FWIW I started my son in Super Pro(box). Didn't see the point of starting him anywhere else since his goal was to run fast and eventually get into S/C. We approached it the same way we did with sports. I played college basketball and he had offers to play college baseball. So we took the same approach to racing. We "played up" in the beginning.

Having started in Pro for me and only spending two years there before I moved on I saw no practical reason to start him there. When he was young and had had an affinity for baseball and was a very good player we moved him up with older kids at 9. He played with the 12 year olds. It was a very rough start for him then but it paid off well in the following years. He was forced to get better as he like his father has a competitive streak. Same thing in HS, he decided to try a new position for him as the Varsity team only had one returning catcher left. Same hard start but by the 5th game of the year he was the starter as a freshman. So throwing him to the S/P "wolves" so to speak made the most sense to us. Same thing happened his first year he took a lot of lumps and learned a lot of valuable lessons and got schooled plenty. We tossed him into the big dollar stuff right away. No softballs for him. But he approached it just like baseball. Learn something every pass in the car. He spent a lot of time with me at the finish line watching what was going on and learning the sport. Year two he began winning more and more rounds. By the end of year two he has three wins under his belt. I only see more good things for him. He has been paid compliments for his driving ability for friends of mine who I have the utmost respect for in the racing community. I think starting him off and tasking the same approach we used with sports has paid off. Before he got in the dragster last year he had never raced ANYTHING. Had he entered the points here this year he would have finished 3rd and been in the ROC at the ET Finals. So I think we have made the correct choice. Now everything is apart and the car is getting a remake in hopes he can carry this only to run S/C maybe the end of next year.

Sorry for the long post but proud of what the kid has accomplished. I think approaching this stuff analytically and frame of mind go along way.