pylnrcr:Reading that story is scary - and you may be correct that OVR is a shinning star (credit our current and past chairmen) and I may be spoiled by the OVR program. But at the same time we all know of even scarier incidents with adults, sometimes even SCCA officals at National level events... I guess the point I was trying to make was meant to be directed more towards the lack of accepting responsibility factor. I don't think it's limited to the parents of the little Billy's.
And if you were running with a region that was not nearly as good as OVR at doing FJr, you as a parent would actually have real basis for pointing the blame at someone else if the program did not even follow the procedural rules written in the rule book. Heck, we weren't even doing it at Tours for awhile (and still don't from time to time).
One thing that OVR has done is the Youth safety steward makes sure that a young driver has a basic understanding of the concept and we have actually had the kids practice in a small safe zone to demonstrate an understanding of the pedals before getting to drive on course. They had to demonstrate their abilities to the Youth steward - not just the parent. If something like that isn't being done in every region as a minimum, then you're absolutely right to be concerned about the risk, no matter whether you have a child participating or not.
This is awesome stuff. It is exactly the kind of thing that I wish could be communicated around the country and perhaps even made a requirement. But alas, we lack good communication. We've taken baby steps to fix that, but not nearly enough IMO.
As the parent of a FJ driver (OK, she's 14 now and moved on to other interests, but I have a 10 year boy that wants to drive) I would like to see the program limited to a participation for fun only at regionals and maybe Tour types of events. No trophy's or season awards - participation awards are fine, but not competition awards.
Bruno
I agree. And that's exactly how the program was originally framed by its founders. But now, for many, it has become all about the competition. Thus the whole "go to Nationals" bit.
--Andy