Questionhi, i recently asked you a question about getting into a racing career. and u asked me to write back in a week after think about how i would feel if i hit a kid. and iv thought about it a bit, specially in class. an i guess that wouldn't be suck a great feeling. iv actually been hit by 3 different cars, and after the 3rd one i got amnesia at the age of 13. so now i cant remember anything past when i was 12. which really sucks to not be able to recall your own past and i wouldn't wish that upon anyone else. or anything worse. in the past 5 days i have taking it easy an haven't gone more than 5 miles over the speed limit. which is a HUGE improvement for me. but i would still like to pursue a racing career.
AnswerFINALLY ! A young person that will listen to an old fart like me !
OK Lets start with the facts of life. Most of today's successful racing drivers started racing Go karts when they were 6 or 7 years old. They were almost born into it. Jeff Gordon is a prime example. One day he was racing quarter midgets with 50 horsepower (about age 12 ) , and the next day they put him in a sprint car with 700 HP ! Steep learning curve there ! He was a successful racing driver years before he qualified for a license to drive on the street.
So you need to find a Go kart track near you and start driving them. Even the local amusement arcade with Go Karts is good. Reaal racing is better.
The next thing you need to know is that a good education is vital to your survival. Ryan Newmnan is an Engineer as are many of the NASCAR guys. The days of a hot shoe farm boy making good are about over. It takes a good solid college background to get anywheere these days. Partly because racing is outrageously expensive, and the kinds of jobs you can get just out of high school will never pay enough to get you on track. You WILL have to pay your way into the sport.
You can get involved in racing right away, through the Sports Car Club of America (www.SCCA.org) where you can join at any age, attend events and start to train for jobs as course worker, flag marshal, fire crew , safety and technical insspections and stuff like that.They give you a great background, and you will ocasionally meet someone who might be able to help you along the way. Once you have been around it for a time you should be able to get an inexpensive race car, and start road racing with them. It's a lot of fun and there is no prize money involved, strictly amateur, but it's about as inexpensive as it gets, and a whale of a lot of fun. Thier rules are about as complete as anybodys, and their emphasis on safety is unequalled.
Thant's all I can think of for right now, Keep working on that maturity thing, that's all important. And write back when you have more questions.
Dan Liddy
Sarasota, Florida
