16 year-old to drive Racer's Group Porsche at Daytona

[Paul_Heery]

This kid doesn't even have a driver's license yet.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m013103a.htm

[Eric Mckenna]

HOLY CRAP THAT IS GREAT!!!! .. I wish my dad would have gotten me into racing when I was young..

Eric Mckenna

[Thomas Owen]

I think it is great his dad has involved him in racing, but I think he is too young and inexperienced to be driving in a race like this. True, he has come up through the ranks, but 'seat time' means a lot at these speeds where either you or another competitor can be injured/killed instantly.
Flame suit firmly in place. My humble opinion only, after owning/driving Sprint Cars for years.

[Jim Garfield]

I think that we'll see more of this kid in the future, imagine driving at that
level at that age .

R.J. Valentine, one of the codrivers, owns F1 Boston (the indoor kart track).

[911nut]

The 24 Hours of Daytona isn't the race that it used to be thanks to the France family's attempt to dominate sports car racing. It's about as exciting as watching an IRL race.
Apparantely the big Euro factory teams feel the same way. I wouldn't risk an Audi R8 with all those Porsche-powered kit cars running around.
So let the kid do the race. He'll be the biggest name driver there.

[Deeks]

Hey Thomas,

He could well have more "seat time" than any of us ???

[redducati750]

lucky bastard, the best i could muster at 16 was a moped

[Plavan]

What you guys don't realize is that youngster's parents coughed up $30K+ to put him in the drivers seat for that ONE race. Thats what Buckler usally charges...... No thanks. He is not racing for free.... or getting paid for that matter.

[724doorE]

Damn, I remember watching the father driving in the old imsa series back in the 80's. He codrove with a guy named David Loring (sp) I seem to remember them driving a Buick Spice for a while.

hmmm.

[racemor]

Hessert and Loring were a good team and successful. The trend is to young drivers lately, look at Clint Field and Gunnar Jeanette (sp?). Both were very young when they got their first prototype drives. Of course Clint was driving his Dad's car. Makes it a little easier I guess.

Anyone know John Paul Jr.'s age when he began driving the 935? He must have been young too at the time.

[David Bahr]

Please, no offense to father or son or anyone else, and not to diminish his obvious driving talent, but that's what I call "the lucky sperm club." His success is dependent on his skill. But his opportunity to succeed or fail is based on his dad having money. I have skill and had some success but it has taken me ten years and immense sacrifice just to get to the race track to have the opportunity to show my talent.

Don't want to take anything away from him, but I would give almost anything just to have that opportunity!

[Huey581]

I am available to be adopted by Mr. Hessert!!!!!

[5axis]

Some sports cast a wide net in search of the greatest talent possible. Almost every kid has played football, baseball, or basketball. Quite early on the wheat is separated from the chaff. We see the results of that talent search in our pro sports. The throwing speed of a big league pitcher or the outright speed of a NFL corner back. How much would the performance level of the $$ restrictive sports rise if more opportunity existed? I tend to think that race car driving may not be affected too much but how about other more physical sports?

[alertmike]

Blast from the past when 2 underage drivers named Rodriguez from Mexico showed up at Sebring (I think) and demonstrated some ability.

[MMARSH]

If you've got the dough, You can buy a ride at Daytona no problemo. Plenty of teams selling seats every year.

[Paul Thomas]

One thing to remember is that this kid has probably been racing since he was 7 or 8. Anyone who has driven a shifter cart knows that it is no BS. Also some of the top superbike riders in the world had 6 figure contracts before they could legally driven. Nicky Haden comes to mind.

Granted it is all about money, like alot of sports. Why do you see so many inner city kids getting out of the getto by way of basketball? Cause 16 guys can play all day with one ball, where Tiger Woods dad had to have big cash for clubs, balls, green fees etc. Tiger isnt great because his family could afford all that, he was just in a position to exploit the talent he has.

I say more power to him and we'll see what he does with the chance to show sponsers what hes got.

Paul

[Doug E]

"luck sperm club" - good one David!

Bottom line is that talent keeps you in the game but today it sure seems that money is what it takes to get you in the field. Is it any wonder that the quality of racing has declined over the years?