Open letter to my Racing Child

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This one has been posted a few times on social media over the last year but it bears repeating. It touches on the beef I have with people say karting is “just for a plastic trophy” . If this is what karting means to you, you’re missing the point…

To My Child…
Why I don’t pay for kart racing:
-Author unknown

Over the years and just last Tuesday night, I have had people ask me, "Why do you pay so much for kart racing?

I wanted you to know what I really “pay” for and what I hope you gain from these experiences…

I pay to assure that you are pushed beyond your perceived limits.
I pay to challenge you at every kart preparation in the garage as well as at the race track.
I pay to push and challenge you to the point where you might want to quit because it can be so tough but you don’t.

I pay to build up your confidence at the same time so you don’t.
I pay because I understand that your self-assurance on the track transcends to your everyday life.
I pay for you to learn how to set goals and chase down dreams.
I pay to help install a high level of self-confidence that you can and will accomplish the goals you set for yourself.

I pay so you have more caring and responsible adults involved in your life.
I pay for the days when you don’t do so well and come home exhausted and you don’t really want to do work on the kart, but you do it anyway.
I pay for the life lessons that losses, frustrations, and disappointment from competition can provide.
I pay for life lessons, victories, and personal accomplishments that competition can provide.

I pay for you to have opportunities to take pride in your actions on and off the track.
I pay for you to be accountable to others (sponsors, fellow competitors, race friends) and to help you understand that you are not the center of the universe.
I pay for the opportunity for you to honor karting by always giving your best effort on and off the track.
I pay for you to have the leadership opportunities karting can offer.
I pay to provide opportunities for you to help everyone around you improve as a person.
I pay for you to understand that you will forever be surrounded by more talented people and less talented people, and that a true leader has the humility and patience to work with both.

I pay for you to learn that it is the accumulation of hours upon hours of hard work combined with numerous personal sacrifices to be an overnight success in everything you chose to do.

It is not karting that I am paying for, I am paying for the time and conversation with my child on the way to and from races.

I pay for the smiles and sense of purpose that racing provides you.
I pay to provide lifelong memories from traveling and going to new places with me.
I pay for you to experience new cities that we visit by traveling to races. I pay because it’s clear that racing sparks your life, passion, and sense of pride.
I pay for help in guiding you down the right path.

I pay because karting reinforces the life lessons about hope, compassion, hard work, and commitment to yourself and others that your mom and I have taught you. Most importantly I pay for the bridge of understanding that karting provides a parent and child.

Finally, I pay for these opportunities because I do not have to push or force you to race, rather your desire to race is unequivocally from within and hopefully carries over to everything you do in life.

Love always, Dad

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One of my neighbors says this when we talk about youth sports, “It’s all the same, you pick your cult, ours is baseball, yours may be something different, but ours is baseball”. He and his son hang out doing baseball things around the country and having a blast.

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I pay because it is really expensive. All of those other values can be taught in free environments. Just takes good parenting.

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I’m going say that I agree with this.

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I think there’s a couple of things that are semi-unique to motorsport. Mechanical\engineering aptitude for example. Although with the advent of drone racing (is that motorsport too? Probably huh?).

My eldest daughter is into karting, swimming, dancing, video/youtubing and cello. The the amount of (continued and intense) focus karting requires on and off the track feels like it’s more elevated beyond the others.

Anyway, the point of sharing it was to illustrate the fact that karting offers a lot more than “a plastic trophy”

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I agree. I just see lots of parents post it to justify their spending. We do it because its fun and our “thing”. We’d do it whether it was free or expensive. So we do karting for all those reasons, but we pay because it is a requirement.

Not sure if you follow youth sports, but they all get very intense at a very young age. Karting is no different. Karting does add in an element of danger, but not quite as bad as motocross.

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The intensity I’m taking about is more about the activity, rather than level of competition.

But Yes, plenty of over-exuberant parents out there. We see that at the swim meets especially. Cello, not so competitive ha.

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I do it for all the reasons listed, but ultimately I pay because my daughter enjoys racing. I agree with James, that when you are racing, you can’t lose focus otherwise very bad things can happen. If you lose focus in another sport, the lack of focus is probably less detrimental. I also look at my daughter karting and know that above all else, she is learning a direct life lesson that will help her in life regardless of where she goes (driving).

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I think I support my son and my karting because it’s something we both enjoy doing together that doesn’t involve an Xbox and gets us out of the house.
More seriously though I started Nick karting because it’s not easy and requires a leap of faith and some courage to jump into a kart that goes 50mph when you are 10.
I was a scaredy cat when I was a kid and wouldn’t go on roller coasters until I was a teenager. I wanted to make sure that Nick was put into situations outside of his comfort zone so he could see it was no big deal.

I am hoping that he starts getting methodical about things as he gets older and starts asking himself the questions about how to improve and get faster. But, if all he wants out of this is to go zoom-zoom I’m cool with that too.

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I pay for the opportunity for you to honor karting by always giving your best effort on and off the track.
I pay for you to have the leadership opportunities karting can offer.
I pay to provide opportunities for you to help everyone around you improve as a person.
I pay for you to understand that you will forever be surrounded by more talented people and less talented people, and that a true leader has the humility and patience to work with both.

I think this is the best example of what karting is about. Since we got into the sport 6 years ago, I’ve had so many help us out. From tuning advice to pointing us in a direction on chassis, how to work with a disappointment etc. I’ve always told Randy that we need to make sure we are giving back as much or more than we have been given.

As Randy has become a teenager and in turn become more of his own individual he has begun taking on an impromptu job of “Role Model” to the younger kid karters and sportsman racers. Any chance he can he is working and talking with them to help improve their abilities. I will admit, I don’t get as much help in the pit as I would like but knowing he’s still doing “work” is fine by me.

Many Parents have complimented my wife and I about his attitude. We even had parents do something unexpected, when the opportunity arose for a driver to be looked at for a “team/house” driver slot, Randy was singled out as the driver to go see. Next year, Randy is going to be a driver coach and team driver for a group out of Green Bay WI. He will be working with the team owners Son who is moving out of kid karts and other youngsters who are looking for coaching.

Long story short. Always give back. Don’t forget where you started. Lead by example. Most important #KeepKartingFun you never know what opportunities you will have or be able provide someone else.

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