Track Tac

1985 Dirt Oval Karting

G

geonagle

New member
Day dreaming about building a 1985 vintage dirt oval kart for grins and giggles...

For those around and active in dirt oval karting during 1985: a few questions.

What was the hot set-up ( frame brand , engine ) for beginner senior drivers? Any two cycles?

What size, brand tires ?

When did the first dirt specific frames appear?

When did tire preparation chemicals become commonly used?

What were the classes?

Any and all info is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
In 85 I rode a straight frame Margay with 4 continentals on two piece wheels soaked in diesel fuel and ATF can't remember the size though , Jr. Stock ,Stock light, engine was a flathead. Had a Bug kart back then also . Had a set of Dunlop Dirt Specials tires that I remember winning on. Later got on a new Trick A-Bone kart !
 
wasp, margay karts those 2 mac 91 mac 101 briggs engines carlile,dunlop tires there were alot of frames they just evolved ,prep been done for 25 years last 10 came on strong first prep deisel fuel was one

classes 4 cycle 2 cycle no weight limits and hope you brought enough did seperate by age i have videos on real from raceing in 70 s
 
I had Straight up Coyote w/ 5hp Briggs also had a Comet Mach 1 w/ 5hp Briggs and we ran like 4-1/4" fronts ...lol
 
Coyote Bullet (narrow waist kart) that was pretty good on dirt. Before that I had a Margay stuff Concept & PantherX. Before that I had a '66 Dart A-bone on Carlisle Super Slicks or GoodYear Blue Streaks (3 piece 4" diameter front wheels and 5" diameter rears.) :)
The Margay Concept and Coyote was what I had in '85. Shortly thereafter, I started running Starduster karts from Rod George. That kart was the first that I remember being on Continental slicks. Before that we were all on Bridgestone or Dunlop rain tires. Burris had the old T2 compound (7.00s on the rear, and 4.50s on the fronts) that got everyone off of the pavement rain stuff, then later we were on B4 and then D4 Burris dirt slicks. Narrow tires and no prep 'til the mid to late '80s.

Brings back good memories.

Good luck on your project!
Thanks,
Brian Carlson
 
I drove a margay expert 2 with a briggs, had the slide choke carburetor. Burris T-2 tires, 7.10 x 5 on both rears, 5.5 on the right front and 4.5 on the left front. No tire prep. Klotz oil. We had 4cycle stock medium and stock heavy as well as a couple 2 cycle classes.
 
Trick that had some type of adjustable knob setup to add bite as you were driving. Very high tech. Tires soaked it lots of diesel. Also creo was around. Would run the same tires all season. Wrapped them in ace bandages soaked in diesel and then wrapped in clear plastic. Us PoBoys were collecting used oil from the "rich racers" and reusing it after the sediment settled out sitting in the sun. Also adding a little castor. That was late 80's. Good times

We normally ran 3 classes on dirt. Box Stock Lite, Med and Limited (I think the limited was heavy). Weighed it out on bathroom scales. Body on the kart was a nose that left the fronts exposed and 2 flimsy side panels. Also had some type of number plate thing in front of the driver.

Burris tires sometimes punching as low as 10 on the durometer when track was really wet. Lots of work with the torch to get them there.
 
Got my start on a coyote bullet as well Carlson. Man that kart was impressive on the dirt for its time!
Ran a West bend 820 2 cycle.
Was running burris treads , dont remember sizes other than 5 inch rims.
Body! What is that? Boy if these folks would have seen what happens with open wheels when you come together.
Nine times out of ten someone was on their lid!
This is how karting should have stayed.
You ran with full fields of karts , and you go wheel to wheel the whole race, everyone had respect and we raced not playing bumpers cars and peek a boo all night.
 
Just watched the video, and its definately clean racing compared to what you see now. That first race it showed, the 3rd place kart kept having to completely hit the brake and let off the gas to keep from nailing 2nd place, but he stayed there with him and waited for the chance to pass and took it when that chance came, thats how racing should be these days instead of ramming the guy in front of you up the track when you cant get a line around him. Looks like those karts would be easy to flip and get hurt pretty badly on also. Guys were literally going into the turns sideways and drifting thru the apex, coming out strait and letting it rip down the straits lol. Thank god for tire prep so we arent doing that these days, and some people wanna bring that kinda racing back? Can you imagine racing like that, with the new age drivers attitudes on the track? Somebody would get killed.
 
Depends on what part of the country you're from. In 1985 I was living in Northern California. They had a real nice track in Fremont which is near San Jose, about 40 miles south of San Francisco. For a while I was flagmen. There were no 4 cycles, all 2 cycle. All straight up karts and mostly Yamaha's.
I'm guessing the track was about a 10th mile with some banking. Pretty sure it was Clay.
 
Look at how many karts you see in that video at what was probably a weekly race! Those were the days before all this tire bs started ruining the sport!
 
SAE or Sauder chassis. Yamaha, K30, K35, Briggs. That is what was ran in FL. Sideways racing with treads and throwing clay everywhere.

Frankie
 
CKI Lazer Z chassis, on 5" rims with Continental tires, flatheads stock and superstock (superstock was stock with a Tilliotson carb), Limiteds were Honda's for the better ones. There were no body parts except a driver fairing.
We went to Bristol Tenn. to the Nascar race and stopped in a kart shop,(only the second shop we had ever heard of) they had body noses, side panels and a wing for $100 bought a set put them on and went to race locally in NC and nobody wanted to let me run because they had never seen such a contraption, thought they were illegal. LOL Within a month everybody started getting them.
Tire preps were diesel fuel, transmission fluid, WD-40, Mineral spirts, body shop prep cleaners.
Mr Jackie Leake from Sandy Ridge,NC who was our engine builder back then and until his death in 2012, he was the first person I ever knew to sit down and test / develop tire preps. A lot of them were the standard for preps today being made and some that we still use.
Funny how you can remember all that far back but can not remember what I had for breakfast!! LOL
 
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