What would you do?

[x2468]

Okay put yourself in my shoes:

Your 16 and would love to try your hand at road racing because you have come to love the sport and follow the results religiously, it looks fun (and awesome), and who knows where it will take you. You have 2 choices:

Choice A: Stay in sunny Florida and continue living with Dad who annoys the crap out of you 90% of the time, and continue on in the lack luster florida public school system where everyone seems to hate you and you have no life and find yourself depressed more often then not. HOWEVER, there is Jennings, Homestead, Morroso, and Daytona international all within a quick drive, so maybe it would be better for racing. not to menton hotter girls (a slight plus).

-OR-

Choice B: Move back with mom in the mountains of Vermont. Go to a preppy private school with uniforms and dorm rooms and funky asian exchange nerds. Run your moms horse farm on the side. Plus side is you have friends and family up here and things are generaly just better there. Mom isn't perfect but shes better than Dad in most ways. BUT the only race track is New Hampshire International which is a good 4 to 5 hours away. And maybe a track in Montreal, but im not sure. I saw F1 on TV there, so i know there is one. and the chics aren't as hot ( had to throw that in, sorry).

so what would you do?

[EX#996]

You're young....

Get the better education.  If you're not getting along with your dad now, what makes you think he would take you racing?

[Super Dave]

Most people...and we could say all because few ever stay at this more than a couple years because of money, time, money & time, family, stress, etc.

Motard would be a better place to start.  Or dirt track.  If you have no "racing" experience...you have no racing experience.  

F1 tracks are not motorcycle road racing tracks necessarily.  

Loudon has produced some of the most intense racers around.

[jp233]

New England sucks, as far as road racing goes. Mucho travel.

Florida, while it has its downsides, is a much better locale. Just because the school you are at sucks doesnt mean you will turn out to be a turd. I went to a shitty public school system and still graduated from the #2 aerospace engineering school in the country.

School doesn't mean shit before college, if you can learn to apply yourself and adapt.

Stick with the hot chicks, beaches, and more racetracks. If you want to get into it, there is dirt racing and other stuff going on in Florida that Vermont doesn't have to offer. All Vermont has is cows, preppies, weed, and maple syrup.

Find other folks who race who live near you, go to the racetracks and see what it is all about. The right people could lift you up if your dad is not going to help you out.

Sorry your mom and dad live apart, I guess I'm lucky mine are still together, but then again neither of my parents like me racing whatsoever.

[TZDeSioux]

I would at all costs avoid the funky asian exchange nerds. They are the absolute worst! Stay in Florida.

[Baltobuell]

You are 16. If you're parents approved of everything you do, you'd be weird. You are lucky to have such choices, but are unlikely to make the most benificial for the long run. Bottom line, intelligent, thinking people make the fastest racers. Being able to think will get you where you want to be. Engineers think alot. Get the best education possible and that ability to apply yourself to stupid classroom problems will set you up to be able to solve real problems you come up against at the track. It's brains, not balls that win races. Play when you can, but start racing seriously at 22 with a degree.

[Jeff]

Mom seems to have more money which is good for a racer.  However, the whole 'private preppy school' and horse farm just reeks of pretentiousness, so while mom may drop some coin and endulge you for a while, it may be short lived.  Her aspirations for you are definitely in a white lab coat or italian suit with a couple of european (and not the cheap ones) cars in the garage.

Dad on the other hand shows potential.  If he's annoying you, he's probably doing his job as a Dad (doesn't let you stay out too late, wants to know where you're going & who your friends are, doesn't throw money at you to make you go away).  He may understand your racing aspirations more than Mom, and may be more involved than mom.  The locale of Dad will be better for racing now, but his budget may be smaller (considering beer, women, shrimp & front row jimmy buffet tickets).

Now, on to YOU.  You're 16.  Dude.  The world sucks when you're 16.  It never really changes, you just learn to appreciate the things that suck less than others, and call them joy.  You seem concerned with education, however, you don't take into consideration that some of the most successful people in the world never graduated high school, let alone some preppy private school which must be pronounced using an accent.

Learn now that the grass is very rarely greener on the other side of the fence.  Life is a sum of your experiences and how you feel about them.  Find some peace and understand that being depressed/angry/frustrated doesn't do any good...

[jp233]

life ruled when I was 16.

no debt, had a car (sh!tbox but that was what high school was all about), had a sweet job averaging $13/hr and I got to talk on the phone all I wanted to, girls hanging on all limbs, high school was a joke,

only down sides were the cops busting up parties, trying to find/have parties, trying to find places to get laid other than the back seat of said sh!tbox, girls older brothers wanting to try to kick my azz for laying said girls, etc....

that and I didnt own a BIKE

life at 26 sure sucks a whole lot more than 16, except for the racing bikes part. But if I had my sh!t together and some support, racing at 16 sure would've been sweet (i'm envious of folks like Garrett carter and Josh Herrin, Josh Day etc)

[Super Dave]

Starting racing later in life is easier.  You might have a job, you don't have so many friends that are either partying or trying to study.  Etc.

Started racing when I was 19.  So, I'd go to college, go race.  Not a great social life for school friends or former friend from HS, etc.  Girls?  Yeah, you'd like to go out, but I'm driving to Atlanta by myself to race for about five days.  

The pressure of having an opportunity to just have a little bit of fun and try do make something out of a racing career with the maturity and knowledge of being in HS?  I don't envy it.  I support it, but I don't envy it.

There is no guarantee.

What was it that was stated...out of 10,000 HS basket ball player, only three might get the opportunity to play in the NBA.  

I'd bet that playing HS or even college basketball costs less than road racing.

[251am]

 Go to Vermont and get a street legal dirt bike-XR250L or XR 650L. Start riding off road in Vermont and start reading the technique books; Iaenatsch, Code, etc.. Chicks who ride horseback are more fun than beach brats. Get your education and do some track days. See where it goes from there?    

[Scott]

So far in my life (31 years) I've based all my decisions on Hot Girls.

It's just hard to go wrong with hot girls.

[spyderchick]

So far in my life (31 years) I've based all my decisions on Hot Girls.

It's just hard to go wrong with hot girls.

Too funny! ;D