DGaunt

I started bringing my kids to the track @ 4 & 6, but with pre-arranged watchers. There were no problems and the kids saved thier bad behavior f or ither places. The upshot of it was we had some great quality time in the most formative years of thier lives, including the travel part. My oldest was so experienced @ 14 he ran pitout at a Mid Ohio PCA event for the whole day to rave reviews. My advice, make the arrangements and spend as much time as possible. Both mine are away from home now, and I cherish the time I had with them as buddies at the track. Life is short; youth but a blink of the eye

richard glickel.

You know, you really can't spend enough time with your kids. But, I HATE the way some people drive around the pits and I'd be most concerned about that. The little ones I've seen at the track have always been well supervised.

I do hope that you get to bring your boy with you this season and for many years to come.

Richard

Food Angel

We've been bringing our kids to the track since our oldest was 6 weeks old. Of course, I took a hiatus from driving at first, but the kids have grown up at the track in the summertime, and now they ask in February like the rest of the Porsche nuts we know, "When are we going back to the track?" Since we've been regular track goers for 11 years now, we have a reliable group of people we feel comfortable leaving our children with now should we both be going on the track at the same time. We've known men to come to the track alone with their children and no other support, and I think generally they make it work (although it's dicey, so I wouldn't do this on purpose). I'm wondering if you might want to take out an ad in your region's newsletter and advertise for a babysitting job. There might be a teenager who is looking for a little work, or a spouse or significant other. That way you save on the costs of another room for the nanny, yadda yadda.

Things that help the 5 year olds: good food and water throughout the day, fun games to play with at the track (cards, chalk, bubbles, books, what have you...), other friends they meet at the track, sunscreen, a chair to hang out in....that's what I come up with on my initial brain review.

You DO have to be mindful of the few people in the paddock who are not careful. You also have to consider your work assignment if your region does them--that's more time where you will need child care in some instances (or you can see if you can get assigned to a duty that's child friendly, like front gate).

Good luck, and enjoy driving events with your son!

Chris White

I bought my son to the track at three weeks….I think he actually thinks that an unmuffled Porsche is his third parent!
My solution was to get my wife into driving, she loves it and we can usually work out a schedule between my driving / instruction and her sessions. In addition we have developed a great group of car folks that travel in packs to various events. I went one step further and got my son’s god parents in to tracking too….and they have a nice motor home and Viv (godmother) loves the track and my son. Her 19 year old son is driving (quite well) also.
I am sure that the original poster can find some like minded track folks to bond with BEFORE the track event – don’t expect to figure it out when you get there.

One word of warning – if you are like me, you are there to drive/teach. Get the details of the who, what, when, where of child care figured out long before you get there. Make sure it works like tag team wrestling – a clear “tag – your in charge of Junior” exchange. You don’t want any kid of any age left alone in the pits/garage – there are some yahoos out there.