Food for thought...We need to remember sometimes that they are just kids.

http://www.northeastoffroad.org/ImsorryDad.html

Perfect. The last sentence says it all.

Good post.

that is great. I wish that would hit home with some people so their kids could have some fun. thats what its supposed to be about anyway. Right?

Sad, but too many times the truth. As a father of a 3 year old that has shown interest in all sports I know I will need to keep this in the back of my mind. I would guess this could be true for any youngster in any rehlm of sports as well...

I have found this to be true in my own experience. I am one of the self described "professional practicers" on this board, and I find myself sometimes asking my son why he isn't holding it on a little longer or hitting a corner a little faster. I quit racing one day in Woodland when I went back to my trailer, sat down pissed off and stewed all the way home. I woke up the next day pissed off. Then I asked myself, why am I doing this? It used to be fun. Fun is the only thing that matters, unless you are collecting a paycheck in this sport. The rest of us pay to play, and should keep the fun as a return on our investment.

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron:
I have found this to be true in my own experience. I am one of the self described "professional practicers" on this board, and I find myself sometimes asking my son why he isn't holding it on a little longer or hitting a corner a little faster. I quit racing one day in Woodland when I went back to my trailer, sat down pissed off and stewed all the way home. I woke up the next day pissed off. Then I asked myself, why am I doing this? It used to be fun. Fun is the only thing that matters, unless you are collecting a paycheck in this sport. The rest of us pay to play, and should keep the fun as a return on our investment.

I got a 12 year old kid laughing at me at Oakwood because I won't jump the 45 foot double, my hip is still killing me from my last crash, my bike needs a head gasket. Screw you, this aint fun.

Well maybe just a little

Paul, remember these words...

"No double is too small to roll"

I think us old guys should get that printed on our cross-bar pads...

I like that!

I think I'll print out about 100 of these and keep them with me at the races, when I see a dad (or mom) chewing out a kid, go grab a copy and give it to them.....

Don't be angry at me if you happen to get one, it's just a gentle reminder of why we all got started ( I hope).
Dawn

I like:

"Triple???? Ohhh, You mean those three singles over there..."

Good point Dawn. You (and my wife) have permission to skip the letter and simply hit me upside the head with a baseball bat if I ever turn into "mini-dad" with Derek...

There is a thin line I think between a "Proud Father" and the Crazed crossed eye'd seeing red mini dad.

I am glad I have a wife that keeps me in check and not affraid to speak her mind...(well most of the time anyway!)

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron:
I have found this to be true in my own experience. I am one of the self described "professional practicers" on this board, and I find myself sometimes asking my son why he isn't holding it on a little longer or hitting a corner a little faster. I quit racing one day in Woodland when I went back to my trailer, sat down pissed off and stewed all the way home. I woke up the next day pissed off. Then I asked myself, why am I doing this? It used to be fun. Fun is the only thing that matters, unless you are collecting a paycheck in this sport. The rest of us pay to play, and should keep the fun as a return on our investment.

Me too Aaron. One h~ll-of-a-story. It takes me back, back, and back even further to a time when I did too. But enough of that. What I recall, as clear as if it was yesterday, from my racing day’s are the friends and parents pointing and yelling GO! like I don’t know I’m in a race or which they went. There were times when I just wanted to point my bike at something and launch it…argh!

Good news is “I don’t care anymore!” I don’t care if I jump, go fast, go slow, drag bars, stick out my leg (ok that one), look good or have sponsors or stickers. If you see a sticker on my bike it’s there for a reason - no free-bee’s. I don’t care anymore I just love riding. It hasn't always been that way. I quit (like of my many friends) but the lure (a decade later) drew me back. Bikes were 4-strokers by then and light and a hoot to ride. I wasn’t racing anymore, just the riding.

I showed up at Sky River one day only to get laughed at by the track owner for my old gear and stuff. I grinned said hi (an old racing buddy) then a Helicopter (Bell) dropped outta the sky and I knew things were definitely different. It took just one day to figure out riding (practicing) was good. I needed a new bike so I got me a 2003 Yami 450 (old connections you see) but running without numbers was whack so I called up the AMA who said my old #21 (155021) was available. Got my old number back and so every now and then if I try real hard I can sometimes show up a young’un. Old vs new doesn’t happen often but sometimes I can (cept that #699 Yami 85cc kid hucking Toes 85’er).

As far as the young author this thread is devoted to goes I wouldn’t even try, got to much respect for the 14 year old/middle aged dude.

That story has a lot of meaning to a lot of us. For some it might be like that kid was telling your childhood story (hopefully not) or you can remember that time that you saw a buddy or a just a kid at the race track getting treated like that. I know that I was lucky enough to not have a dad that tried to live vicariously through me, and to him I am very grateful. I just hope that at least one mini dad reads this and can see himself in this, and stop acting like a jack ass!

kind of funny but true. eric had my son in his class last friday and when eric was done with him he was riding like ive never seen him before. i was amazed, then after riding all day he said he still wanted to practice. he asked me how those top 3 kids in his class are so fast and i told him "well they are jumping that double and they will gain alot of ground on you when you dont do it.hes done jumps bigger so i didnt ask him to do something he wasnt capable of. so i was telling him he really needed to do that double there to keep up with the top 3 kids which are really fast. kids that have a year or two more experience than him. well i pushed him too much and he just looked like he was on a sunday drive and eric had to tell me to back off. i never yelled at him or anything like that but you could tell that he wasnt pushing hard.i guess i got so jacked up watching him ride early in the morning i just kind of forgot.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: B Sharkey,

Ken,

I was racing once, and it was morning practice. This guy comes by me, and hits me as he passes me for the practice win. Well with that, I get really pissed, and start riding to win practice myself. I come in a little hot, and a little close to the pole that held up the "Welcome to Woodland" sign, and as I went flying by, pancaking the living #$@% (yeah right) out of my killer purple kawasaki with every performance product money could buy, I catch the throttle grip on the pole.

With that, a full on class A yard sale began. I had a smashed pipe, bent sub frame, snapped fender, bent handlebars and broken controls. I walked over to my bike, and went to pick it up, and the stupid clutch side grip was gone. I'm looking left and right, up and down and all the while, I keep hearing "HEY! HEY!!! HEY!!!!!"

I turn to look at the flagger, and he is pointing at my hand. I look down at my left hand, and there's my grip!

That was another fun time racing. People would never know that as a professional practicer that I have a temper. But when I raced, it would just come out of me! LOL!

And you don't even want to hear about the time I tried to triple the rollers out in the field! My buddy JT always laughs about how the nurse ripped my eyebrows off when she untaped me from the back board. LOL! Good memories for sure. Even more thankful that they are just memories.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Aaron,

LMAO, I remember the "roller triple" at Woodland, it wasn't funny at the time, but its good we can laugh about it now! Remember having to ride home in Petey's nasty Dodge, LOL.

Hey, don't know if you remember this Woodland or not, but you slammed your noggon, again and you asked me what happened over and over again, all the way home. I have to admit though, those were some really good times in my life, I remember the first time we went down, woke up at 3am and driving with JT in his Ford, it was pouring down rain, he wouldn't use his w/s wipers and had Rob Zombie at distortion level as we hydoplaned down I-5, no box trailers, RV's. Just you, your gear, your gas can and your bike, if you were lucky you had a stand and the really fortunate had an Easy-up. Ahh, those were the good ol' days!

I still have a numb spot on my abdomen that is the exact size of a KX250 foot peg, 11 years later!

And dont forget pushing your bike back to the pit after completing 3 of the 4 laps of your moto, saying "Man, I'm glad I'm done." The look on your face, when we told you that you had another moto was priceless.

Good times for sure!

As a dad of two young boys (ages 11 & 13), I have never pushed these boys to be the best, do a jump, or even race MX. I have only told them to have fun, be careful, and daddy loves you! They just like to ride dirt bikes, any type, any kind/size. They really do not like to race anymore (which is alright with me), as they are scared of the potential consequences, while trusting other riders around. When racing, it becomes very stressful to them, so they would rather just play on the bikes. I knew from the moment we got into the sport, they were more than likely not going anywhere with it, due to them liking other sports as well. Both kids did pretty darn good in their mini days (50, 65 & 85), but when they starting hearing too many stories of kids their ages across the US getting hurt/killed, it became too stressfull to them, and we backed away from the racing side of it (their decision). We traveled all over the western part of the US, raced the World Minis, my youngest raced Anaheim 3 KJSC (2005), all because they wanted too, not because their parents pushed them. We have seen way too many of "Those Parents", which consists of moms & dads, screaming, yelling, throwing things, dragging their child around by whatever they could grab hold of. I fealt so sorry for all those young kids I watched be belittled by their parents (which probably never threw a leg over a bike in their life). I watched a dad drag his kid out to the double afther the Pro Taper (Horn Rapids) on a 50cc bike, and yell at him to "Do it", because all the other riders in the class were doing it. The kid was crying because he didn't want to, and pretty soon just gave in. Well, he wadded it up and broke his arm. "Gee, Thanks Dad"! Most of those kids will never want to ride a dirt bike again in their lives, which sucks. It is not about the racing, or how you place in a race (especially when young), but about the experiences, and the times we share with our kids. This is a sport that our whole family loves to be around, racing or not! We love to watch these awesome riders do things that most cannot. We love the huge family environment that comes with this sport. We have met a ton a great people, that really have kept our faith in humanity. My kids are pretty strong individuals (emotionally and physically), and we attribute that to riding motorcycles since they were 3-1/2 years old. Honestly, these dads that get out of hand, some could legally be tried for child abuse. They really need to step back, and think about who they are there for (themselves, or the kids).

Been there been that.