Posted on 02/14/2020 6:07:20 AM PST by sodpoodle
At age 12, Keegan Sobilo of New Baltimore carefully tucks his legs and arms into a fire suit, pulls on a helmet and climbs into a race car that exceeds 80 mph.
He has been doing this since age 8.
"I’d stand underneath the grandstand, and whenever somebody would get close to Keegan on the track, I’d have to walk away," said his mother, Hillary Sobilo, 46, a kindergarten teacher at Cleveland Elementary School in Port Huron.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I would “barrow” my sister’s VW bug when I was 12.
80 mph on a race track is NOT that big a deal. A lot of kids with go carts would handle it just fine. However, it is a GREAT way to train him for the future for those who have the resources.
I mowed our lawn with a riding lawn mower when I was six.
I had to practically stand on the clutch to change gears.
“ I mowed our lawn with a riding lawn mower when I was six.
I had to practically stand on the clutch to change gears.”
Our son was doing it when he was 4. No gears but just stood up the whole time. Next was learning to ride the custom bicycle his dad built. He learned to rise it before he learned to stop it so he just ran into bushes. Scratches all over.
Ha ha! Thank you for bringing back a great memory. We had an Oliver Super 55 that I had to stand up off the seat to engage the clutch. Was not the safest act. I didn't have enough weight to use the brake pedals on the other side at the same time without the clutch pedal lifting me. So much fun to remember.
My grandfather raced stock cars against some of the old drivers like Junior Johnson, etc. My uncle raced his entire life into his 70’s. I had drag cars till I was about 60, and didn’t have the energy to work on them anymore.
My grandson raced a stock against grown men for two years before he had a driver’s license. It never worried me any, he’s still a pretty good hand, but has to stop for awhile to get through graduation and be able to afford to play on his own! Needless to say, he never had much problem driving when he was 16.
Been there, done that.
Got my first ticket at age 13 driving the farm truck, a 1947* Studebaker painted olive drab, loaded with bags of wheat to the mill.
The state police had set up a scale at the top of a hill. The state trooper wasn’t happy seeing my 13 year old self peeking over the steering wheel. He was less than amused to see the wooden blocks my dad had attached to the clutch, brake and gas pedals so I could reach them.
My dad was slightly furious when the state police headquarters called him to come get the truck or have it towed.
He was very furious over the tickets for overweight and my driving without a license.
My dad got the keys from the cop, handed them to me and told me to get the damned wheat to the mill. Took me three seconds to figure out the butt whipping my dad would give me was worse than anything the trooper could do so I fired that Studebaker up and headed to town.
Got to court and the trooper was going on about a minor driving a loaded truck when the judge cut him off. Judge asked the trooper if I had control of the vehicle, did I stop on command and if I had cooperated when stopped. Trooper answered yes to them all. Judge dismissed the charges, told my dad and I we could go and began lecturing the trooper about the necessity of child labor on farms.
I wanted to laugh but my dad was still mad so I shut up.
* the truck had been sold by the dealer as a 1947 model but had actually been built in 1945 as a military truck intended for Russia.
IIRC Ford and GM trucks went to Europe and Studebaker and International trucks went to Russia.
I do remember that all the ton trucks of my youth were olive drab, regardless of the manufacturer.
That's great. Who's her father?
Son, you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’.
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