Race-track operator at Disney World says it might raise age limits if legal waivers aren’t reinstated

Fans of stock car racing can get behind the wheel or ride shotgun at Walt Disney World Speedway. (Walt Disney World photo)

The Richard Petty Driving Experience, which operates a race track at Walt Disney World, says raising age limits to exclude children from driving or riding in its stock cars is “a definite possibility” if Florida lawmakers don’t re-instate parental waivers this spring.

“That will be a business decision we make in consultation with our legal and insurance representatives,” Richard Petty spokesman and Chief Marketing Officer Mark Bartelli said this morning. “We hope that the issue will be resolved rationally by the Legislature.”

The Richard Petty Driving Experience has become a flashpoint in a year-long lobbying battle between Florida’s tourism industry and the state’s trial lawyers about whether to overturn a December 2008 state Supreme Court ruling that found parents do not have the authority to sign away their children’s civil-lawsuit rights before they participate in potentially dangerous commercial activities.

That’s because Richard Petty last year lowered the age limit, from 16 to 14, for its ride-along experience at Disney World where guests get to ride in stock cars at speeds of up to 165 mph — a high-profile contradiction to claims that the court ruling would lead many businesses to exclude kids from activities. The move provided fodder for lawyers who charge the tourism industry with exaggerating the potential consequences of the court decision in order to build support for reinstating parental waivers.

In the fourteen months since the ruling, a handful of businesses around the state say they have been forced to make changes — most notably, Orlando’s Gatorland, which no longer allows kids to participate in a reptile-handling experience and has shelved plans for a new thrill ride that would require guests to sign legal releases. But other prominent tourism businesses that have been lobbying to overturn the decision, including Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando, haven’t made any adjustments to activities that require waivers. (Read a story from last week’s newspaper on the issue here.)

Bartelli said Richard Petty’s decision to lower the age limit was already in the works when the company found out that Florida’s highest court had invalidated parental waivers. “This was a business decision made independent of the ruling,” he said. “When we became aware of the ruling, we decided to monitor the legislative response and revisit the decision once that played out.”

Like others in the tourism industry, Bartelli said the fallout from the  court ruling will continue to spread if lawmakers don’t revive waivers. Florida’s annual 60-day legislative session begins a week from today.

“There will be an inevitable business reaction to the ruling even if, like our company, there are those that are [currently] waiting upon clarity from the Legislature,” he said.

“Understand that the Ride-Along program is a ride in a NASCAR stock car driven by one of our professional drivers. There has never been an injury to a rider in this program…For RPDE, the risk associated with the waiver issue is small,” Bartelli added. “That does not mean that it is not legally significant, and there are potential insurance issues which could determine the issue for us.”