This a first post from a cadet dad, hondas and down south and six months out from msa racing with a little non msa under our belts, and the more I read about these incidents the more despondent and disillusioned I feel about continuing down this path into the sport. Yes my son has had his knocks, yes he has had a trip to the ambulance and yes I have congratulated other dad's on theirs son's driving in passing mine.
From the limited view my 2c is that it was a bold move that didn't go to plan, a racing incident. That multiple bold moves are made and don't stick is not really an indication of ill intent by the driver and so I will leave it there.
However the commentary about side remarks, fingers, doing it again etc. is pretty disturbing.
Yes I know that to whatever extent we are all emotionally, financially and timewise invested in the sport and our children but this can't be what's it boils down to, can it?
I know it now sounds idealistic but time and time again I read posts like these and watch (live) cadets blatantly cause intentional contact to create an advantage and it goes unchecked - and as they say in the law - whatever isn't prohibited must surely be allowed - and so much has this become the norm that more and more people tell me that in order to progress you have to get people out of your way.
My son has asked other drivers why they pushed him off and the response has been in the long form "I needed to get past" or in short form "So what", so do I tell him "Son, you know all the stuff I used to tell you about, you know not making contact, well forget it, just do what you have to do to make progress and if they don't like it then tough", because that's the message I'm getting.
Are those words ever going to come out of my mouth to him, no.
It feels such a shame that there is always this backdrop to cadet racing which I feel isn't going to go away by itself. Which ever way I think about it the situation really doesn't seem sustainable either everyone needs to get along and enjoy it for what it is (seriously how many of our children going to be F1 drivers) or drastic steps need to be made in grids being smaller so marshals can monitor the race more closely, rules harshly applied on and off the track and examples made of the genuine offenders.
I know that my experience compared to everyone else on here amounts to next to nothing, and yes its a ramble and maybe an overly idealistic one and yes I fully expect it to be ripped apart and shot down in flames but its all IMHO and just my 2c
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