Junior Open Wheel Talent

Skip Barber released their entry list for the 2008 karting scholarship shoot-out. The event will take place December 27-29 at Sebring International Raceway. Skip Barber Racing provides close to $130,000 in scholarships, which can be used in numerous Skip Barber Racing Series. The top driver in attendance will receive a fully-funded ride in the 2009 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda.

There will be 50 drivers in attendance this year, which seems to be a pretty common entry number for the shoot-out (based on years past). I've noticed that the ages of drivers invited to the shoot-out have been going down in recent years, but after looking at the entries this year, there seemed to be a much better spread. I decided to dig into the recent entry lists in an effort to get some real numbers. Here is what I found...

Percentage of Drivers Age 15 or Younger
2008- 20.00% (10 drivers) with the youngest being 13 years of age.
2007- 29.41% (15 drivers) with the youngest being 12 years of age.
2006- 24.49% (12 drivers) with the youngest being 13 years of age.
2005- 17.02% (8 drivers) with the youngest being 13 years of age.

After looking at these numbers, there is no denying that the average age of aspiring race car drivers is declining. It's nice to see the entry list stabilize a little this year, with the average age of an entrant coming in at 18-years-old. While getting into the program and gaining car experience at a young age is a positive thing, there is certainly no shame in letting kids develop longer in go-karts. So many of today's "racing-parents" want their children in F1 before they're eighteen. Hopefully this growing trend will start to stabilize and slow down, rushing a young drivers development will only hamper their future efforts.

Without further ado, here is the 2008 Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-Out Entry:

DRIVER/AGE/HOMETOWN
Julian Albarracin, 14 Bogota, Colombia
Joffrey Amaya, 15 Miami, Fla.
Nick Andries, 18 Pinellas Park, Fla.
Darrick Antell, 18 Greenwich, Conn.
Timothy Bachman, 14 Bakersfield, Calif.
James Bailey, 22 Oakland, Calif.
Thomas Bonatz, 20 Birmingham, Ala.
Thiago Calvet, 22 Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Ian Costa, 19 Danville, Calif.
Nick DeCuzzi, 16 Brunswick, Ohio
Michael Dorrbecker, 15 Queretaro, Mexico
Ashley Freiberg, 17 Homer Glen, Ill.
Kyle Gimple, 17 Minden, Nev.
Mikhail Goikhberg, 22 Vaughan, Ont.
Bradley Hagerman, 22 Sarasota, Fla.
Keenan Harris, 17 Bolton, Ont.
Dalton Hartye, 17 Boonton, N.J.
Sage Karam, 13 Nazareth, Penn.
Matthew Keel, 19 Austin, Texas
Greg Lacoste Jr., 24 Slidell, La.
Corey Lewis, 17 Nazareth, Penn.
Travis Lowe, 21 Pasadena, Calif.
Tyler Lux, 17 Wayzata, Minn.
Isaac Lyons, 19 Hillsborough Down, Northern Ireland
Matthew Mair, 15 Miami, Fla.
Mason Marotta, 14 Bakersfield, Calif.
Jake McCurdy, 20 Rockford, Mich.
James Migita, 23 Columbus, Ohio
Peter Minnig, 18 Falls Church, Va.
Eric Morse, 18 Bridgeville, Penn.
Nate Norenberg, 22 Plymouth, Minn.
Michael O'Chocke, 23 Powell, Ohio
Spencer Pigot, 15 Windmere, Fla.
Joshua Reaume, 18 Victoria, B.C.
Tomas Saldana, 19 Madrid, Spain
Antonio Saro, 15 Atizapan de Zaragoza, Mexico
Benjamin Searcy, 19 Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Felix Serralles, 16 Mercedita, Puerto Rico
Jimmy Simpson, 16 Indianapolis, Ind.
Nathaniel Steele, 20 Tully, N.Y.
Blake Teeter, 18 Wichita, Kan.
Kevin Tittle, 19 Santa Barbara, Calif.
Dennis Trebing, 16 Cape Coral, Fla.
Dexter Tuttle, 19 Charlotte, N.C.
Andrew Vargas, 19 Hayward, Calif.
Daniel Vela, 14 Miami, Fla.
Court Vernon, 16 Key Biscayne, Fla.
Tyler Walsh, 17 Shorewood, Minn.
Joey Wimsett, 16 Beavercreek, Ore.
Esteban Yanguas, 22 Bogota, Colombia