Evan Becton did quite well at N. Fla. He was very conservative and drove quite cleanly. My concern is not so much a number rather it is with how they have been brought up and how they view lifes situations and opportunities. I have high regard for Evans parents and he has always reflected his upbringing. His car weighed 2600 lbs with a 362 motor the same weapon in the hands of a driver the same age without the same values becomes a menace. There is no magic number but sooner or later the insurance companies will set a number and shame on the track owner who would accept a waiver from the parents. If the sport does not address this someone we don't want may, politicians.

[77NovaRacer]

Isnt Bubba's son Tyler running a dirt late model? I believe he is 9 or 10

[Boneman]

Yes. I think 11 is too young. Kids that age may have the skill and ability to control a car, but they don't have the judgement.

It would be interesting to hear the medical facts about the age where a human body can best withstand accidents. I imagine that before the age of 14 or 15, the bones are still stiffening up, but I don't know that for sure. My concern is that very young drivers can't withstand that the shocks that fully grown bodies can.

How to balance a young driver who wants to race, and who may even have the ability, with the fact that he/she holds the safety of others in their hands? We have to keep them invoved, but maybe not in the drivers seat, for a few more years.

[egspeedway]

Yes. I think 11 is too young. Kids that age may have the skill and ability to control a car, but they don't have the judgement.

It would be interesting to hear the medical facts about the age where a human body can best withstand accidents. I imagine that before the age of 14 or 15, the bones are still stiffening up, but I don't know that for sure. My concern is that very young drivers can't withstand that the shocks that fully grown bodies can.

How to balance a young driver who wants to race, and who may even have the ability, with the fact that he/she holds the safety of others in their hands? We have to keep them invoved, but maybe not in the drivers seat, for a few more years.

That's what go karts are/were for. Listen to todays best drivers in circle track road course dirt or pavement and the vast majority will recall their experience racing karts. Karts are excellent in that reaction times and steering responses are as fast as there is in racing.

[Osmosis Jones]

The many levels of idiocy...

This blows right by the argument of "Are they too young?"

Doesn't even slow down for "How can an insurance company allow a race track to take on this kind of risk?"

To me, this lands directly on "Child Abuse...Stop and call the cops."


This seriously borders on mental retardation on the parents part. When a parent(s) can't be trusted with the physical well-being of their child, then the state needs to step in and remove the child for his or her own protection. In my job, unfortunately, I've had to witness that happen and it doesn't have to be because of actual, physical child abuse. And by that I mean what we all think of when we hear that term: that the parent was beating the child.
This is a clear example of a couple with little to no thought for the well-being of their daughter. Someone should force them to sit in a room with the collision engineers from Ford or Chevrolet and make them watch graphic videos of all of the testing done with child sized crash-test dummies. Maybe this would give them some idea of what they are subjecting their 11 year old daughter's fragile, under-developed body to.

Scratch that. They're probably too full of their own egos and hunger for media attention to do that anyways.

I won't cry for the parents when (because it's not an "if") this little child crashes and is severely injured or possibly killed.

I will cry for the 11 year old child and the innocent life that was thoughtlessly thrown away by two people who didn't care enough to be actual parents.

[dd38]

I agree. That is waaay to young. I had to sit in the grandstands until I was 16, let alone race. That was 18. Look what happenned to Tyler Morr at Auburndale. A life cut way too short.

[Winger]

Well said OJ. I've quit preaching on the subject. It's time others took safety seriously. Rex, one of the major issues as far as injuries, is a kids head and brain. The child is much more susceptible to neck and head injuries, including basil skull fracture which I heard claimed the life of a child last year. A HANS device MAY help prevent this particular injury. However, a child's brain is small while the skull is larger proportionally. The brain is prone to "bounce" around in the skull causing serious injury or death when they are involved in an accident that will not harm an adult. It's not a matter of age, it's a matter of size. Parents always say they get all the safety equipment and the cars are built safe. I'd question that but lets say they do. There is no safety equipment that can protect the brain from bouncing around inside a skull when the body suddenly decelerates. I've given this lecture before and I just did it again. Nothing will change.

[BVS40FL]

Another angle

My concern would also be if I was racing against this kid . What do you think you would feel like if you were involed in an incident that caused permanent injury ? Not to a adult who had the same thought process as you when he decided to go drive a Late Model, but to an 11 year old girl who was pumped up by the little league dad saying " You can do it honey" . It's just not fair to put me in the situation of deciding if I want to race against a kid who I have to tippy toe around to make sure I don't crash her . Before you say it's not about you, I'm just covering another perspective . Everyone else already covered the danger to the child, and the insurance dilema.

[Benny The Mule]

I don't have much issue with this video as (dad) had her on a track by herself running at about 2/3 race speed.

This type of practice is fine to prep the youngster to go RACE with a field of cars when they are older........16-18.

Though i am not a advocate of rich dads who can't drive putting "little kids" if full blown racecars, i did post on here a few years back a 12 yr old boy who won a crate latemodel race against a stellar field with the track champion coming in 2nd i think.

He was quite skilled and got to meet the kid and his parents, his dad was a no bull kind of guy. If the kid drives like a squirrel he gets parked.

I too think it's too young to compete due to a kid's physical development.

[centralflarich]

It's called "Mommy & Daddy get's rich quick" at the expense of a young life. Stick them in a late model or sprint car and hope they do good so someone in a upper racing association will notice them and sit back and watch the $$$$ roll in.

[DAVE 97]

Macy Causey

THIS YOUNG LADY FINISHED 12th IN POINTS OUT OF 39 DRIVER
LAST YEAR

[BVS40FL]

Soooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!

THIS YOUNG LADY FINISHED 12th IN POINTS OUT OF 39 DRIVER
LAST YEAR

I still don't want to race with her. I don't want to be responsible for her being crippled.

[Dana Barlow]

I don't care how good the Dad and Mom are,there not for crap if they put a kid that young in a V8