Also posted in the motorcycle section, but this really needs a broader audience.. I am just heartbroken. So young, so talented, and he looks so much like my own little boy.. My heart goes out to his dad, who was right there, his family, USGPRU, which is an amazing organization, and the other racer who was involved and will carry this with him for the rest of his life. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iIxbPKPsPdoQUh9AaJhH0sotxr0QD9HTM4QG0
RIP. It sucks to see a kid with such promise get taken away so early. Life is risky and motorsports adds to that risk. But I am glad my parents got me involved in motorcycles beginning at age 7 and I'd rather have my kid racing his heart out in the real world than setting highest score on PlayStation.
That is so very sad. My best to the family. Hopefully a bunch of stupid rules don't surface now. The Dad is a class act.
I was there (Indy MotoGP) and he was a local kid (Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA). It WAS a racing accident, but a bit of a freak accident. I also hope that there is no knee jerk reaction. Everybody knows the risks, but we're all still shocked when it really happens. Much of the crowd did not know until the end of the day...we got a text message within an hour and a half of it happening (it was a warm-up lap for a 10:20am race). If we knew...then, the pits/paddock certainly knew. Apparently Colin Edwards was his "MotoGP mentor" and was just broken up. The show went on, but the protagonists certainly carried heavy hearts. I don't think any of us will know how this really affected the outcome of the race.
The USGPRU did not have Indy on the schedule earlier this year and I knew nothing about this race until reading about the accident. Was there really going to be a points paying race or was it a demonstration of the USGPRU series? I heard a blurb on the 'ethics' issues of youth racing on Fox channel today, and my mother in law said it was on the morning news yesterday with about 1/2 hour dedicated to the accident and age of the riders involved, the dangers of motorcycling/racing in general, and the issues of peer/parental pressures on young people that partake in 'dangerous' sports. Even my neighbor, whose son raced 125's in his teens, opined that Indy is too big of a track for 12 yr olds to race on. I expect some fallout and rules changes with age restrictions from this.....our social system is deep into the process of thinking it must mandate restrictions on how we live our lives. This process has no sense whatsoever of how to prioritize these threats....it is just a knee jerk reaction when these things occur. RIP young man. You will be missed.
I witnessed the wreck and I can honestly say that it was the the most horrifying thing i have ever witnessed.
I hope your eyes forget this. The parents who helped, mentored, maybe prodded their son into this sport will never recover. The biggest phrase in the English language has come into play...if only. To young to die like this.
