Pushing The Legal Limit
| 6
|
by user LastRow
You know NASCAR doesn’t get a lot of love here, so I think it’s about time I show them some. You’ll have to please excuse me…I think I’m still drunk from last night. NASCAR, am I serious? These are gentlemen who go round in circles, driving over 250 miles every Sunday and find themselves being called athletes. Oh but it gets so hot in those cars…Yeah, well try living in Florida with a vehicle with no A/C, same thing. I guess I’m an athlete? What’s next? I suppose we’ll hear Hugh Hefner doesn’t use Viagra? Boogity, Boogity, Boogity.
So the “athletes” take their annual Sunday 250-plus mile drives, going at speeds of epic proportion in hopes of taking a gatorade, pepsi, coke shower in victory lane. For those who are already on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit, most have years of experience driving on and off the track. The same cannot be said for up and coming drivers who want to achieves their goals and dreams by reaching the Nextel circuit with someday wanting to bee mention in the same breath as the Petty’s (Richard of course…I hate to see how Kyle drives away from the track), the Earnhardt’s, Gordon’s, & so on. We all know if one wants to be the best in any sport, dedication is the key to success. Repetition becomes old hat when starting out at an early age…Racing’s no different. However, this is what I can’t seem to understand? How in the world can a person who’s not legally old enough to drive the mean streets of this country get behind the wheel & be in control of a 4,000 pound car?
When I was at these young ages, the most outrageous thing I did was shoot ducks with my brand new gun (yes, I had a gun) that came with the purchase of my Nintendo Entertainment System. If I really got brave, I would step up a class from ducks to clay pigeons. Seeing youngsters getting behind a wheel of something that can go 40 MPH at the tender age of four is unbelievable…Reaching triple digits speeds when they only turn double digits in age is inconceivable. What ever happened to collecting baseball cards? Some have big issues with this topic…”Oh, how can you let your child do something like that?” to “What kind of a parent are you?” Who are we to judge? Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with this notion. The more experience one has at a profession, the better off they are to handle situations which will arise.
Here’s the problem I do have though. Okay, these young ones are reaching triple digits speeds…Handing driving machines 10 to 20 times their body weight without a driver license. Once the day is done at the track, they have to rely on mommy & daddy to drive them home as they get a nice perspective from the back seat. One minute they’re driving behind the wheel, the next they’re sucking on thumbs in the back seat of the sedan. Is this right? What’s more dangerous? Driving 70-MPH on a highway or going 120 in a tank that is called a car? How does one go from being qualified enough to drafting cars down the backstretch on the way to pit road, to not being able to pull a street legal car into a gas station to fill up? Oh no, it takes until the legal age of 16 to pull into a HESS station by oneself. It’s not like they’re going to accumulate over 70 driving unpaid tickets…Only the chosen one’s who are “legal” enough pull that kind of stunt.
Then we go to the other extreme…We all love them! The senior citizens. Ah yes, it’s especially great down here in South Florida….(Oh Shit, I forgot, I’m in the witness protection program, shouldn’t have said that…Although is that where I really am?) So an 80-year old driver is better than an 11-year old one who’s used to racing? Yeah, sure he is and monkeys fly out of my butt. What’s the difference, they both need booster seats to see over the steering wheels. At least the 11-year old has better eye-sight, so when he does see over the wheel he doesn’t plow into anything. I bet an 11-year old can hear that horn we love to lay on while following grama & grandpa. Since there’s an age limit to drive, why isn’t there an age limit where a drivers license is revoked? So it’s not safe for kids to drive until they’re 16, although in the racing world it’s a different story. On the other hand, it’s okay for these “Old Fossils” to mail in their drivers license for renewal even though the can’t hear, can’t see over the steering wheel, or for that matter haven’t seen a damn thing in years. Here’s food for thought, my grandfather who’s in a nursing home still has a valid drivers license. He shits & pisses all over himself, but this country still thinks he can drive. Ain’t that some scary shit (No Pun Intended)! LastRowsports.com
Date
Sun 08/13/06, 5:56 pm EST
