The comments about the parents & kids blowing up after losing a drag race isn't any different than what I've seen happen at motocross races, soccer games, etc. My older son was a good soccer player, but got burned out after a few years when he didn't feel he had it in him to make the next step up in competition. He started wrestling as a high school freshman last year and is totally into it since he's already on the Varsity team. But I expect the reality that he's only talented enough to be "competitive", but not skilled enough to be dominant like some of this team mates, is going to lessen his enthusiasm for going out and getting his butt whipped by somebody who's simply that much better. At that point, it won't be fun to be out-gunned regularly and he'll move on to something else.

Motocross was like that for me, in that when I felt like I wasn't competitive any more (injuries, nothing left in the "talent pool" to increase my speed), I had to make the decision on whether to quit or just race for fun, regardless of how I placed. I raced for fun for a little while, then stopped and only went on non-race rides w/ some friends who were also former or part-time racers, then eventually sold off all my stuff and never rode again. I don't even bother to spectate the local AMA National MX round any longer, although I track the series' results online.

My younger son, to be blunt, simply doesn't give a rat's a$$ about sports: he's the "un"competitor. I'm just happy he stuck it out in Tae Kwon Do long enough to earn his 1st Degree Black Belt (as did his older brother some years earlier), but then pretty much said "That's it!" and quit right after. He's a great kid and a really good student, but we're really wired differently, whereas I have an easier time relating to my older son because our personalities (for better or worse) are more in synch.

Taking my Challenger to the track, as infrequently as that's been over the last 15 years, is now just a "for fun" thing, and is mostly exercising my desire to go faster as an ET Chaser at the test & tunes, or racing the occasional Mopar or street-car event.

Sorry, I'm sure I wandered off topic here and did something of a "stream of consciousness" post.