My how things have changed !
Big Bill France had a strict policy of "you must be 21 years old to drive NASCAR" in 1948. I had to wait a year just to drive around the track at Creedmore, NC.Here is a cut and paste from Jayski's.NASCAR lowers age limit for some series: NASCAR announced it was implementing a Learner's Permit License for its NASCAR Whelen All-American Series tracks beginning in 2010. The license will lower the age-limit for NASCAR-sanctioned tracks' entry-level division from 16-years-old to 14. The change provides an intermediate step for young drivers looking to make the move from non-NASCAR beginner-level racing series to running at their NASCAR home track. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR's national championship program for its more than 55 sanctioned short tracks across North America. More than 10,000 drivers compete in the series annually.(NASCAR)(9-3-2009)The kids today don't realize how lucky they are.
Great But you better have a lot of Money if you want to Play
When I was growing up the minimum age limit seemed to evade me as I slowly reached it,-like a motorcycle permit went from 12 to 14 then to 16 just ahead of me,same with the license that was required around home to crawl into a racing type of car,as it was called, If I remember correctly. Finally I caught up with both but had to wait until I was 21 to obtain a NASCAR license .So the short track stepping stones are being revised now I guess,maybe they think todays younger generation can drive better than us older kids could way back when. maybe that was the reason I had a couple of alias names back then to compensate for the lack of !! But of course we would bend to compensate the rules then---now the rules are bent to compensate the public ---now where did we go wrong?? Neither went wrong,back then we learned at our own pace and now there are schools to teach you how to drive,even on dirt .Back in the day that dirt road behind that pasture over there was indy and the bottom next to the creek was Daytona beach, and the drive way was the short track of choice for that day--those are the things that made fireball or tiny or bobby great,where they learned and how they learned, no roll bar,no special seat no helmet and no crewchief barking in our ears how much time we lost getting through that last turn,you see we learned quick "N O T" to mess up or your ride was gone because you and only you fixed it!! thats what I remember about the joy of learning to be able to drive a race car and live the dream--------------------------------memories
I wish for the life of me I could understand what the hurry is to get kids in these seats. What's the rush??? Didn't drivers like Jim and Johnny have to have a few championships under their belt to race in an elite series? Maybe these kids have lots of ability and have won several championships at a lower level, but jump in cars at a high level and compete with some of the very best? Next thing you will see are training wheels on the already funny looking Cup car.Wouldn't you love to see a child fix a car they wrecked? Call Daddy, I guess.Pete
One day some 14 year old is gonna get killed driving one of these things and that is gonna be one helluva lawsuit on NASCAR's hands. I mean if they want to get these kids in full size stock cars at such a young age create their own division, run the full size, full weight cars, slow them way down and put them on treaded tires. Then when they turn 16, all they have to do is make a few adjustments to the cars (carb, tranny, gear ratio, or whatever NASCAR implements to slow them down) and they can run with the big boys with full horsepower at full speed. I think this has something to do with Chase Elliott winning the PASS series race 1t 13 years old at Hickory a few weeks ago. But Chase has a lot of talent. Most 13 and 14 year olds dont have the talent he has. We run in the truck series that night and almost got wrecked by a 13 year old who was a lap down who just could not handle his truck. No disrespect to the kid because he apologized to us for it but he just didnt have the talent it takes to run those trucks at that age.