In response to the accident:
Unfortunately, it's time for Nick to grow up. The kid has been walking around with his head in the clouds. There's a painful-to-watch movie call "the fast and the furious" (atleast I believe that's the name) which was created to target teenage viewers. I think Nick watched it and has been trying to eminate the main character ever since. The main character is a teenage boy who gets into drift racing, drives wildly on public roads, and challenges drivers he encounters on the road to races. The movie romanticizes the actions of the "hero." I'd never heard of drift racing before suffering through the viewing of this flick.
Nick went to his dad and said "I want to be a drift racer." Although it normally takes years of training (and the kid didn't even have his normal driver's licence yet) he was behind the wheel of a professional car, in a race, within 2 weeks. wtf? Oh, and so he crashes the car before the race begins during pre-race warm-ups. No worries. The Hulk quickly calls a dealership, has them speed issue a very expensive car to him against policy, has a team transform it into a drift-racing vehicle, and gives it to Nick in time so that he can still participate in the same-day race. Big surprise: he crashes it.I believe he had other crashes after that, but i'm not sure of those details, or whether or not they are facts. It was obvious he didn't belong behind the wheel, but because of his star power, that was overlooked.
It's like the kid watching "mission impossible" then going to dad and saying "dad, I want to be an espionage artist," and within 2 weeks being provided with bombs, a personal helicopter, and all that other spy stuff. It's ridiculous.I feel for the kid, for he is just that, but now it's time for him to pay up and grow up. I believe he deserves atleast a year of jail time.
As for the marine, my genuine prayers go out to him and his family. My cousin, who served in afghanistan, died tragically recently in the states. I met several of his comrades who spoke of his deeds in a way I'd never heard spoken before. It affected me in a great way. Marines are crazy sons-of-bitches and I love them to death. My thanks and prayers to John Graziano.
