Murder-Cycles Simply Not Child's Play

A 13-year-old boy was killed racing his motorcycle Sunday. If that shocks you, chances are you just don't understand the sport.

Lucky for your kids.

Not so lucky was Peter Lenz, all 81 pounds of him.

"The fatal accident almost certainly will spark a debate about how young is too young," the AP story said.

Well let's hope so. Kids have to be 16 to get a license to drive a car 70 mph. But we let 12-year-olds drive motorcycles 120 mph?

I don't want to come off as a namby-pamby parent who won't let his kids climb a tree, but what am I missing here?

Everything, according to fans of tykes of motorbikes.

"God's speed to the family of Master Lenz and don't let the ignorant masses question your decision making as parents."

So read one of the thousands of Internet comments since Peter (I can't bring myself to call him "Lenz") was killed at a U.S. Grand Prix Racers Union event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The debate is on. As a member of the ignorant masses I'm trying not to have the predictable reaction. I went to a Honda dealer Monday hoping to find a little balance to my utter bafflement. The model that Peter rode wasn't in the showroom.

"It's not street legal," one salesman said. "That would be a special order."

For about $12,000.

Three sales people gathered around. They could defend motorcycle riding as an acceptably safe activity. They didn't even try to defend pre-teen motorcycle racing.

"Oh my God!" one said when I told her about Peter's accident.

Another salesman recounted how a friend of his recently saw a man killed at a race in West Virginia, when a 12-year-old lost control of his motorcycle.

Three employees at a Honda dealership are not a scientific sampling of opinion. They do have a vested interest in promoting all things motorcycle. An 8th grader dying is just too hard to accept.

The USGPR youth division covers ages 12 to 18, but racers start much younger. It all prepares America's youth to take on the motorcycle racing world. The arguments in favor of the sport are simple.

More kids are hurt or killed in swimming pools or playing football or cheerleading, and we don't demand their banishment whenever someone dies.

Besides, kids like Peter are just following their dream.

"This is our sport," said Nicky Hayden, the 2006 world champ. "We chose to do it."

Yes, and 10-year-olds also choose to eat bugs, jump off ledges and drive daddy's car. Every activity has risks. It's the parents' job to minimize them.

That doesn't mean putting your kid in bubble wrap. It does mean questioning the wisdom of strapping your kid to a rocket.

If they're racing midget cars, at least they're in a car. You know what emergency medical technicians call motorcycles?

Murder-cycles.



No doubt, Peter was a quite a little pilot. He earned the "expert" license from the American Federation of Motorcyclists when he was 11. He was the youngest winner of an AFM race. And nobody had ever been killed in the USGPR's nine-year history.

Just because somebody can do something well doesn't mean they should do it. Especially when they think they'll live forever. Of course, when you're 8 years old how else can you think?

Peter undoubtedly thought that even after a crash last year. He broke four bones and severed a radial nerve.

But hey, you can't protect your kids forever.

"He passed away doing what he loved," Peter's father wrote on his Facebook page.

My guess is he also could have learned to love basketball or the trumpet if he'd been exposed to them. But I'm just part of the ignorant mass, especially after seeing the video (above) of Peter being interviewed last month.

It's on the USGPR website. There he was, zipping corners at about 60 mph with his knee an inch off the track. Peter almost looked like a grownup in his racing suit.
Just because somebody can do something well doesn't mean they should do it.

Then he took off his helmet, and it looked like the pit road version of "Toddlers and Tiaras," where 3-year-old girls try to look 18 and win beauty pageants.

After discussing his motorcycle and his chief mechanic, Peter talked about the picture on the side of his motorcycle.

"I've got a dinosaur on the side of my bike," he said. "He's actually a real-life stuffed dinosaur. I've had him since I was three. His name is Diney, so it's pretty cool."

So how young is too young?

I'm not sure, but here's a thought.

If a kid is young enough to still love stuffed animals, he probably shouldn't be taking them for a ride at 120 mph.