So come to find out, NHRA changed the legal age to race in 2019 to 16, regardless if you can obtain a legal drivers license at a younger age.

After my kid and her cousin raced all season long for a position in Sportsman class on the track team for the ET Finals, they were told they weren't old enough to race even though they had state issued drivers licenses. How much sense does it make that a licensed driver age 15 can't race a 13 second car in Sportsman, but a 16 year old kid can race a car running quicker than 7.50's?

The NHRA just doesn't get it. I would think that the rule should allow a person who's got a regular state issued drivers license to race. Hell, I wouldn't even mind if they put an ET limit on how quick they could run.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: David_D.,

As if we have enough problems drawing in a new generation. Just a few more straws on the back for good measure.

I figured that was always the age limit. But point taken for sure about the speeds. One day you can't drive anything outside of the jr's or with a parent in tcr, and the next day you can make licence passes to go 6 seconds.

That said and on a related topic: Saw a friend at a local track having his daughter make her passes in his dragster after getting eliminated in the jr race. We have known her since she started jrs, and it was fun to see her ease behind the wheel of a 7 second dragster and do everything virtually perfectly. Made it look completely easy. I know some will think it's completely inappropriate and privilege this or that. But the fact of the matter is that she has grown up at the track in a racing family, helping her dad race where she can. Growing up in a racing family has its advantages.

I'm wondering if these rule changed aren't dictated by the insurance companies? They may be trying to reduce premiums and this stipulation is part of the deal. Just a thought.

What does the rule book say??

There was a big issue with i believe a 14 YO that won one of the $$ races. I think it was 50K. with no license in a dragster... SHTF..

https://drr.infopop.cc/eve/foru...5460652/m/1227015196

Pretty that’s always been the rule

Funny thing IHRA has the teen championship class with adult co driver at 13

Idaho allows you to drive alone at 15?

The OP just doesn’t get it. Rules are for everyone including his kid and it’s always been 16 y/o with the NHRA.

Some kids are resonsible and ready to drive a car on the street when they're 14 or 15, some are never ready. The problem is, if you try and say OK, we're only going to allow the ones who are ready to get a license, the parents of the ones deemed not ready are going to scream and hire lawyers. So even though setting the limit at 16 isn't perfect and is somewhat arbitrary, it's a compromise that makes the most sense.

Racing is no different - you gotta set the age limit somewhere, and 16 is a good number. If you let SOME race younger, the parents of the ones deemed not ready are gonna holler.

I'm not seeing the rush anyway - if you "wait" and start at 16 you can easily race 50 years, 60 years, whatever.

I was driving at 14, its not that unusual especially if you grow up in midwest farm country. Bit I agree and always thought you had to be 16 for NHRA

Is NJ still 17yo to race?

quote:

Originally posted by Al Alguire:
I was driving at 14, its not that unusual especially if you grow up in midwest farm country.

My dad grew up in rural North Carolina. His brother (my uncle) drove the school bus at age 15. He lived furthest from school, so he drove the bus home every afternoon, dropping off the other kids along the way, and kept the bus at their house overnight. Then got up the next morning and picked all the other kids back up again on the way to school. This was in 1956-57.

quote:

Originally posted by steely:
Funny thing IHRA has the teen championship class with adult co driver at 13

TCR is pretty restrictive for speed and it's 1/8 mile only. Nice way to get some supervised experience anyhow. At 10 seconds and slower, it wasn't much fun for my son since the jr is 7.9 seconds 2" off the ground. So we abandoned that pretty quick.

My son had plenty of racing and quad experience as well as farm tractor experience before driving. He recently turned 16, but had a job with a tree service this summer. We allowed him to drive to a coworker's house a few miles down the road to pool with him. We were very uneasy about it because of the risk that an accident were to happen (even not his fault). The legal implications could be unsavory, and technically he wouldn't be insured to drive the vehicle solo. We took the risk so he could earn college money this summer and get some work experience as well.

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quote:

Originally posted by Tom R:
Is NJ still 17yo to race?

Yes

There was this kid in Las Vegas who ran jr dragster and was pretty good. Somehow he was granted a Nevada drivers license at age 15 and started racing at LVMS.
He drove a nice super street Monte Carlo.
I'm really glad I raced against him back then because he really got good at this racing deal with a few world championships in NHRA.

I guess I say this because I'm OK with it. Justin has always been very respectful to this old man.

I don't know who 1320racer is nor do I care....but he is wrong and absolutely full of **** on this deal. The legal age for a kid to race has not always been 16. This changed in 2019 per our division director. In Idaho the state we live in kids are able to obtain a regular drivers license at age 15. I am personally one who was able to race at a Division 6 E.T. finals at the age of 15 with NHRA's permission almost 30 years ago. Seems that some of this other **** going on around the country has impacted the other 99.9% of us by forcing rule implementations that have blanketed everyone without consideration to specific states and the legal driving age. As far as the O.P., I do not know a better family and representation of people who absolutely abide by the rules set forth by not only our track but the sanctioning organization as well. The way this issue was brought to light was by them trying to do the right thing in the first place. Those of us that have kids involved will do anything to get them excited and racing with us to keep the sport alive. If they are legally licensed to drive in the state they live and have a parents permission and signature they should be able to race.....atleast in sportsman.

It has always been 16 with the NHRA, your division director is wrong and you don’t have a clue like the OP.

What you were allowed to do is not ever what the NHRA rulebook states!

I think their may be some confusion here between IHRA rules and NHRA rules.