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August 26, 1999
Kids in the Pits
Clyde Hart loved racing and he believed that racing was done as a
family. When most tracks would not allow children in the pits, Clyde
did because he knew that kids were part of a family and good parents
would make sure that they were safe and well mannered. And,
the kids have been good and very little trouble has happened.
After last weekend, and the little boy hit in the pits at Orlando Speed-
World, everyone is bickering over kids in the pits vs kids and family in
the grandstands. Some of you will remember that Clyde Hart was hit
in the pits and he was not a child. Accidents do happen not only to
kids but to adults. Finding fault with a parent or a driver will never work
since neither one was at fault, it was an accident. Not planned or done
on purpose and that you can bank on.
When my family races, we want to be together. Since we have a small
child, if you made kids stay on the grandstand side, part of the crew for
our car would be absent. This would put a hardship on the driver, be it
my husband or daughter and that is not fair. Racing parents handle their
kids and they do teach their kids about being in the pits. Very seldom if
ever have I seen a kid out wondering around without an adult with him.
To stop having kids in the pits would hurt more than help some tracks.
Some drivers will come with their sons, under 16, who help them entirely
with the car. These kids are doing nothing but working. Small kids will
get bored so maybe a playground that is fenced in with an attendant who
is paid tips from the parents would help. Someone could make money that
needed money and kids could play together in a protected area and watched
over.
But no matter what, families do race and we need family racing. This is one
sport that does keep a family together and more than likely, our future racers
are in the pits now with their family. Instead of finding fault with the
parent or the driver, maybe we should find a solution that would make everyone happy including the kids. Life is never that hard that we cannot put our heads
together and work out a solution that will please most of us since you can't please everyone all the time. Send in your ideas and help keep this a family
sport.
Jane Smith |
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September 10, 1999 -Jane Smith
What Has Happened to Racing? Racing in itself is a great sport. It is very competitive and requires
alot from a driver. But something is happening, even in Winston
Cup, and racing needs to revamp itself. Message boards all over
the internet are full of cheating, name calling, foul language and
indecision.
All racing has rules. If you are a local racer on dirt or asphalt, you
have rules. If you are in Winston Cup, Craftsman Truck, Busch - you
have rules. And in a way, everyone tries to find some way of bending
those rules just alittle to get a little more horsepower and speed. Of
course, it is not cheating since the rule book has nothing on it yet but
it gives you an edge. And then the circle starts and someone does this
and someone does that to compete with the winning car.
Recently, Terry LaBonte admitted that Winston Cup needs someone to
define rules. Was Terry knocked out of the win at Bristol on purpose or
not? Why did one driver lose a victory because of a similar accident and
another did not? What did this teach our kids in racing and in life? Is
the win everything and how you play the game nothing?
Message boards which were intended to connect fans and drivers to all
race tracks and share their feelings for racing have become nothing but
a place to call names, cuss a lot, and complain. Yes, all tracks have
cheaters, some tracks are not safety equipped to take care of their drivers, some
do have owners who care only about the dollar value of racing and not the
drivers who help them make those dollars. What they lack is what they
were intended for - relaying racing messages and congratulations where
they are due.
Winston Cup will have to find their own answers as to why the rules differ but
most agree, that win was questionable. Our tracks have problems but if you
love that track and you go to that track, you will keep trying to change what
is wrong and make it right. And cheaters do get caught, sooner or later, and
they have to be responsible for their actions. And if you really think about
it, fans do have a way of realizing who is cheating and who is not.
Big time racing like Winston Cup is a job, your life's work. You race for
money more than you race for the joy of racing. You give a lot of your
life to racing and you lose a lot of things that weekend racers do have.
I doubt many Winston Cup drivers ever mow a yard or go fishing or really
get to spend a night watching TV with their family. Birth and death may
be the only things that prevent a Winston Cup driver from being in a race
besides his own injury.
What has happened to racing especially the local level is the fun is missing.
Fun is why most drivers got into that car, not winning, not money but the
rush you got from controlling the car when it is almost on the edge of being
uncontrolable. Cheating may get you a win but as we all know, cheaters
never really win. It is that driver who built that car according to the rules
and raced his fellow drivers clean and fair.
What racing needs is fans, fans who do not call names or cuss but
take action where it is needed and try their best to help improve their
tracks. Is it worth it, the answer is yes, racing is worth it.
-Jane E-mail Jane Smith: Jane1377@aol.com
Post comments on the Message Center: **************************************************** September 4, 1999 -Jane Smith BUT HE DIDN'T MEAN IT How many times have you heard the excuse, "but he didn't mean it".
Your young child has just started school and is out on the playground
with all the rest of the kids and one kid decides to throw rocks and
hits your child in the head. Now you know he meant to throw the rock
because he picked it up and he threw the rock knowing full well that it
could hit some kid and hurt him. But he still does it. Now, did he
mean it?
Taking out a fellow racer belongs in that very same category. The odds
are in his favor that he will take you out if he gives you a little nudge on
thatlast lap. You are going so fast that the tap puts the car "out of control"
spinning wildly. Did he mean it, YES. Is it the way to win a race, NO.
The older you get, the wiser you become (or I hope so). But kids are
still learning and soaking in their moral character for life. If they are
race fans or part of a family that does race, is this what you want them
to learn? Winning is an honor for most racers, it means a job well
done, time was spent wisely on preparing the car for the race. And for
part of the racing family in this country, it means that you don't take out
a driver leading the race on the last lap just because you can't pass him.
How many times have you heard a racer say that he could have taken out
the lead car but he did not because that is NOT the way to win. But for
some reason this does not impress those young souls as much as taking
out a driver on the last lap. You might as well tell them to go ahead and
cheat on tests and look at someone else's paper. It is the win that counts
or the grade and do whatever it takes to win or pass a test.
Everyone says that we are all responsible for the future morals of our
country's
children. But children sometimes learn from their eyes and not their heart
or head. Those five little words BUT HE DIDN'T MEAN IT gives them the
excuse they need for acting badly. Because when the truth is known, the
person doing the rock throwing or wrecking the lead car, MEANT IT or he
would have not done it in the first place.
Winning in any sport is an honor usually one that has been worked hard
for. Friends are a gift to us, one worth treasuring. Friends do race friends
every week, they bump and touch. That is racing. And sometimes they
may get a little rough and you will hear BUT HE DIDN'T MEAN IT and yet
a driver or kid knows they could hurt someone by doing the things they
do.
BUT HE DIDN'T MEAN IT is no excuse in racing, in child's play, or in
life. We are responsible for our actions always and in most instances,
we know what could be the conclusion. Don't use excusea for your
actions, say that you meant to take our a driver because you wanted
the win that badly and that was the only way. And maybe the kids in
all our lives will learn and see that it does not pay to cheat or win by
taking out a friend.
-Jane |
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