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We've said it before, and we'll say it again-There is nothing like karting to get your Kicks, whether you want to have fun, or have lofty dreams of being the next World Champion ACCESS KARTING 05… By Efrain Olivares It's cheap, and it's fun. It can also be expensive and very serious. Whichever part of the spectrum takes your fancy, there is no denying the sport of kart racing is becoming more accessible to the average Joe. Indoor karting centers are springing up nationwide at an almost epidemic rate, in city centers and urban areas allowing you and your friends the chance to sample first-hand the buzz of karting without a six-hour drive. Maybe you use it as a company incentive, a way of having a fun-filled night at little expense. But beware: what may start out as an innocent night of fun can easily spark the belief that you could be the next Schumacher, Tracy, or Danica Patrick.... Even the more serious levels of karting series are reaching out to the communities, by bringing their excitement to the masses with inner city events at places like Reno, Nev., or Cascade Rocks, Ore. And there is no doubting the snowball effect of reaching that wider audience. The potential for growth through these more accessible markets is almost impossible to gauge. Keep on the lookout, it'll be coming to a track very near you... THE WORLD UNDER ONE ROOF Competitive? Check. Fun? Oh yes. Physical? Definitely. RACER was on the grid for the inaugural Indoor Karting World Championship, and emerged with pride (and bruises). By Efrain Olivares The inagural Indoor Kart World Championship, presented by RacingSchools.com, brought 45 kart racers from nine countries (including this journalist who calls Dromo 1 in Orange, Calif., his home track) to the F1 Race Factory in Phoenix, Ariz. The field would be whittled down through three one-hour heat races, to a 25 kart, 90-minute final. After two days, Werner Truegler of Austria was the individual champion of the IKWC, while Brazilian TopKart.com.br took the team title. But, do you want the inside story? Deep breath, here goes my weekend. Thursday: I walk into the lobby of my hotel and see the Brazilians decked out in team livery and acting very confident. I'm guessing I felt the way Michael Andretti did the first time he met Ayrton Senna.... Friday: Practice day. Wow... observations? Well, the Brazilians don't wait for a passing opportunity, they make one. Same for the Europeans. I find out that there are two women racers-Valerie Smith and Lexie Flotto-entered. Was not pleased when Flotto passed me in a high-speed section of the track. I commence my excuses. Saturday: The great thing about the points system in place for the IWKC is that the same points (12) are awarded for 13th through last. As such, if you get a bad kart and can't keep up, you aren't totally sunk as far as making the final. This works out well for me as my first kart was an utter dog. I wound up 12th, numerous laps down. A bit of strategy is also needed, with the requirement of a pit stop in every race. Each driver must pit, exit the kart (making sure both feet touch the ground) get back in and take off. I had a much better kart in the second race. I ended up seventh, despite someone getting impatient.... The ensuing crash sent me into a wall, but I'm now 20th overall, so, all is well. Sunday: Ah... All is not well. I was stuck with yet another bad kart-this one suffering from a smoked clutch. Finishing 14th, I drop to 21st in the overall standings, which is still good enough to make the 90-minute final. But clearly I have a way to go if I'm not to look silly when I get to the office Monday morning. And I've got a quick kart! Madness at the start, as 25 karts makes for a very crowded track. I'm able to pass about 10 people in the first half hour-including my designated nemesis for the weekend, Lexie Flotto. I hit traffic with about 40 minutes left and pit for my mandatory pit stop, leaving in 11th place. Friends are giving me pit signals, and pointing emphatically at karts in front of me-they must be for position. I pick off one, and others must have pitted, because now the sign says P8 and I'm closing on Alex Gumpenberger from Austria. I get by him but, as we lap traffic in a fast sweeper, he hits me-I'm aware that bumping happens, especially in indoor karting, but there was nothing clean about this pass-and I sail into a wall, get the kart very much up on two wheels, and he motors on by. He is warned by the marshals, slows, and lets me by in the same spot a lap later. And that is how my race ended, in seventh. The 90-minute final has given me blisters on my hands, an extremely sore neck and a limp. It all hurts real good. But it is certainly an experience that gets my taste buds going. With a bunch of different languages being spoken around me, heavy accents, excuses for poor performances (and not a little accusation), it feels like I've finished a Grand Prix. Now, where's the press conference? BRINGING IT TO THE PEOPLE There’s a new fad growing: urban races, on temporary tracks, which take the world of karting to a whole new audience. By Efrain Olivares What's missing at your local kart race? (Word "local" used loosely-just how close is that track?) Answer? Spectators! As exciting as the sport of karting is, it is a tough draw to get people out into the sticks, where most tracks are, to watch the racing. The solution? Urban races- a la the current trend in Champ Car. The reasons are much the same: by bringing the product-in this case, the high-speed, high adrenaline, slightly X Games atmosphere of karting-closer to the people, it is exposed to a far greater number of spectators, future racers, and potential sponsors than would have been possible at your standard kart track. This is good for business, as the communities of Rock Island, 111 and Cascade Locks, Ore., will tell you. Some local businesses report their best period of the year is when the race is in town. An urban race is not just a race-it's an event. Those partying in the infield of the Cascade Locks Kart Grand Prix on Saturday evening will tell you as much, as would those enjoying any of the other events during the Quad Cities Speed Weeks-of which the Rock Island Grand Prix is the headlining attraction. Karters, like any racers, show up to have a good time, and being in the middle of a city makes for an event that they can enjoy both on and off the track. The reality is, these urban-based kart races have become a win-win situation for everybody involved. Well, the odd wheel or axle may be sacrificed to the gods of curbing and haybales, but that's an added element that all racers have to deal with. In addition, the short and often technical nature of these temporary tracks makes for close and competitive action-action that the paying customer is able to get very close to without a day-long road trip to endure. Two of the biggest karting organizations-the Stars of Karting and Superkarts! USA have embraced urban racing as well, heading to the tourist friendly towns of Reno, Nev. (Stars), and Las Vegas, Nev. (SKUSA). Stars partnered with the Reno Hilton, which provided the venue as well as promoted the event, and naturally had its revenues bolstered by the visiting racing community. The Reno location is also close enough to Northern California, from where the series is able to draw a good amount of competitors. According to Stars of Karting director of marketing Jeff Swoboda, the venue also proved to be a big hit with series sponsors MINI and Snap-On, which were also able to expose karting to people who would have never been aware of it otherwise-fulfilling the premise of the urban kart events. |
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HOW I GOT STARTED #1 Alan Rudolph When I was around nine, somebody gave my dad a kart in trade for work done at his auto repair shop. We didn't know what we had, so we did a little research and took that kart to our local track. The first time we went to the track was my first race. What I can remember from that day is, 'Holy cow, these other kids are really fast.' But from that moment I was hooked, and as they say, the rest is history. We opened our own kart shop in St. Louis, becoming the local distributor for Margay, and I've taken the karting thing as far as one can possibly take it. I've been very fortunate. HOW I GOT STARTED #2 Phil Ciebler Around 1989, I was introduced to karting through a family friend-Patrick Long's father. I'd go out to the track when I was about nine, and then Patrick got a little kart when he was around eight. We'd putt around the track when there was no racing, and that's what sparked the interest in karting. When we found out that guys our age could race, we were blown away. My mom found a kart in our local paper, and we checked it out and bought it. That led to us doing some local races, and my third race was a National Championship. After that point, we never stopped. HOW I GOT STARTED #3 Jason Bowles My dad used to work near Adams Kart Track ' (Riverside, Calif.) when I was around 10, and one day he stopped by it and checked it out. He thought it was neat, so I took a driving school and I really liked it. The first kart came just a couple of months later. I didn't do much racing at first, we would just go to the track and enjoy driving. We didn't have a lot of money, so racing was tough, but after a while I started doing better, and getting support from people. It just continued from there, and by the time I was 14 or 15 I was doing it for free. HOW I GOT STARTED #4 Scott Speed My father raced karts and was three-time national champion, so I've been around it for as long as I can remember. My first run was a bit scary, I ran a kart that belonged to a friend of my dad's at the Kinsman Kart Club in Dixon, Calif. Someone tried to push me down the straightaway and I lost control of the kart, ran over a curb and spun in the air. My first race was at the Prarie City Kart Club, near Sacramento, Calif. I had to start last and wear an X on the back of my helmet because I was a novice. I finished third. I still have the trophy to this day, and that was in 1993. |
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