I posted these comments in another thread to help give people some insight into what could be a troubling idea about Peter's passing -- that he might not have been in a position to fully appreciate how dangerous racing can be. If it helps at all, know that Peter was a young man wise beyond his years, who was fully aware of the risks, along with the rewards.
A lot of people have attested that Peter was a nice human being and they're certainly right. He was a genuinely nice kid and if that's all he ever was, he would have been an asset to the world.
That's not all he was though. He was a seasoned competitor, with about 135 race wins, nine national championships and many hard times behind him. Understand that he had the kind of personal drive to persevere when things were tough. It wasn't somebody's boot in his backside; it was him. When he went into the wall at PIR, he had to be cut out of the fence. As they laid him on the stretcher, he was begging God to let him live. He knew how badly he was hurt and he fought for his life.
After many surgeries and months of recuperation, he wanted to go racing again. It was his folks who had to do the soul searching; Peter just wanted to race again. I would normally agree that a 13 year old's brain hasn't developed fully and that they might not be able to think through the potential risks. There are other ways to get there. Peter couldn't overcome the biological fact of his age and state of development, but anyone who believes he couldn't fully grasp the risk he was taking is kidding themselves. The simple truth is he understood it better than most people do. In the face of knowing that, his passion was still the larger force.
I had the chance to coach him at Thunderhill this summer. We had crossed paths before at the Superbike School, but had never spent any time together. He was cooperative and polite from the start. As we progressed through two days together he became quite trusting and he was happy with the gains he made.
Early on the first day, we were working on reference points. He hadn't yet found RP's he was happy with in turn 3. As we discussed the turn, I made the observation that the camber of the surface varies from the inside to the outside of the track. We talked about how camber changes have similar effects on the bike as radius changes. I left it there, asking him to look at the camber the next time he was out.
He saw the same thing I had and worked out a very effective line through the turn. His line showed an extremely sophisticated understanding of the relationship between line and camber. He took a broader arc over the surface that was more off camber and tightened his line where the camber relaxed and would support a tighter line at that speed. The line was unconventional, but it answered the challenge the surface presented and Peter was faster in that location than just about anyone I saw during those two days.
This little story is but one of thousands that someone could tell about Peter. Solving problems to go faster spun his beanie. His understanding was deep and he had a creative mind. He expressed himself through velocity.
I was gutted when I heard of his passing. I still am. There are lots of things wrong with losing such a neat young man. As Budman has mentioned, the bond between father and son was very close. They worked well together, they enjoyed the sport together and they had a quiet ease with one another. They would have had a good relationship no matter what, I think, but Peter was born to do what he was doing. He was chasing his potential and his family got to see something spectacular in the making. He was inspirational and it would be a shame to let the freak accident that took him distract us too much from that fact.
