local racing

I see youre located in the Florida panhandle. I know theres a track in Mobile and it seems like there's one in Pensacola, have you visited eith track to see what their kart counts (and rules) are? Kind of seems like theres another in the Panama City area too.
 
I see youre located in the Florida panhandle. I know theres a track in Mobile and it seems like there's one in Pensacola, have you visited eith track to see what their kart counts (and rules) are? Kind of seems like theres another in the Panama City area too.
Pensacola has ran mainly adult classes. But we run totally different schedules. Mobile (sunny south is a asphalt) there’s one in Wewahitcha (hunters kart park) they are struggling as well
 
Pensacola has ran mainly adult classes. But we run totally different schedules. Mobile (sunny south is a asphalt) there’s one in Wewahitcha (hunters kart park) they are struggling as well
I have been going to the area with my wife for vacations once or twice a year since 2013 and immediately noticed the lack of karts or kart tracks in the area. I would take mine if I found a place to run it while were are there. Isn't there also a track in Milton?
 
The kids classes are lacking right now, from local racing all the way to the biggest races of karting. Hopefully this is just a cycle and not a picture of the future. TV, internet, video games, as Brian said isnt helping any.
 
The kids classes are lacking right now, from local racing all the way to the biggest races of karting. Hopefully this is just a cycle and not a picture of the future. TV, internet, video games, as Brian said isnt helping any.
I would say the kids classes are lacking because tracks are doing away with engine packages parents already own or there are SO many different engine packages offered by the tracks no one knows what to do. For example. I live in indiana and have a son who runs jr sportsman. When we started it was blue plate flathead blue plate animal and purple plate clone could run in the same class. Now most tracks have switched to ONLY purple plate clone. Point being that parents are getting fed up with engine packages being switched all the time after spending a quite a bit of money on the engines and everything else they need to make their child competitive.
 
I would say the kids classes are lacking because tracks are doing away with engine packages parents already own or there are SO many different engine packages offered by the tracks no one knows what to do. For example. I live in indiana and have a son who runs jr sportsman. When we started it was blue plate flathead blue plate animal and purple plate clone could run in the same class. Now most tracks have switched to ONLY purple plate clone. Point being that parents are getting fed up with engine packages being switched all the time after spending a quite a bit of money on the engines and everything else they need to make their child competitive.
I don't understand why the tracks eliminated the engine mixing. Seems that it offered more "diversity" and was more "inclusive" (to use popular buzzwords.) If a guy purchased a used outfit, they could at least take it to the track and race it as is. If a guy really doesn't like the clone, he could still run an animal or his old flathead. It excluded no one. Now, you've got guys with karts (and motors) sitting at home on weekends until they purchase a different engine package (clone or predator.) I think sometimes we make this sport more difficult for the racers than it needs to be.
 
I don't understand why the tracks eliminated the engine mixing. Seems that it offered more "diversity" and was more "inclusive" (to use popular buzzwords.) If a guy purchased a used outfit, they could at least take it to the track and race it as is. If a guy really doesn't like the clone, he could still run an animal or his old flathead. It excluded no one. Now, you've got guys with karts (and motors) sitting at home on weekends until they purchase a different engine package (clone or predator.) I think sometimes we make this sport more difficult for the racers than it needs to be.
I think the engine mixing was because of a mixture of the tech guy having tools and knowledge and they are trying to phase out methanol at the track. This is my personal opinion. But if they were to mix the engines in jr and adult classes. The night would have less classes and we would be able to figure out which engine really is faster on the track instead of bench racing.
 
I would love for more juniors to show up and race. The classes are always available

unfortunately no champs are in the area. I’ve offered this class as well and only had a few show up. I’ll look into see what I can do differently. I’m appreciating everyone’s input. just would like see more in my junior classes
Ive sang this song for so long, I don't wanna sing it again, but here goes.

Parents (moms and grandparents) LOVE cages... and those two groups of people are pretty influential.
You can use your existing chassis, and when done, turn it back into a flat kart..
They look Sexier to potential sponsors too...
We have mover out of karts to micro sprints, but our old home track was fair money wise, didn't do a lot of tech, and draws lots of cars, and kid classes are strong....
The kart in my ID picture is an Avenger flat chassis converted... was running a Honda cr125 motor, driver was 12 at that time I think ...we had ran the same chassis with a clone..
At our old track, they run 6 classes.. last night they drew 91 cars for a weekly show. 23 were little kids, age 5 to 7 i think, restrictor plate clone, so many they ran a b main
"Box stock" .. essentially a builder prepared clone, age 8 to 13 i think.. there were 24.. a b main there too...
Older kids and adults are strong as well... 11 open class... age 14 up, single cylinder 550cc or less... run whatcha brung and hope u brung enough had 11 karts... and they are mud throwing, backing it in beasts that help draw spectators and 91 karts fills grandstands.

Flat karts have ridiculous numbers of classes, jr 1,2,3, etc.. each class only has a few at best, kid sits on 20 lbs of sheet lead and dominates 2 classes... ummmm how about NO
IMO,flat karts are imploding from the inside out. Who wants to spend all that time and money to go race 1 or 2 other kids?
It'll take awhile to effect change,but its a great shot in the arm if you are willing to take a leap of faith.

Of course,the naysayers will naysay..

So u can have a different class for every kid, run boring 1 or 2 kart classes with no cages, few karts cuz mom and grandma can't get behind it. Or you can be like that track in iowa with color flashy machines, putting ur 5 year old in a b main because there's so many of them .

The pic is a converted Avenger.. could easily be returned to a flat kart, and very often most or all that stuff can move to another chassis
 

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I have been going to the area with my wife for vacations once or twice a year since 2013 and immediately noticed the lack of karts or kart tracks in the area. I would take mine if I found a place to run it while were are there. Isn't there also a track in Milton?
Southern raceway is the dirt car track
 
I would say the kids classes are lacking because tracks are doing away with engine packages parents already own or there are SO many different engine packages offered by the tracks no one knows what to do. For example. I live in indiana and have a son who runs jr sportsman. When we started it was blue plate flathead blue plate animal and purple plate clone could run in the same class. Now most tracks have switched to ONLY purple plate clone. Point being that parents are getting fed up with engine packages being switched all the time after spending a quite a bit of money on the engines and everything else they need to make their child competitive.
I am here in the mecca of karting known as the SE, we dont have multiple engine packages so that definitely isnt an issue here.
 
I'm 12 years old, and so are the other people in my class, and we all enjoy running a larger track. So I recommend that. We run 2-3 mile tracks.
You've never been on a short oval I'm guessing. It's just as much fun as any sprint track if your racing honest people that aren't out to destroy everything to win.
 
You've never been on a short oval I'm guessing. It's just as much fun as any sprint track if your racing honest people that aren't out to destroy everything to win.
Oval sounds fun, but, to me, I honestly prefer longer sprint tracks. Mainly because it has more corners. I raced oval once. But it was at one of those recreational kart thingies. Do you do asphalt or dirt?
 
As someone mentioned previously, Moms and grandparents love cages.
Family budgets also play a big role in the decision to get involved in racing.
If I were in your position, I’d be up inclined to start a kids class limited to caged karts with a completely stock Predator engine, shoe clutch and cobra tires.
That stuff is all pretty affordable, a hundred bucks for an engine, Cobra tires are like a hundred and fifty bucks a set, clutch is around seventy five bucks.
That would be an affordable class that would be competitive and fun for the whole family.
Drop the entry fee to ten or fifteen bucks and see what happens.
 
I do dirt. 10+ years now with my dad. I've got friends who do sprint racing and it's not for me. There's no other racing in the world that comes close to dirt oval whether it be karts, bikes, or cars. I mean how many times have you seen a racing mower on a sprint track. Nothing against sprint guys as I've met some extremely helpful people but not like I've met in the dirt world.
 
Ive sang this song for so long, I don't wanna sing it again, but here goes.

Parents (moms and grandparents) LOVE cages... and those two groups of people are pretty influential.
You can use your existing chassis, and when done, turn it back into a flat kart..
They look Sexier to potential sponsors too...
We have mover out of karts to micro sprints, but our old home track was fair money wise, didn't do a lot of tech, and draws lots of cars, and kid classes are strong....
The kart in my ID picture is an Avenger flat chassis converted... was running a Honda cr125 motor, driver was 12 at that time I think ...we had ran the same chassis with a clone..
At our old track, they run 6 classes.. last night they drew 91 cars for a weekly show. 23 were little kids, age 5 to 7 i think, restrictor plate clone, so many they ran a b main
"Box stock" .. essentially a builder prepared clone, age 8 to 13 i think.. there were 24.. a b main there too...
Older kids and adults are strong as well... 11 open class... age 14 up, single cylinder 550cc or less... run whatcha brung and hope u brung enough had 11 karts... and they are mud throwing, backing it in beasts that help draw spectators and 91 karts fills grandstands.

Flat karts have ridiculous numbers of classes, jr 1,2,3, etc.. each class only has a few at best, kid sits on 20 lbs of sheet lead and dominates 2 classes... ummmm how about NO
IMO,flat karts are imploding from the inside out. Who wants to spend all that time and money to go race 1 or 2 other kids?
It'll take awhile to effect change,but its a great shot in the arm if you are willing to take a leap of faith.

Of course,the naysayers will naysay..

So u can have a different class for every kid, run boring 1 or 2 kart classes with no cages, few karts cuz mom and grandma can't get behind it. Or you can be like that track in iowa with color flashy machines, putting ur 5 year old in a b main because there's so many of them .

The pic is a converted Avenger.. could easily be returned to a flat kart, and very often most or all that stuff can move to another chassis
These are the types of cage karts i was talking about.

Bought a Minecon and converted it with the Toigo cage. First one i did was a Banshee with a champ cage that i re-bent the front bars to fit and built my own receivers so it can be done for someone with a little elbow grease and a small budget. We won a few races in the Banshee but once we got the Minecon we really turned up.

One local track typically has 5-8 in the red and green plate classes and it tapers off as they get older. It is a smaller narrower track where speeds aren't so extreme that you waste a car when they wreck. We moved on to Junior sprints because the kart counts just weren't there and it was getting to be drama every night towards the end, thats the bad part about racing against a handful of people. But the QRC style karts are slowly gaining momentum.

Like was pointed out Mom and Grandma are OK with seat belts and a cage.
 
The track I lease is just under a 1/4 mile.
Don't mean to be a negative nancy but kids learning on a 1/4mile is not a good plan, this is likely one reason why you don't have much for kids classes if other tracks in the area are smaller and drawing kids. I get being a speed junky but i cant believe more guys don't get hurt in flat karts on those huge tracks.
 
I do dirt. 10+ years now with my dad. I've got friends who do sprint racing and it's not for me. There's no other racing in the world that comes close to dirt oval whether it be karts, bikes, or cars. I mean how many times have you seen a racing mower on a sprint track. Nothing against sprint guys as I've met some extremely helpful people but not like I've met in the dirt world.
Yeah. No offense towards any of the oval and dirt track racers, but I just find driving a circle a bit boring. But ovals have really good speed for sure.
 
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