I read today of the tragic death of a 15 year old girl who slammed into a concrete barrier while qualifying her street stock or similiar class of car last Sat. night. It was her first time at the track. I can't help wondering how much experience she had before hitting a track of that size. I know accidents can happen on any size track but that is a monster place for newcomers. Of course, it was said she died "doing what she loved to do" and that she was "hard headed" but am I wrong to think that bad judgement came into play here somewhere? How young is too young to be on a big track when limited experience was probably the case? It's like when I read of skiers getting caught up in an avalanche in an area known to be dangerous but they ski anyway, I guess, figuring it will never happen to them. My heart goes out to her family but I just can't figure out why she was on a track that big.
A girl passes away and now track size is to blame? Young kids used to run winged mini's down here at Cowtown Speedway in the DFW area and the lap times were quicker than the Poweri midgets. Small 1/4 mile track so I don't know if track size is to blame.
And most on this forum have praised the virtues of young drivers like Kyle Larson, who were behind the wheel of something that could kill them way before they were 15.
Guess my point is should you wear a cup while riding the fence? Can't praise one situation and critique the next.
When I first started going to the race track with my father in the late 1980's you had to be 16 to get in the pits. There were no parental waivers and that was it. I don't know if its because tracks rely on the back gate for making money or what but if you can't legally drive a car on the roads around town, why should you be able to race a powerful car aggressively against others on a race track?
Mr. Porter, all I'm asking is should a fifteen year old with limited experience be on a big three-eights mile track? Yes, I'd rather see her on a fifth-mile track and work her way up to bigger tracks with greater speed once she had plenty of experience under her belt. If she had the experience then so be it but the article said she was a rookie.
Originally Posted by Midget98:
When I first started going to the race track with my father in the late 1980's you had to be 16 to get in the pits. There were no parental waivers and that was it. I don't know if its because tracks rely on the back gate for making money or what but if you can't legally drive a car on the roads around town, why should you be able to race a powerful car aggressively against others on a race track?
Driving on the road has absolutely ZERO impact on how you drive the track so that argument is totally invalid.
I don't think track size or age is the issue here. I think safety equipment and knowledge of installation and proper use of the safety equipment is the issue in this case.
Originally Posted by Flatrightrear:
I read today of the tragic death of a 15 year old girl who slammed into a concrete barrier while qualifying her street stock or similiar class of car last Sat. night. It was her first time at the track. I can't help wondering how much experience she had before hitting a track of that size. I know accidents can happen on any size track but that is a monster place for newcomers. Of course, it was said she died "doing what she loved to do" and that she was "hard headed" but am I wrong to think that bad judgement came into play here somewhere? How young is too young to be on a big track when limited experience was probably the case? It's like when I read of skiers getting caught up in an avalanche in an area known to be dangerous but they ski anyway, I guess, figuring it will never happen to them. My heart goes out to her family but I just can't figure out why she was on a track that big.
Car was a 4 cylinder pure stock. There's a picture of it on face book. The girl had a Hans device but not a race seat to go with it. The front of the car was crinkled bad. Here is a picture of the girl and her car in her 1st race at age 15. Sad to see it happen to the young lady and prayers to her family; but we all know the is a big risk to go with that.
2024 Season: Race 1 - April 20th Brownstown (Crate LM). Unlike many I don't discriminate on what racing I choose to watch.
Sweet looking girl. If that, indeed, was her first race then some elder of hers should have their rear-end kicked for letting her out on a three-eights. She lost control during qualifying so she never even got to race. Just a sad story all the way around.
Originally Posted by nathans1012: Car was a 4 cylinder pure stock. There's a picture of it on face book. The girl had a Hans device but not a race seat to go with it. The front of the car was crinkled bad. Here is a picture of the girl and her car in her 1st race at age 15. Sad to see it happen to the young lady and prayers to her family; but we all know the is a big risk to go with that.
Actually she DID have a race seat. If you look at the larger images (http://www.mynews13.com/content/news...rack_cras.html) and she did NOT have a HANS. The same thing that killed her was the exact same thing that killed Earnhardt.
