Our start in karting

J

jacobsdad

Member
I was talking with someone tonight and started thinking of our start in karting last year. I wanted to share our adventure for the other new racers out there.
A few years ago a good friend of mine started his son into racing karts. Before that I did not even know there was such a thing as racing karts. He lives a couple hundred miles away and we have been friends for around 30 years. A year and a half ago we went to visit them and do a little camping. The day we planned on stopping by his house happened to be race day, so he talked us into going to watch the races. My wife and kids did not want anything to do with watching the races. I used to race stock cars and my wife enjoyed that, but that was over 20 years ago and this was go karts. Because we are friends and he asked us to come we decided to go watch for a little while.
About half way through the night my wife told me she was glad we came and was really enjoying the night. I have to admit it was a lot better than I thought it would be. My wife pointed out that my son who had just turned 11 that week had not taken his attention off the races all night. She said if the karts were cheap enough we should try to get him into racing. Then she made the mistake of telling him that.
After the races our friend let my son take their kart out on the track for a few laps. My son is a very calm quiet kid most of the time. If he talks it means he has something important to say. After he ran a few laps he came off the track. I asked him how it was, he said "good".
A few minutes later we said out goodbyes and headed back to our camper for the night, about an hour and a half drive from the track. Before we were 10 miles down the road I heard my sons quiet voice from the back seat "dad?" what "here is a kart for sale for $3000". He was looking for karts on the internet with his Ipod. I said OK, we will have to see if there are any tracks close to home. About 5 minutes later "dad?". What son. "Is that going to be a problem?". Is what going to be a problem? "The cost of that kart?". Yes son it is a bit too much. About 20 minutes later again "dad?" Yes son. "Here is a kart for only $300". Son does it have an engine? "no". Does it have wheels? "no". Does it have a seat? "no."
To shorten the story we found that there were a couple of tracks within 100 miles of home. For us 100 miles is nothing, it is 60 miles to Wal Mart. We saved money for a few months and found a kart we could afford. The next spring armed with tons of helpful information from this site we headed to the track for the season opening practice night. He only ran with 1 other kart on the track but was able to get a couple dozen fast laps in. A couple of weeks later we were there ready for the first night of real racing. I told my son not to get discouraged if he doesn't win. He told me he did not plan on winning until his third year. He said it will probably take him that many years to learn how to drive and how to race.
His first night racing was terrible! He could not make it around the track without spinning out. His kart was slow. between the slow kart and spinning out he got lapped at least twice each race. We are lucky he is not an ultra competitive kid. Whatever he does he gives 100%, he is a straight A student and pushes himself, but he doesn't get upset if he loses. He was just happy to be there. He was disappointed, but was ready to go back for another try. So, after spending a week on here looking for advice I got the kart fixed and figured out so he could keep it on the track. 2 weeks later we were back for the next race. That race he kept it on the track, but still got lapped. His kart started smoking and lost power bad. That week I decided we needed to tear the engine down to see what was wrong. The next day I handed my son my socket set and showed him how to tear the engine down. That engine was destroyed! The next race we hit the track with a fresh engine and a new plan. For the first time ever he did not get lapped! He still came in last by a half a lap, but it was getting better.
By the end of the season he came home with a 3rd place trophy for season points and a beat up go kart.
If anyone is checking out this site considering getting their son or daughter into karting, go for it. It can get expensive, but it is entertainment for the entire family. My 2 daughters and my wife get into it just as much as my son and I and we have met a lot of great people at the track. When you compare it to other things we could be doing the cost is really not that bad.
 
All together with the kart, pats to keep it going and his safety gear we are only in this about $2000. Races where we go cost about $100 each time, that counts fuel and stopping to eat on the way home. For that $2000 my son and I get a lot of hours together in the shop while we work on it. He is involved in everything we do to the kart. My daughter helped me build a trailer and we painted a design in e side. At the track my other daughter helps in the pits. So the whole family is together and involved. Compare the weekly cost to going to the movies or going bowling for an afternoon it isn't too bad. The time spent in the shop gives me time to catch up on my kids life. My daughter and I talk about boys and teenage girl drama. My son gets to learn about engines and gets to use his own set of tools. Pretty cheap for what we get out of it.
 
Awesome posts @jacobsdad.

My son will be racing for the first time tomorrow and he is looking forward to it very much so. I raced 3/4 of last year and have passed the kart to him. We've spent a good amount of time restricting the engine, rolling the tires, and scaling the kart. Tomorrow will be fun!
 
My story is similar.

I had always had go karts, four wheelers, etc. when I was little. My family members were all avid race fans, but no one had actually done it. My dad sponsored a few dirt stock cars in the 70’s, went to races, etc. But no one had driven or owned anything. I wasn’t born into it, I embraced it. When I was in elementary school, a classmate of mine raced go karts. We went twice to watch, at two different tracks and I was hooked.

Luckily for us, a longtime friend of my dad had raced karts for years. He still had all his equipment, even though it was outdated. He gave us a kart, an engine, and a set of tires. With his help, and the help of my buddy and his family, we got our feet wet. I was 10 years old at the time (1998)

This was when the internet really started to get hot. I consumed kart racing on my dial up computer. I read anything I could get my hands on, looked at any picture I could. I couldn’t get enough of it. I would pour over the material with my dad, and we would learn together about how all of this worked.

I spent my first years 1998-2001 racing the same track. Every Friday night, my poor dad would drag me to the race track. I’m sure it was hard on him, but he also loved it as much as I was. It took me until 2000 to win my first race, and 2001 to win my first championship. Racing was a lot simpler and cheaper back then too, but the work ethic was the same.
From that point, we traveled to different tracks all across the state. If you wanted to be the best, you have to race against the best. We spent 2 years getting our teeth kicked in, and came back for more every time. I learned more by going winless for 2 straight seasons then I ever did by winning at the “local” track.

Long story short, karting has taken me so many places. I’ve raced all across the country with some of the greatest drivers during that time, and had a fair amount of success doing it. It has enabled me to spring board a racing career, make a business out of it, and pass on to others what I have learned. I can’t ever thank my parents enough for the time and money they sacrificed for me to do this. I may not have understood or appreciated it at such a young age, but looking back, it was a lot for them to do.

Karting (or any racing for that matter) is a discipline. Your dedication will take you as far as you want to go. You can’t cheat the grind, it knows how much you’ve put into it, and it won’t give you anything you haven’t earned. I’d like to share/offer some advice of what I’ve learned over the years…

-You will have the highest of highs.
-You will have the lowest of lows.
-There will be crashes. You will get bruises, cuts, burns, and tears.
-You will spend more money then you ever thought you could on a “go kart”.
-There will be moments when you want to pack it in, yell at your dad, or yell at your son.
-People will take advantage of you in this game. It’s part of the learning curve, of whom to trust, and who not to trust.
-You will make mistakes, and you WILL learn from them.

Most of all, you will meet some of the greatest people on earth doing this, and create friendships that will last a life time. The bond you build with not only your racing family, but your actual family as well is something that can never be duplicated.

I have been racing for 18 years straight, every single weekend...

And I still get as excited to slide behind the wheel on opening day as I did on a little dirt track in some hand me down equipment in 1998.
 
jacobsdad said:
all together with the kart, pats to keep it going and his safety gear we are only in this about $2000. Races where we go cost about $100 each time, that counts fuel and stopping to eat on the way home. For that $2000 my son and i get a lot of hours together in the shop while we work on it. He is involved in everything we do to the kart. My daughter helped me build a trailer and we painted a design in e side. At the track my other daughter helps in the pits. So the whole family is together and involved. Compare the weekly cost to going to the movies or going bowling for an afternoon it isn't too bad. The time spent in the shop gives me time to catch up on my kids life. My daughter and i talk about boys and teenage girl drama. My son gets to learn about engines and gets to use his own set of tools. Pretty cheap for what we get out of it.
Click to expand...

exactly !!!
 
I raced a lot of different things over the years. I have dag raced, stock car raced and done some motorcycle racing. If it had wheels and I had the keys my friends and I raced it. It didn't matter if we were on a drag strip, a dirt track, an empty highway or out on some country road. When I moved to where I live now I considered bringing my stock car with me. I had been racing NASCAR Hobbystock at that time. I went and checked out a track close by and learned a couple of things. One, they raced IMCA. I would have had to spend a ton of money to switch from NASCAR to IMCA. I decided IMCA was a money game. Second I found that the local track was all about the drama. The night I watched the races I saw more fights in the pits than I saw all my years racing before. Every Saturday night there were engines claimed and fights on the track and in the pits. Some of the local drivers I talked to even had the fights planned before they went to the race. That was not the kind of racing I knew.
The lows, I know. When my son got lapped the first couple of nights out, seeing the look on his face when he came into the pits. He never said anything, and made sure he went straight to the winners pits and congratulated them on their win. But I could tell it was a let down to him.
The night he won his first heat race! I said my son is very quiet for a 12 year old boy. When he came in off the track he was pumping his fist in the air. As soon as he got out of the kart and his feet hit the ground he was off running to his mom and grandma to make sure they saw it.
His grandmother is terminally ill with cancer. She made sure she never missed a race. It was very hard for her to make the 2 hour drive and sit there every time watching him, but she never missed a race.
When he got his 3rd place trophy at the end of the season he tried to act cool like it was no big deal, but I could tell he was about to explode with the excitement.
We have a lot of stories to share after just one season of racing. As the season gets closer I am getting more excited to see him race again, and he is getting excited to get back on the track.
I have to say, I think I am enjoying this a lot more than I did when I was the one driving racing the big cars! I have learned a lot and have a lot more still to learn! The first lesson I learned is Karts is nothing like a stock car! I can easily build a drag car that can run low 10's. I can make a stock car do exactly what I want it to do, but these karts have a mind of their own! I have learned that if I want the kart to do something, I do the exact opposite of what I would do to a stock car. It is a pretty safe bet that if I think I should do one thing, I need to do the opposite!
Without the internet and this site we would still trying to figure out how t make the thing go. So many people have offered so much advice that had shortened the learning curve by a couple of years!
 
One more thing to share.
After we changed is engine we still had some serious trouble with him keeping up. I was completely at a loss! I told my son that we might just have to give up and find someone we could pay to get the kart figured out. My son looked at me and said "I'm not worried about it, I know you will get it fixed. You can fix anything." The look he gave me when he said that, I had to go find something else to do. cant let the boy see dad acting like a girl! Sure enough later that night at home it came to me that his clutch was slipping. After a few posts on this site, and a fellow forum member loaning us a clutch the problem was solved. When I told him I figured out the problem he just shrugged and said "I knew you would".
 
Biggest advantage of my son racing karts was the bond built between us. Unbelievable!
Now his is almost 18. And does not race anymore.
A few weeks ago he asked me if we could go to the mountains, just him and I. No friends , just him and I.
We had such a good time for those few days. And our bond started by me being his crew chief.
PRICELESS!
 
It's not just a racer and crew and Freinds I like to call it are racing family because deep down any true racer and crew would do anything for each other and we all might not know each other but we all have very commen interest we started my son at 7 and my uncle start in karts last year and then I got one and we all race the same class and we all have come real close to each other.
 
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