white_spider

Don't get him a slower car. If he likes to go fast, he's going to speed no matter the car. The only difference is if he has a descent car he's going to think twice before he does something stupid. I have refrained myself on several occasions from racing people simply because I don't want to lose the car that I just bought. If you get a ticket at 16 for reckless driving, your probably going to get your license taken away until your 18 (had it happen to my friends). Just make sure that he keeps that in mind when he's driving. When I had the 1989 camry, the car was in horrible condition, so I took very little pride in it.

JJSpinALot

kids dont take any pride in any car that is just handed too them. you can give him a brand new porsche and he is still going to do dumb stuff if if friends tell him to. a car that has better than average handling and brakes but a weak motor is the best bet. its safe and sure handling but dosnt have enough power to get you in trouble.
miata
sentra se-r
honda civic si
integra gsr, type-r

all super slow but super fun to drive and handle well.

Tarzan Bakerada

Miata-kid might try to be the next drift king and wreck
Sentra se-r-hard to find but good cars
Civic-excellent first car(was my first car) slow but with plenty of potential to be a fast/fun car.
Integra type r- way to exspenive and hard to find

Axelerate

I think a Miata is a good fist car since you can only fit a passenger plus it get's great gas millage.

Didn't YOU get a ticket for having too many passengers???

Plus if he wanted to auto-x it's the car to have, especially stock.

Tarzan Bakerada

I was just thinking with drifting beging the new cool thing to do, its just one more dumb thing to try. And yes I did.

Axelerate

It is but, it's still better than street racing. Plus he might learn something trying to drift.

temp2

buy him a saturn, thats what my parents did to my sister hahaha

lLOlRlElN

nature vs. nurture

you can nurture your child and advise on not street racing and doing the right thing, but nature will run its course.

otherwise buy your child a "shitty" car not worth being seen in and advise that child needs to pay to play.

GreatShamanGT

Where do I get a competitive racing license? Also, are there any tracks I could race on? or does it HAVE to be autocross?

getfast

One place would be a NASA competition licensing school, which are held at VIR several times a year. You will need a logbooked racecar (which you can rent) and will need to have graduated through the HPDE program first (which takes 10-20 weekends on average):

http://www.nasaracing.net/hpde.htm

Once you gain a license, the closest two tracks you could race on are:

http://www.summitpoint-raceway.com (outside Winchester VA)

and

http://www.virclub.com (outside Danville VA)

Enter "Summit Point" or "VIR" into Youtube and soforth... and you can see plenty of in-car videos.

You can also do the HPDE's and/or time trials mentioned at the link above at these same facilities. Often during the race weekends, with NASA at least.

It doesn't HAVE to be autocross. Although a lot of people recommend starting there first.

The info at http://www.nasaracing.net will get you started...

Hope it helps,

Jon