There are 18 year olds racing Indy cars. I don't see how you can say absolutely no 16 year old can handle a Corvette. If a kid grew up racing cars on the track, I bet he can out drive most of us. Plus if you actually read what happened, it sounded like it was a mechanical failure.

 

Agreed on all points. Thread title changed.

Hope the kid heals quickly and the insurance company gets a bad case of karma...

 

I too don't see anything wrong with this. Ya, the insurance company won't cover the bills, it was on the track. I don't know of any basic insurance that covers track days. This was accident did not have to do with age. Multiple people crash on track days, just because one is 16 doesn't mean anything. Such an example could be used on daily driving, if you are doing the right thing, no matter 16 or 45, the chance to get hit is THE EXACT SAME. I hope the kid gets better.

 

Poor judgment from the dad and his son is paying for the dad's stupidity.

 

What an idiotic comment. The parents obviously supported their son and allowed him to follow his passions. As others have mentioned, the kid drove for two years on the street without an incident, only to suffer a tragic accident on the track. I fail to see how that reflects poorly on the parents.




Terry

 

+1 on the stupid comment.

hope all is well with him and he pulls through.

 

It is totally the dad's fault to enable the kid to expose himself to such an high level of risk and also for the others when he was driving on the streets with such as car; powerful (and even worse 400HP+) street cars are *not designed for 16 yo kids*. I am sure that the dad has [rightfully] some remorse now. Ask him now if it was a wise idea.

 

400+ street cars are also not designed for many adults as well. I suppose any parent that exposes his/her child to anything involving any sort of risk is being a poor parent. No more activities such as sports, horseback riding, ATV or motorcycle riding, or anything else allowing any sort of risk to the child.

Yes, I'm sure that any parent would have some remorse that you so elegantly pointed out. They are, after all, a parent. To blindly point fingers at them, however, is nothing more than uncaring and ignorant.



Terry

 

Parents didn't do their job and apparently, they are not alone having poor judgment. There will be more kids harmed indirectly by their wannabe-cool "parents". Sorry but that's not parenting.

This reminds me the accident 2 years ago in which a 18yo kid killed four friends + himself on a private airport runway (close to John Travolta) because their retarded parent thought that it would be a cool idea to buy him a 500HP BMW M5.

On June 26th 2001 ten miles from here on highway 15, a youngster crashed his new Porsche 911 (bought by his millionaire wannabe-cool dad) killing all 3 kids aboard when he just lost control at probably close to 250km/h (according to coroner's report).

There is a reason why insurances rates are not the same at 18 and 25+. *Parents should know better*.

 

+1 on the parents not being to blame, in this particular case. And besides, this happened on a drag strip and not the street. Plus, from what I've read so far the cause of the crash is still yet to be determined. If this accident did happen on public roads, then that would be a different story.

 

Parents are in no way to blame. I hope that when I have a kid that he gets involved in racing(legally). I'll have him karting at a young age for sure, just hope he likes it so he will continue it. SOmething I wish my parents got me involved in.

Sebastian vettel, lewis hamilton, and a lot of other f1 drivers started out at 18 driving a 800 hp car that weighs like 1300 lbs! Not to mention to get into a F1 car they must have been racing a lot when they were younger, and I'm sure they werent racing underpowered cars. Its a risk the parents were willing to take. And driving two years with a 400 hp beast without any accidents seems pretty good to me.

As someone earlier mentioned-
The other article said he was on a dragstrip, and he never braked after passing the finish line. So something else might have happened there.

 

This is a Extremely Ignorant statement. The parents are in no way to blame. And trying to compare a poor lack of judgment with the teenager with the M5 accident and this is even more ignorant.

 

Terrible

 

I'm sure the parents knew the risks involved. Sucks that that kid's ticket was punched but if you play with fire....

 

So are parents idiotic if they let their kids play sports in high school and the kids get injured? Football, wrestling, lacrosse, hockey etc all have their serious risks to major injury as well.

So, a kid breaks his back playing football....we should run out and blame the parents for not making the kid walk around in a bubble wrap suit all his life?

You don't know this kid or his background. He could very well have been similar to the girl I mentioned in my post. Someone who has been around performance since a youth and had training. One freak accident on a race track (not the streets) and its off with the guy's parents' head?

You clearly remain to one AZ's more blatant idiots.

 

damn, i feel sorry for the family. i'm glad that they at least had him on a track but that seriously sucks

 

This is the same thinking behind it. Both were on a private track, but at least the kid didn't hurt anybody else. Kids will be kids and I have sympathy for the injured.

Dad is the big fat moron.

There is no link between this situation and the long and progressive learning of TALENTED athletes; they just don't get thrown artificially at that level by money and poor judgment but over years, they get gradually more powerful toys UNDER MONITORING. Totally different, whatever some retards here may think.

 

That's really sad. I don't think anyone should be pointing fingers. I hope he gets better.

 

 

I can kind of see Saintor's point. Putting that kid in a Corvette on a track would be similar to sticking a HS running back into a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ouch.

Anyway, I don't think anybody can really blame the parents without knowing more about the situation. Sarlacc said that the kid could have been some kind of saintly, responsible, prodigy race-driver. If so, I could understand why the parents gave him the car and took him to the track. If, on the other hand, he was like most of the douchebag 18 y/o's I grew up with, no sane person would have let him anywhere near a Corvette and a track (or even a Geo and a parking lot).....

 

Dont be stupid and put words in my mouth. I never said anything close to that statement.

But we dont know how much time or training he may or may not have had. We do know he had the car for 2 years with no prior incident.

 

Terrible that such an accident occurred, the young man's life in now severely hampered. Now to those pointing fingers, a (young) man has been injured driving a car on the track; everything was done legally. The guy was driving in a straight line, doesn't take super duper skills to do so; and whether he owned the car for two years prior or not is irrelevant. An accident can happen to anyone.

We know this how? I don't recall reading anything about his 2 years of ownership history in either of the two links. For all we know he could have gotten dozens of traffic tickets but had a good lawyer.

 

The dad is not a moron. WHO ARE YOU to judge what vehicle a kid should or shouldnt have? WHO ARE YOU to judge the talent level of the person driving the car? Now where does it say in the statement about the crash that the kid lost control or showed us any thing that would make us think that his accident was a cause of his inexperience, but yet YOU are making the assumption that he lost control because of it. What if it was a mechanical failure, or something happened to him while driving? What would the all knowing more " experienced and better qualified because he is older Mr Saintor" do in a situation where he had a mechanical failure or passed out during the run do????

 

Ok you convinced me; let's give a 16 yo kid a VEYRON and let him run it on a racetrack uninsured. Your "argument" makes zero sense, just noise.

 

this was a few months ago.... i remember seeing it in local the news. it was a drag strip....... the guy who he raced said that the vette passed him after the finish line and he never saw brake lights. he hit the sandbox and slammed into the wall.

 

Damn

 

That kid stole his parents M5. They didn't buy it for him. Check the fourth paragraph.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4198416&page=1

Im not disagreeing that alot of parents aren't being parents, but IMHO that doesnt apply here.

If youre on a dragstip, theres still track past the finish line, then theres a runoff, then some other sort of device to slow/catch the vehicle.

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Is this accident ( http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=372446 ) due to bad parenting? Must be, by your logic.

Point is, it could have happened to anyone. The only reason you are blaming the parents is because of his age. Age =/= maturity. If you think it does, I feel bad for your children.

Quick!! Everyone lock your kids in their room until they are 30! Nothing will happen to them after that!!

Shit happens. Sometimes there is fault, sometimes there isnt. Hindsight is 20-20.

I hope the kid recovers fully and quickly.

 

that picture of PBIR does not do justice.... the runoff at the end of the track is short and then there's a sharp right turn.

most likely he didnt know where the finish line was on the drag strip. his trap speed was 108.86 miles per hour and he never hit the brake according to the other driver, so he hit the gravel pit well over 110mph......

 

It doesn't say this. The way it is written, it could also be that the kid brought the M5 to a improvised racetrack without the father knowing. This kid was on m5board.com was using the car frequently and the fact that the car was under his father's name is a technicality. Nowhere in the Florida police report does it say that the car was generally driven without authorization.

His parents are so brilliant that now they are suing the private runway owners.... retards.

 

The only one making noise with their arguments is you. And now you try throwing uninsured into it?? Go back and read it.
Meaning he HAS insurance, they have paid for it, but the insurance company is trying to not cover the rehab saying it wont help.

And NO where did i say it was smart to give a 16 yearold a 1000 hp supercar, I just asked WHO YOU WERE to judge who should and shouldnt have one??? For all we know this kid could have started driving 400+ hp racecars when he was 14 and have MORE talent than all of us!

 

^^Or he might have been a typical 18 y/o dipshit who thought because he had a Corvette he was a driving God.

I think all Saintor is saying is that it is rare indeed to find any teenager who truly posseses the maturity and responsibility to be given a 430 hp sports car. I can remember alot of idiot kids I grew up with who would have almost certainly killed themselves had they been given the same opportunity....

 

Bottom line: We don't know who this person is, how responsible or mature he is, so stop speculating.

All we know is that his parents bought him a Corvette for his 16th birthday, and two years of suposedly accident-free driving later, he is involved in a tragic crash on the track.

IMO, no parent should buy their son a Corvette at 16, period. The risks of driving that on the street are high, no matter how much racing experience the person has. Just because someone has raced race cars all their life, it doesn't mean anything about their street driving abilities. Driving on the street, in my opinion it's best to start off in a slow economy car, and work your way up. Not to mention that's $50,000 of machinery he didn't earn. But again, we don't know the circumstances, and that's neither here nor there.

That being said, this guy deserves the benefit of the doubt. 2 years of owning a Corvette in high school? How many times do you think this guy was challenged to a race, or asked to gun it on an on-ramp, or had the temptation on his own? More times than you or I can count, guaranteed. I applaud him for sticking within his limits and the limits of the road and lasting this long.

The fact that his happened on a track proves that he was indeed responsible, if even a little bit. He knows the place for hooning belongs on the drag strip, not on the street, and I applaud him for having fun with a car that was meant to do this, on a track that was meant to do this.

That said, shit happens. Even on the racetrack, there's a risk, and obviously, this kid got the short end of the stick. I'm just happy that it didn't happen on the street, where many more innocent people could have been injured or worse.

I hope the family does their best to get their story out and get funds set up, because I wouldn't hesitate to donate some money to this cause.

 

NO. its not his parents fault. My father had a 98 Corvette when i turned 16. When i turned 17 and decided to join the USMC and pay my way through college, my dad gave me 20k for a car. I bought at the time a 1997 Trans am WS-6, which back in those days a 305hp car was alot ( still is). We worked on it together, modded it, etc. He used to autocross his corvette while i did my trans am, though he never drag raced it, i used to take my Trans am up to the strip all the time, a buddy of my had a 98 SS.

So by some of your guys logic, my father is an idiot? No i don't think so i never killed anyone or my self driving that car, never even a fender bender. A few speeding tickets, yes. Calling his parents a idoit is a blanket statment. Not everyone one is the same.

 

Also, is it me or is Saintor the "wackura" of Car Talk

 

Saintor... your comments are retarded...

bringing up stories of kids killing each other in high powered vehicles is just redundant in a world where everyone wrecks every kind of car....

im willing to bet that there are more tragic accidents each year involving jackass kids driving 4cylinder cars than there are well-off kids with BMW's.

 

Unfortunately Saintor's delivery might not be the best BUT...

the parents most certainly assume a large portion of the blame.
How could anyone possibly say they don't?

So BFD they took him to a track. There is still an inherent risk in what they were allowing him to do.

And yes, there are plenty of other activities that also have their share of risk. This one, unfortunately had dire consequences.

That's like giving a loaded gun to a criminal and after killing someone saying, "well I didn't actually think he would kill someone" Sorry but I highly doubt this 16 yr old had sufficient track time to not only drive under normal conditions but more importantly to know when and how to react to adverse conditions.

It appears we won't know what truly happened to him on that track.

 

In HS there was a family of kids (2 boys, 1 girl) who all had high performance cars. They all bought it with their own money, and they never had an issue. No accidents, no tickets, nothing.

Their family was a family of racers and all 3 had been trained and racing since they were little kids... starting on go-karts. Any one of them could have driven circles around 99% of the rest of the students. Last I heard they were still active racers through college. So while my first car was a 4-banger Mustang, they were driving around in modified 5.0's. Does that mean their parents were less responsible then mine? I'd argue no... b/c my car fit my abilities, and their cars fit their abilities.

In this case we have to assume that the parents knew (at least a little bit) what they were doing when they allowed this to happen. However, without knowing the extend of the kid's ability it is really hard to say one way or the other who's "right" or "wrong". What can be said is that, with the facts presented, I find it hard to make such matter or fact statements like Saintor has. For that reason alone I see why people are debating him like they are...

 

This is the most well said comment of the thread.

 

No, the point saintor is getting at WITHOUT knowing HOW OR WHY the accident occurred, is that because he was 16 that is the reason for the crash, and the parents should be held liable even though NO WHERE does it say it was caused by his lack of Experience, Maturity and Responsibility with this accident

 

Yea, but thats going by the assumption that the car was the reason for the accident. Like said above, i bet that there are more tragic accidents each year involving jackass kids driving 4cylinder cars than there are well-off kids with BMW's.
Would it have made a difference if they had gotten him a WRX, or a Civic? Same situation could have occurred with one of those cars. What if it was a civic or WRX and the kid went out and bought a turbo for it, should the parents still be at fault?