[mikester]

Last night, as a reward for my son I took him to K1 Speed down the road in Torrance.

I'm completely disappointed in the performance of their track crew - something that could be pretty safe they turned into what appeared to me to be nearly a free for all worse than what I usually see at the local Mulligans amusement park (where the cars are just as fast if not faster).

I realize that I signed a liability release form which basically absolves them from injuries my son has received but what I'm not certain of is if that liability waiver also absolves them from the liability of running their track in an unsafe manner.

I took him there as a reward for some really awesome stuff he and I have been doing together with his local cub scout pack and the other pack that operates in town. He helped me put on the two pinewood derbies for them and it was really great.

He had never done K1 speed before but he has driven go carts before in a few places though not karts of this speed. We've done some double carts that were gas and fast or faster but he wasn't driving.

I briefed him myself on track safety prior to the race, explained the flags and went over the track with him. I told him to take it easy starting out and if anyone wanted past him - let them pass. Learn the track, build speed as you learn the track.

Well, Torrance has a spot where everyone hits the wall and of course, he nailed in the first few laps. Nailed it hard enough to where the track crew needed to go out and pull his car from the barrier. When they did this though they didn't slow the other cars and before they could get there he was slammed by two other cars.

Completely preventable and in my eyes totally negligent.

First - they had track crew on the track so those guys are now in a situation where the cars racing could hit them. I'm sure that would likely be a track policy violation and if the employee were injured I'm certain HE could sue the hell out of them. Second, it's the most common incident on the track and it is so easily preventable by slowing the other cars or stopping them. In fact, It happens all the time as it has happened while I've been racing. My liability waiver does indicate that I release them in the event that they are negligent - In retrospect that is completely ridiculous and based on this experience I'm not sure I could ever take him there again.

So, he wanted to go again. At first after the race he was shook up pretty bad. But when I finished my race (I was in the next race and he seemed okay so I raced) he was raring to go again. Not wanting this one incident to color the reward so badly I agreed to one more race for the night. This one went much better for him but during that race another kid put themselves into the wall pretty hard and had to again be extracted. This time they did stop the cars, all but one. A kid who is obviously a regular and very good. So all the other cars are stopped but this kid who is weaving in and out of the stopped cars like they are traffic cones. Finally he gets to the walled car where the track crew is working and stops. I figure he's been stopped but then he starts going again and doesn't stop until he is again half way around the track. Now I figure he's been stopped by remote.

At this point - I'm just livid and I'm so angry that I am completely ready to blow my top. Rather than confront them in that state where I simply would have come off as a lunatic I took my son home. I cooled off and I composed a message to them and sent it.

My intention is to stop by there tomorrow on my way home from my last meeting of the day and discuss what happened with the manager if he is available.

My wife had a Chiropractor appointment today and took my son with her and she believes he has whiplash. I don't doubt it - it was a hard couple of hits. She's recommended suspension from all his sports activities because of it which I guess is probably right. So, no hockey finals this week at least maybe next week as well depending on the checkup on Wednesday.

The kid is understandably upset and he's 8 so he blames me. It is infuriating that it was completely preventable. I suppose it is my own fault - maybe he is just too young for that sort of thing.