Found out my 17 year old is street racing!?

i heard an urban legend (possible truth) about a distributor that will cut the spark if it reaches over a certain rpm. and it had some kind of lock on it so the dad could drive it like he wanted and then make the son slow way down when it was his daily driver. it took some special key to adjust the rpm limiter. think about it i'm not saying don't trust him i'm saying peer pressure is a bitch. if he's cool enough to drive a car like that then maybe he's cool enough to understand.

or maybe throw a throttle plate on there and block some of the fuel

 

ask Stealthcruiser if he knows how long it takes for the ambulance to show up when you're at the track?

I think it is funny you say that you were merely frustrated waited on the ambulance with those kind of injuries!!! I would have been freaking OUT!!!

 

????? What are you trying to say, excuse or condone?

 

AMEN

 

Your whole mindset changes.
I learned a lot about myself as I sat there holding my left forearm in place with my right hand.
Maybe it was my time on Subs, I don't really know.
It's the calmest I've ever been in such a high pressure situation.

As for the cause of the wreck.......
It was about 3pm on two miles of flat, straight, dry road from the direction of the other driver. How do you lose control on that?

Now, throw in a little curve, maybe some water on the road, or a tire that's just past it's useable life.
When is the last time you looked at your brake lines?
Do you check your lugnuts everytime you get in your vehicle?
When is the last time you checked all the fasteners in your steering?

Stuff happens.

Next time you get that look from the idiot in the lane next to you (Or give that look to someone) ask yourself, is it worth your life?
Or....someone elses?

 

Guide him towards racing legally. The penalties if you get caught street racing are severe these days, especially if he's involved in an accident - or even present for one. Judges love to make an example of kids caught racing too. Here in southern Virginia there was a street racing bust a few months ago and several kids had cars impounded and auctioned by the state police- on top of being charged with numerous violations and losing their licenses. First time offenders too, they were made an example of. There were a number of spectators arrested and charged with things as minor as loitering up to aiding and abetting illegal racing.

 

I just got another idea...

Take away the stang... Sell it for TRADITIONAL HOT ROD parts and help him build an OLD ford....

Let him build whatever he wants... (Shoebox!!!)

BUT IT HAS TO RUN A FLATHEAD!!!

Hard (not impossible but...) to kill yourself with 160hp...

But if you get him into that you accomplish a few things, you get him into Traditional Hot Rods, you slow him down to the point that any kid with a mild 350 can whip him, and you teach him STYLE...

Tell him he'll get more pussy with style (TECHNIQUE!!!), than with speed anyday...

 

When my son got old enough to drive he tried to talk us into buying his uncle's Formula Firebird. I otld him there was no way in Hell he was gonna have a car with more power than me, so we got him a car that didn't have enough power to fall out of a tree on a windy day, an Escort. This taught him several good lessons. Including things like learn to time your entry into traffic. With a car like that, he couldn't dart into traffic. He had to think about it and pick the right space AND time. He turned out to be a great driver, he's 25 yrs old now.

Vance

 

http://www.silverdollarraceway.com/schedule/RaceSchedule2004.htm

They race almost year round.

 

I'm a Auto Damage Appraiser for an insurance company - I've seen many wrecked vehicles due to street racing, and yes I actually saw both of these cars: (note the car seat in the back of the Nissan)

(Yes the Jaws of life were used in both of these - making them appear worse than they really are - but still

I think this was a BMW - well @ least it has a BMW wheel on it. It was suspected to be street racing - this happened @ over 100mph on a 2 lane highway I believe

This was a Nissan (also suspected of street racing)

 

A good friend of mine lost her father due to street raceing, the bad thing is he wasent raceing, he was driveing home from work. one of the cars clipped his truck sending him into the jersey bearier and flipping over into oncomeing traffic. the street racer kid that clipped him is 17, he is now in prison for involentary manslaughter. The guy in the other car that was raceing but didnt hit anyone is in prison for involentary manslaughter also. he was 19. Please tell your kids not to street race, tke them to the track, please!!!

 

Street Racing is extremely dangerous but I think what scares us kids more is the legal outcome of getting caught.

One of the main reasons I don't street race is because I dont wanna fix anything if it breaks. haha. or buy a new engine or get my car impounded.

You can always pull the, "Im not mad, just disapointed" card. That seems to work. hehe.

 

We all did it...........Lost a couple of friends due to accidents. One was a group of 4, 2 guys, 2 girls endedb up crashing into the graveyard at the end of Rubber Road, in a 440 Coronet.................Kind of appropriate. 3 of them were killed.

Another friend is still alive, but will never be the same............crashed a 70 Chevelle 396 into a tree................He is in his 50s now, but with the mind of about an 8 year old...............Makes you think.

 

The bottom line is,whether the kid bought it or the ol' man bought it,being the parent means stepping up and taking care of businness.It not always possible to "be cool"in your kids eyes.

 

There was no drugs or alcohol involved, just 17 year olds wanting to race
http://www.mydeathspace.com/deaths.aspx

 

Pretty morbid website. But very eye-opening. BTW, the drivers were 20.

 

Its tough nowadays.Stricter laws.....every real boy real does this,just need to explain the consequences.Find a nearby track.I do admit though I needed to remind some of those little rice rockets time to time on the expressway...........AMERICAN CUBIC INCHES BABY!!!

 

That guy quotes exactly how I was brought up. Unlike most people my age, I used my brain. Notice how plenty of the stories listed here involve things like" in the rain" "over a hill" "around a curve", etc.
Im sure you guys would rather have your kid out and about drinking himself into and alchoholic, smoking pot, snorting coke, tripping on acid, picking up hookers, climbing power towers becasue he's drunk stoned or just dumb, shooting up the high school......

 

Cuz those are the only other choices...

 

In addition, it is true that "street racing" in my area had become more problematic when the whole ricer trend started. Come to cleveland in the summer and see what I mean. Thanks a lot Hollywood.

 

I find it somehow perverted that at the age of 17 he's driving a '69 Muzzy, with big numbers in the power stakes. Here in the crummy old UK 17 year old kids only get to drive pissy assed metric crap with tiny sewing machine engines, and they pay about six months wages to get that crap insured.

Somewhere along the way the UK motorist got bent over and fed a big fat one.

You might want to remind him that if someone dies in one of his street races he could go to jail for many many sore assed years of his young life.

 

NICK S: Your logic is totally up side down and make no sense.

 

How so 40? I had to edit my post to get it to quote the other guy, as the fist section wasn't my words.

EDIT: On second thought, don't bother trying to explain yourself as I dont feel like doing so myself either. This is the internet and everyone has their own opinons. If this was at Hershey, now thats a different story.

 

Thats no garrentee!

 

In my area we are very fortunate to have several tracks within a reasonable distance.Bremerton raceway,Pacific raceway{formerly S.I.R.}and several others. with a "track only "car he really wouldnt have an excuse to play in the street.

 

Tough call. I don't know what I'd do at the moment. Like many above said it IS different today. Drug dealers have the cash and the fast cars in Motown. Not all but enough, and if they lose they pull their piece and take your money anyway. It's a bad scene anymore and people get killed, arrested, jailed, cars taken away with NO CHANCE of ever getting it back, even if you're a bystander. I know of one person that went through hell while legitimately blocked by some action and got arrested as a bystander. He had NOTHING to do with it. Never has. Cost him a fortune...FOR NOTHING!!

He needs to respect what he has, respect himself and his friends the right way and as said many times above, overcome peer pressure. He needs to learn to LEAD BY EXAMPLE. Do you know anybody crippled for life from street racing?

Finally, you may have to take the car away, if even for a short time. Noone knows what they have until it's gone. I can't stress enough how bad things are now. I did it very little and was lucky. I watched a lot. I started many. Won lots of money by setting races up and my guy winning. Thing is we won more at the track on test n tune nights than we ever did on the street. There was a time you couldn't buy a street race because of test n tunes. It makes good sense to respect what you have and challenge yourself in an organized contest. It makes no sense to brag in jail about how fast you WERE, or to have your name forgotten shortly after a tragic accident.

Up here some dickhead ran his bike into a car at well over 100 mph eluding the law. Some of the guys he rode with were paying tribute to this guy with his name on tshirts and shit like he was some hero. He paid with his life for a fatal error in judgement. Nothing at all heroic. I feel for his family and that's about the end of it. Beyond that he's now a statistic. Don't let your son become one.