Post by heatwriter on Aug 4, 2022 8:01:38 GMT -5
So I obviously don't have many miles on me where this is concerned, but something doesn't smell right here.
I ran my son (4yo) in his very first Power Wheels derby this past weekend. He has loved watching derby ever since he went to his first one last summer, and everyone starts somewhere. My 2yo son also got into watching derby videos along with my older guy, and his preference is bus derby. We may end up being a derby family. As such, I'm taking the Power Wheels event seriously for my older guy's sake, will be doing so in two years for my younger guy's sake if he chooses to run, etc. Today's shrieky-laughing preschooler in a Power Wheels derby is tomorrow's Vic-driving, mud-throwing trophy chaser.
The promoter for this event, whom I shall not name right now, had a list of "guidelines" posted on its website, for the Power Wheels event. (I put "guidelines" in quotes because the promoter told me that they are not rules.)
These "guidelines" have been posted there for many months, since before I bought my son's vehicle. I specifically sought one that was what he wanted and met the guidelines.
Among them were: "Max 12 volt battery", and "No major body modifications - appearance changes only". I found all of the "guidelines" to be fair and I made sure his vehicle complied with them. I even sent the promoter a picture of how I moved the gearshift (at the suggestion of WeCrash members - thanks y'all!) to make sure it didn't constitute an illegal body mod, and never heard back from them.
So here's the problem. The event contained a drag race. I never expected my son to win, for two reasons: 1) he's an unusually big and tall dude, weighing in at about 60 pounds (both my wife and I are over 6 feet tall); 2) he doesn't yet have the mental control to focus laser-like on the finish line for a drag race. I trained him a bit but I know that the focus of a kid that young ain't gonna be what it will be in a few years.
But what ended up happening really surprised me. He and a couple of others got completely dusted by vehicles that had what seemed like an unusual amount of giddyup for being 12 volt.
That was one issue. The second issue concerned the body modifications. One of the vehicles was modified with a bumper that had a spiked outcropping on the front, coming out by several inches. From a top view, imagining that the car is facing downward, the bumper looked like --v--. As far as I could tell, it was plastic, but my problem is that the Power Wheels event is not meant to be something where kids' toy cars are getting ruined. I've figured that it's supposed to be like glorified bumper cars. Yes, vehicles may get banged up a bit, and that's to be expected. That's why I bought a -used- Power Wheels for my son. But a bumper like that seems to have only one purpose - damaging other vehicles.
I ran my son (4yo) in his very first Power Wheels derby this past weekend. He has loved watching derby ever since he went to his first one last summer, and everyone starts somewhere. My 2yo son also got into watching derby videos along with my older guy, and his preference is bus derby. We may end up being a derby family. As such, I'm taking the Power Wheels event seriously for my older guy's sake, will be doing so in two years for my younger guy's sake if he chooses to run, etc. Today's shrieky-laughing preschooler in a Power Wheels derby is tomorrow's Vic-driving, mud-throwing trophy chaser.
The promoter for this event, whom I shall not name right now, had a list of "guidelines" posted on its website, for the Power Wheels event. (I put "guidelines" in quotes because the promoter told me that they are not rules.)
These "guidelines" have been posted there for many months, since before I bought my son's vehicle. I specifically sought one that was what he wanted and met the guidelines.
Among them were: "Max 12 volt battery", and "No major body modifications - appearance changes only". I found all of the "guidelines" to be fair and I made sure his vehicle complied with them. I even sent the promoter a picture of how I moved the gearshift (at the suggestion of WeCrash members - thanks y'all!) to make sure it didn't constitute an illegal body mod, and never heard back from them.
So here's the problem. The event contained a drag race. I never expected my son to win, for two reasons: 1) he's an unusually big and tall dude, weighing in at about 60 pounds (both my wife and I are over 6 feet tall); 2) he doesn't yet have the mental control to focus laser-like on the finish line for a drag race. I trained him a bit but I know that the focus of a kid that young ain't gonna be what it will be in a few years.
But what ended up happening really surprised me. He and a couple of others got completely dusted by vehicles that had what seemed like an unusual amount of giddyup for being 12 volt.
That was one issue. The second issue concerned the body modifications. One of the vehicles was modified with a bumper that had a spiked outcropping on the front, coming out by several inches. From a top view, imagining that the car is facing downward, the bumper looked like --v--. As far as I could tell, it was plastic, but my problem is that the Power Wheels event is not meant to be something where kids' toy cars are getting ruined. I've figured that it's supposed to be like glorified bumper cars. Yes, vehicles may get banged up a bit, and that's to be expected. That's why I bought a -used- Power Wheels for my son. But a bumper like that seems to have only one purpose - damaging other vehicles.
Now, after all was said and done, I talked with the promoter. They said, among other things, the following:
1) The guidelines are just that; guidelines, not rules. Their only hard and fast rule is that everyone must wear a helmet. (Funny thing is that this was not separated from the rest of the "guidelines" on the list. Nothing on their website made it seem like this one "guideline" differed from the rest.)
2) They know that some parents are modding their kids' vehicles to use 18 volt batteries.
3) The modded bumper of which I spoke was acceptable because it was made of plastic. (Side note: The whole freaking vehicle, save for the screws, motors, and battery, is made of plastic!)
4) They do not inspect vehicles for compliance with "guidelines" and they have no intention of doing so in the future.
5) They don't enforce "guidelines" because they just want the event to be fun for kids.
I find this to be unbelievable. It seems to violate the entire spirit of Power Wheels events and demolition derby in general. Unless I'm just an ignoramus, it would seem that any respectable derby driver would want there to be rules governing what kind of vehicles can be run and what kind of mods can be made to them, so that the playing field is relatively even and someone can't win just by entering a vehicle that looks like a war machine on huge mud traction tires with a 1,000+ horsepower monster under the hood.
In the case of children, mine isn't yet old enough to recognize a significant difference between winning and losing (he thought he "won" the derby because he got a participation trophy, and said nothing about having lost the drag race), but he will be old enough eventually, and as a parent, I want him to learn the lesson that you do the best you can and sometimes you're going to lose because someone else is more skilled behind the wheel than you are. I don't want him to learn that winning and losing have to do entirely with whose parent has the time and knowledge to mod their vehicle to the point where it's dominant. I have that knowledge and could find that time. But is that the right spirit? I say no.
We also have to consider the safety aspect of things. Faster vehicles create harder crashes, and harder crashes raise the risk of injury.
I talked with a representative of a fair that's having a Power Wheels derby in addition to their regular derby, this coming weekend, and they're doing it themselves (not using a promoter). This person said that the posted rules are strict and vehicles will be inspected to ensure compliance. The rules were a near-exact match for the "guidelines" posted by the promoter I'm talking about... which, unfortunately, seems to run most of the derbies that are local to where I live. So it appears by no means universal that these items are treated as "guidelines" that can be violated without consequence, as opposed to hard rules.
It seems to me that this is a lawsuit waiting to happen, despite the waiver that everyone has to sign. I signed that thing with an expectation that the "guidelines" were actually "rules" that were hard and fast. The promoter dug its heels into the ground when I talked with them about how they operated this event, saying I'm the only parent who has ever complained about it, and basically trying to cast me as the bad guy when really, all I want is for them to enforce their own posted "guidelines". I feel that doing so actually ensures that fun will be had by all kids, because there'd be a level playing field for the drag race and derby, and no unnecessarily heightened risk of vehicle damage or personal injury.
My questions are as follows:
1) What do y'all think about this? (As in, am I just clueless, or do you think this is not the way a promoter ought to be running a Power Wheels event?)
2) Do you believe there's anything I can do to ensure that the "guidelines" are enforced? (I imagine that the fair board has authority over all promoters, vendors, etc. Could I contact them and tell them there's a problem, explain it, and have a reasonable expectation going forward that they are going to insist upon compliance?)
Any thoughts are welcomed.
2) They know that some parents are modding their kids' vehicles to use 18 volt batteries.
3) The modded bumper of which I spoke was acceptable because it was made of plastic. (Side note: The whole freaking vehicle, save for the screws, motors, and battery, is made of plastic!)
4) They do not inspect vehicles for compliance with "guidelines" and they have no intention of doing so in the future.
5) They don't enforce "guidelines" because they just want the event to be fun for kids.
I find this to be unbelievable. It seems to violate the entire spirit of Power Wheels events and demolition derby in general. Unless I'm just an ignoramus, it would seem that any respectable derby driver would want there to be rules governing what kind of vehicles can be run and what kind of mods can be made to them, so that the playing field is relatively even and someone can't win just by entering a vehicle that looks like a war machine on huge mud traction tires with a 1,000+ horsepower monster under the hood.
In the case of children, mine isn't yet old enough to recognize a significant difference between winning and losing (he thought he "won" the derby because he got a participation trophy, and said nothing about having lost the drag race), but he will be old enough eventually, and as a parent, I want him to learn the lesson that you do the best you can and sometimes you're going to lose because someone else is more skilled behind the wheel than you are. I don't want him to learn that winning and losing have to do entirely with whose parent has the time and knowledge to mod their vehicle to the point where it's dominant. I have that knowledge and could find that time. But is that the right spirit? I say no.
We also have to consider the safety aspect of things. Faster vehicles create harder crashes, and harder crashes raise the risk of injury.
I talked with a representative of a fair that's having a Power Wheels derby in addition to their regular derby, this coming weekend, and they're doing it themselves (not using a promoter). This person said that the posted rules are strict and vehicles will be inspected to ensure compliance. The rules were a near-exact match for the "guidelines" posted by the promoter I'm talking about... which, unfortunately, seems to run most of the derbies that are local to where I live. So it appears by no means universal that these items are treated as "guidelines" that can be violated without consequence, as opposed to hard rules.
It seems to me that this is a lawsuit waiting to happen, despite the waiver that everyone has to sign. I signed that thing with an expectation that the "guidelines" were actually "rules" that were hard and fast. The promoter dug its heels into the ground when I talked with them about how they operated this event, saying I'm the only parent who has ever complained about it, and basically trying to cast me as the bad guy when really, all I want is for them to enforce their own posted "guidelines". I feel that doing so actually ensures that fun will be had by all kids, because there'd be a level playing field for the drag race and derby, and no unnecessarily heightened risk of vehicle damage or personal injury.
My questions are as follows:
1) What do y'all think about this? (As in, am I just clueless, or do you think this is not the way a promoter ought to be running a Power Wheels event?)
2) Do you believe there's anything I can do to ensure that the "guidelines" are enforced? (I imagine that the fair board has authority over all promoters, vendors, etc. Could I contact them and tell them there's a problem, explain it, and have a reasonable expectation going forward that they are going to insist upon compliance?)
Any thoughts are welcomed.
