Joe Janowski
New member
In the last few years, we’ve been very busy at the NKA. While 2013 was our 28th year in business, it was only in the last couple of years that we decided to move 100% into providing technical regulations as part of our rules package. During those 28 years, our customers were the tracks and series that many of you go to where we provided a comprehensive pit pass program along with other services for tracks.
With that in mind, it has dawned on me that I haven’t done a very good job at explaining who we are and what we’re doing to those of you that are not a track or series operator. So today, I invite you to take 3 minutes to look this over to learn, straight from us, three things that you need to know about the NKA.
1. The NKA Vision…
It is important for any company to understand what it is in business to do, and how it is going to accomplish that. I call it our ‘vision’, while other companies may call it something else. No matter what you call it, it provides a clear objective that everyone that works for or with the NKA understands and is focused on. This vision provides the roadmap for our company as we evaluate our programs and offerings in an effort to serve our customers.
The three things that provide the vision to our company;
• We believe that we should challenge how the business of karting works to find new ways to grow our sport and provide long term stability.
• We accomplish this by providing simple and easy to use resources that can be used independently by our affiliated tracks and series, or put together to form a complete facility resource designed to maximize their success.
• We pull this all together by offering our ‘Trak’ line of products, which include our pit pass program (TrakPASS), our rules (TrakBOOK), an integrated membership and licensing program (TrakCARD - which will be released soon), and media offerings (TrakMEDIA) among other services that we’re developing that will be released as time and finances align.
We want racers to choose to go to NKA affiliated tracks or series because the pit pass program is solid, the rules are good, the tech is fair, and the tracks simply put on a better show. This isn’t a quick fix, but a process that we’re working on that will take time. But…it will be awesome when we’re done.
2. The Honda GX200 will not appear in our rules…
For 2014 and beyond, we’ve chosen to not include the GX200 in TrakBOOK, even after extensive work and investment on our part. Our commitment and consistency to our original goal (provide better rules for the clone) was met and the Honda was ultimately not required to achieve that goal. We feel confident the rules we’ve developed for the clone will do a good job stabilizing the tech of the engine.
And for the record…
Our move to incorporate the Honda was not to push the Honda on the sport. Rather, it was to attempt to regulate the clone by providing some type of benchmark so that clone doesn’t continue down the road of constant changes. I’m sure many of you have had to deal with that in the last few years in some way, and that’s not a good thing. Frankly, I/we did not do a very good job of explaining that, and I own that. What ended up happening is that many of you felt we were pushing it in to hurt the clone class in some way, or that we were being paid by Honda to push the engine. Both were not the case in any way.
3. The NKA does NOT produce racing events…
It has come to our attention through some industry sources and the infamous karting grapevine that there will be a series, or group of series, that will be promoted or co-promoted by the NKA with the express purpose of taking over and implementing our evil wishes onto the sport while eliminating the local tracks. Folks, those local tracks are our customers and are the reason we exist, along with the series that use our products. So no, that is absolutely not our goal.
Our vision, as detailed above, is focused on the growth of tracks and series and the supporting industry and not ours. We grow only as a result of their success. When a sanctioning organization produces racing events it is working for its own interests, and not the interest of the tracks. We feel that for us to produce our own series is counterproductive to our vision.
Note: I’m not saying that organizations can’t put on their own races. I’m saying that we don’t do it and why we feel that way.
What this sport needs very much is successful tracks and series, and we will help any and all that have that goal by providing them any and all of our resources.
If you heard a silly rumor about the NKA you’d like me to personally address, or have questions or comments (or…complaints), please post them here, or send them to me at joejanowski@nkaonline.com, or to our tech line at tech@nkaonline.com.
Thanks for your time, and look for more from us soon!
Joe Janowski
NKA, Inc.
With that in mind, it has dawned on me that I haven’t done a very good job at explaining who we are and what we’re doing to those of you that are not a track or series operator. So today, I invite you to take 3 minutes to look this over to learn, straight from us, three things that you need to know about the NKA.
1. The NKA Vision…
It is important for any company to understand what it is in business to do, and how it is going to accomplish that. I call it our ‘vision’, while other companies may call it something else. No matter what you call it, it provides a clear objective that everyone that works for or with the NKA understands and is focused on. This vision provides the roadmap for our company as we evaluate our programs and offerings in an effort to serve our customers.
The three things that provide the vision to our company;
• We believe that we should challenge how the business of karting works to find new ways to grow our sport and provide long term stability.
• We accomplish this by providing simple and easy to use resources that can be used independently by our affiliated tracks and series, or put together to form a complete facility resource designed to maximize their success.
• We pull this all together by offering our ‘Trak’ line of products, which include our pit pass program (TrakPASS), our rules (TrakBOOK), an integrated membership and licensing program (TrakCARD - which will be released soon), and media offerings (TrakMEDIA) among other services that we’re developing that will be released as time and finances align.
We want racers to choose to go to NKA affiliated tracks or series because the pit pass program is solid, the rules are good, the tech is fair, and the tracks simply put on a better show. This isn’t a quick fix, but a process that we’re working on that will take time. But…it will be awesome when we’re done.
2. The Honda GX200 will not appear in our rules…
For 2014 and beyond, we’ve chosen to not include the GX200 in TrakBOOK, even after extensive work and investment on our part. Our commitment and consistency to our original goal (provide better rules for the clone) was met and the Honda was ultimately not required to achieve that goal. We feel confident the rules we’ve developed for the clone will do a good job stabilizing the tech of the engine.
And for the record…
Our move to incorporate the Honda was not to push the Honda on the sport. Rather, it was to attempt to regulate the clone by providing some type of benchmark so that clone doesn’t continue down the road of constant changes. I’m sure many of you have had to deal with that in the last few years in some way, and that’s not a good thing. Frankly, I/we did not do a very good job of explaining that, and I own that. What ended up happening is that many of you felt we were pushing it in to hurt the clone class in some way, or that we were being paid by Honda to push the engine. Both were not the case in any way.
3. The NKA does NOT produce racing events…
It has come to our attention through some industry sources and the infamous karting grapevine that there will be a series, or group of series, that will be promoted or co-promoted by the NKA with the express purpose of taking over and implementing our evil wishes onto the sport while eliminating the local tracks. Folks, those local tracks are our customers and are the reason we exist, along with the series that use our products. So no, that is absolutely not our goal.
Our vision, as detailed above, is focused on the growth of tracks and series and the supporting industry and not ours. We grow only as a result of their success. When a sanctioning organization produces racing events it is working for its own interests, and not the interest of the tracks. We feel that for us to produce our own series is counterproductive to our vision.
Note: I’m not saying that organizations can’t put on their own races. I’m saying that we don’t do it and why we feel that way.
What this sport needs very much is successful tracks and series, and we will help any and all that have that goal by providing them any and all of our resources.
If you heard a silly rumor about the NKA you’d like me to personally address, or have questions or comments (or…complaints), please post them here, or send them to me at joejanowski@nkaonline.com, or to our tech line at tech@nkaonline.com.
Thanks for your time, and look for more from us soon!
Joe Janowski
NKA, Inc.