Getting kids into racing

[svtrichie]

So my oldest is almost 4yrs old and was looking at getting him into some kind of motorsports since he is a nut with cars. Quarter midget racing starts a 5yrs of and I think junior dragsters is around 8. Has anyone on here done either of these with their kids.

[jwibbity]

I have 2 kids (3&5) but neither are really into cars at all. that being said I dont know about your area but they have junior league go-karts arpund here and those things get up to about 45 mph for the kids, the minimum age i believe was 6 for the junior class, and the facility here allows you to bring your go kart there and work on it on site and test out any tweeks.

[Wags]

My friend had his kids start out with Jr. dragsters when they were around 6-7 yrs old. If I remember correctly, they had 5hp engines. The lower age ones were governed to 25mph I think. As they got older they moved into ones that would go ~50mph or so. As soon as they reached 16, they got their NHRA license (required if running in the 9's) and were running in the modified class 9.45@145mph. One is in college now, but the other one who is 17 now, still runs that car. He sold the last jr. dragster that he had last year. They are not cheap to buy, but it really is a fun safe way to get kids started in drag racing. I think that the engines on the jr. dragster's were just plain old Briggs & Stratton ones. No gears to shift, just a clutch set up. The moddified car they run now is a 427 Chevy with a 2 sp Powerglide. My daughter came out with me a few times and ran her cars also some years back (she had 1999 Eclipse Turbo at the time and after that a 350Z).

Wags