Quarter Midgets. Who's done it?

[Boozer]

My oldest son Scott is obsessed with NASCAR and has been since he was around 3. He's going into first grade next year, it's made me realize they grow up a lot quicker than we'd like them to so it's important we make every moment we have with them count.

Today I took Scott to the local track to watch the quarters run and he had a great time. All the parents were some of the friendliest people I've ever encountered and the sport meshes perfectly with his NASCAR obsession. We're doing a "Try it you'll like it day" in mid August and if it goes as well as I think it will I'm plopping down the cash to get him going.

I'm curious how many other parents on the boards have done this with their kids and what the "gotchas" are I should be aware of going into this?

My plan is to buy a used car going into the off season that I'll tear down with my father over the winter and rebuild. It looks like finding the right setup for the car can get pretty tricky so I owe it to myself and my kid to know the car mechanically inside and out before we start racing.

 

[jack14r]

I have vintage raced for 20 years (vintage road racing stock cars)I have 1 employee who worked for 15 years for various Winston cup teams and he drove in the sportsman series which was the Busch series before they had a title sponsor.It has been a great time for me and because I have a car that is always professionally prepared and always is competitive.If you do this it is really important to make sure the race car is better than your child so that he can always improve as his skills are refined.Hopefully you can find someone who knows the sport and he can help,this sport can be very challenging.

 

[Wombat]

Shit, l thought this was a call out thread about Holy Moly.

 

[Racer56]

Racing quarter midgets with your son will be the greatest experience you will ever have with your family. Almost everyone in my family has raced quarter midgets and look back at it as their greatest time of their lives. You will build friendships with other families that will last a lifetime. Almost 30 years later my wife and her family still keep in contact on a daily basis with all their quarter midget racing friends and still to this day go on vacations together.

Quarter midgets is one of the best training grounds for burgeoning racers and teaches car control and race craft like no other class. Buying a used car is the best way to start off and you will be running novice anyway, so buying new equipment is totally unnecessary. The Honda classes have the strongest car counts and are the most economical power plant choice. I encourage you to figure out what chassis builder/parts supplier at your local track provides the best trackside support and become their shadow until you learn the finer points of quarter midget racing.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

 

[twocents]

I got a quarter midget for my 9th birthday -- it was very cool. Raced it for nearly two years but here was the drawback. Back then (mid/late-1950s and living in the Los Angeles area) almost all the racing activity at that time for quarter midgets was in central and northern California. The traveling to and from races for 6 to 8 hours each way on the weekend was a bummer. Finally decided to switch to go-karts since the track in Azusa (only about 30 minutes away) had races at least once a month. Maybe the logistics have changed since then, but check out where you're going to be practicing and racing before you get too deep.

 

[Boozer]

Racing quarter midgets with your son will be the greatest experience you will ever have with your family. Almost everyone in my family has raced quarter midgets and look back at it as their greatest time of their lives. You will build friendships with other families that will last a lifetime. Almost 30 years later my wife and her family still keep in contact on a daily basis with all their quarter midget racing friends and still to this day go on vacations together.

Quarter midgets is one of the best training grounds for burgeoning racers and teaches car control and race craft like no other class. Buying a used car is the best way to start off and you will be running novice anyway, so buying new equipment is totally unnecessary. The Honda classes have the strongest car counts and are the most economical power plant choice. I encourage you to figure out what chassis builder/parts supplier at your local track provides the best trackside support and become their shadow until you learn the finer points of quarter midget racing.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Thank you for the feedback. We were out at the track and knew absolutely no one, people made it a point to come up to us and talk to us. I can't think of another time that's happened. The families were openly inviting Scott to sitting in the cars and volunteering their cars if he wanted to give it a try. It was almost surreal but I can definitely see how lifelong bonds are forged as a result.

I got a quarter midget for my 9th birthday -- it was very cool. Raced it for nearly two years but here was the drawback. Back then (mid/late-1950s and living in the Los Angeles area) almost all the racing activity at that time for quarter midgets was in central and northern California. The traveling to and from races for 6 to 8 hours each way on the weekend was a bummer. Finally decided to switch to go-karts since the track in Azusa (only about 30 minutes away) had races at least once a month. Maybe the logistics have changed since then, but check out where you're going to be practicing and racing before you get too deep.

We're 40 minutes to the local track. The club we'll be joining has a few tracks they visit a couple times a year that are 4-5 hours away but they only run there 5 weekends out of the season. Buying a motor home and hitting various NASCAR races throughout the year was already on the agenda so this should just add to the fun of having a MoHo.

 

[Roaddogg 4040]

Jack 14R gave you some really good advice. Please make sure that you kid has the very best equipment that you can afford. It really does suck to see a talented kid lose to lesser talents because of broken down junk. You will love the time spent your son, I know that I sure did. I took my son go kart racing for a few years and it is the absolute very best times of out lives. He still talks about it today and that is coming from a kid that grew up to be a fighter pilot. You won't regret it...

Steve

 

[Advantagepools]

This is our second year into quarter midgets. We as a family love it. Definitely don't get to spend anywhere near the time at the Havasu as we used to but we are ok with it because our daughter loves the sport so much. Lots of options out there between sanctioning bodies, chassis and engine builders. Feel free to call me and I can answer any questions needed. We are in New Jersey now as we just finished up with the Eastern grand nationals. Equipment definitely makes a difference as we have now won 2 national titles since making some major changes . Ryan Avedisian 559-375-8626. You should take as much info as you can and then make your own decision on what's best for you kids

 

[Boozer]

This is our second year into quarter midgets. We as a family love it. Definitely don't get to spend anywhere near the time at the Havasu as we used to but we are ok with it because our daughter loves the sport so much. Lots of options out there between sanctioning bodies, chassis and engine builders. Feel free to call me and I can answer any questions needed. We are in New Jersey now as we just finished up with the Eastern grand nationals. Equipment definitely makes a difference as we have now won 2 national titles since making some major changes . Ryan Avedisian 559-375-8626. You should take as much info as you can and then make your own decision on what's best for you kids

Wow! 2 national titles and you've only been at it for 2 seasons? Thats awesome!

The local car builder everyone likes here is Tad Fiser. Tad had a handful of cars at the Eastern Grand, I think their best finish was 5th overall. The engine builder of choice seems to be Scott's engines but I'm not opposed to something else if its going to make my sons car more competitive. The only kicker here is that we're at 5200 feet elevation so the local shop knows how to set everything up to compensate for the reduction in air density.

We're doing our trial day on Saturday the 15th of August and once that's done and I know it's something my son is going to enjoy I'll probably start ramping things up. I'll probably be giving you a call sometime next month for advice.

Thanks for the feedback and congrats on the 2nd title win!!