by Tami Eggleston, PhD

Mike and I don’t have any children, but there is one thing that always makes me wish we had a kid - junior dragsters! Every time I see one of those miniature dragsters or hear the unmistakable junior dragster noise, I think it would be cool to have one of those in the trailer with our full-sized dragster. I enjoy watching the junior dragster racers and I especially like the fact that so many young boys and girls get exposed to drag racing. In the Midwest Super Comp series that we run, some of our best new racers came straight from the junior dragster categories. It is pretty amazing to hear a 16-year old talk about the fact that they have been racing for six years and are well versed on cutting lights, breaking out, and driving the finish line.

This past summer, I taught a sports psychology class at McKendree College. I decided to take my twenty students to Gateway International Raceway to experience a sport with which many of them were not familiar. Reggie Leuter, track manager at Gateway, gave us VIP treatment as we were allowed to sit in the VIP booth and watch the Wednesday night test and tune. My students were amazed with the fantastic facilities at Gateway, the friendly staff, the cool and fast cars, and they were particularly fascinated with the junior dragsters.

We actually talked to a few of the junior drivers and they could not believe how mature and responsible (and committed to racing) these young people were. After my students experienced drag racing (many for the first time), many of them commented on how great it is for a young person to be involved in junior dragster racing. Sport psychologists agree that being involved in a sport as a young person has many benefits including developing skills (in drag racing, this includes not just driving, but also mathematical and mechanical skills), acquiring knowledge about rules and strategies and safety issues, developing realistic and positive self-esteem, can lead to a desire to engage in an activity for a lifetime, for enjoyment, and to help develop social and psychological skills.

With so many good things that can come from being involved in a sport as a young person, unfortunately many negative things can come from being involved in a sport as well. And, unfortunately many of the negative things come not from the young people, but from the parents. The media has shown some of these extreme cases such as the soccer dad who killed someone, the cheerleader mom who tried to kill another cheerleader’s mom, or the hockey dad who killed his ten year old’s hockey coach. These extreme cases show the degrees to which parents will go and their psychological investment in the sport. Mike and I were at a junior dragster event in Bowling Green, Kentucky a few years ago. We saw a parent playing games during the burnout and staging process. Then, we saw this same parent yelling at his child and yelling at another parent in the same weekend. I felt really bad for this young person. I have no doubt that this young person will not want to be involved in drag racing as they will have so many negative experiences early on. I know another father who drives a car and has a terrible temper and whenever he loses, he gets very upset. His child has modeled this behavior and would get upset whenever he lost in his junior. Now this young person is driving a full-sized car and can’t handle losing very well.

Rowland Wood (right), shown with Drag News’ Todd Silvey, made it known with his Father’s Time-Out Chair at the Peach State Nationals, that he would not tolerate any temper tantrums from the parents.

Fortunately, I have also seen many parents who are excellent role models for being good sports and are good at handling their wins and losses.

Some of the most important things to keep in mind for parents and young people involved in sports include:

Parents are the most influential models of behavior for young people. As much as peers are important to young people, most research suggests that how a parent reacts to winning and losing will be copied by the young person. If you wonder why your young person is a bad sport, swears, or puts down other people - take a look at the parents’ behavior.

If you want a young person to stay with drag racing for the long haul, focus on effort and performance, not just winning and losing. Try to be happy that the young person cut a good light or their lights are improving, rather than just focusing on winning and losing. While we may like to think that an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, for long-term success, we better look at performance, improving, and effort.

Try to compare the young person to their past behavior and show that they are improving. Keep records of average reaction times or number of times driving the finish line or number of wins and look for improvements. Try not to compare to other drivers. This is especially true if there are siblings driving, comparing to the older sibling can be very difficult and demoralizing.

Try to focus on the strengths and the areas of improvement - rather than just complaining about the child not being able to drive the finish line, focus on what was good, too!

Allow the child to want to race because of the thrill of competition, the enjoyment of the race, the feelings of self-esteem from getting better and other intrinsic motivations, not extrinsic rewards. Try to avoid saying, if you win today you will get a new helmet, or if you win, we get pizza. The young people may stop wanting to race unless they get these extrinsic rewards. Try to have the young person work by washing the car, cleaning the garage, sweeping the trailer, doing their home chores, and doing the practice tree to have them earn their rewards. Young people (and older people too!) feel better about what they own if they feel like they had to work to get it and have to keep working to get it. I always worry when I see the young person in the motor home watching TV while the parents are out cleaning the car, loading the car, fixing the car, and doing all of the work. The young person is not learning the skills or the hard work involved in racing to make it in the long run.

Help the young person deal with the stress of competition by keeping the focus on practice and doing their best rather than winning at all costs. Also try to keep the focus on having fun rather than winning!

Sport psychologists have found that young people will drop out from their sports if the above issues are not adhered to. Specifically, it was found that young people will drop out of a sport if they get too much negative reinforcement by getting yelled at or punished for losing, if they constantly lose and never have moments of winning, if they feel too much stress to win, if they don’t feel like they are having fun anymore.

The benefits of having your child involved in junior drag racing are many; it certainly allows for family ties, helps your young person feel good about themselves, allows the child to develop a love for something that could last a lifetime, and helps the child learn important psychological and social skills. However, parents need to keep a balance in their own life and in their child’s life so that this experience can be the best for both the young person and the entire family.

Remember, success doesn’t come from winning one round, winning one race, or even having a winning season. True success comes from successfully competing (and keeping the focus on effort, improvements, and even fun!) over the years!