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| Features |
| Series Spotlight: Florida Karting Championship Series Reaching New Heights |
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A program that has been gaining much momentum over the course of the past few seasons is the Florida Karting Championship Series. The organization acts in similar fashion to a non-profit club, providing karting events in the state of Florida. Much like California, the state of Florida is full of kart racers thanks to the obvious advantages of 12 months free of snow and cold temperatures (for the most part). A growing number of the state’s karting enthusiasts are taking part in the FKCS as its membership continues to expand and the program is grooming some of the best in the sport. Florida is quite large geographically, with 500 miles separating the most northern and southern tracks in the FKCS program, so the state championship series truly acts more like a regional series. Despite the highway time that the series’ competitors must endure, its core foundation of a traveling club remains strong.
The start of what is now the ‘Florida Karting Championship Series’ dates back to the early days of the sport. The foundation was created by Bob Thompson - the ‘grandfather of karting’ for the state of Florida. The original program ran under International Kart Federation sanction until the late 1970s when it moved to the World Karting Association as a Divisional Series. The program was among the first to conduct street races for karting, including the area in St. Petersburg where the IndyCar Series Grand Prix takes place. Over the years, the series has seen a number of volunteers take the lead in directing the program. Throughout its history, however, the series has maintained one true foundation - supporting its racers and the clubs or tracks involved. The program’s name evolved over time as well, with the most recent change coming in late 2006 when it changed from the ‘Florida Championship Series’ to its current moniker.
A long list of drivers have competed in the current campaign of the Florida Karting Championship Series. Some of the young talent that is finding success, both with the FKCS and on the national level, includes Nick Neri, Ashley Rogero, Alex Mayer and others. Many drivers from the series’ past have gone on to claim national titles and some even up the ranks of the motorsports ladder - such as IndyCar’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, who got his early start in the Florida state series. The program, however, is not concerned about producing the next superstars. The program is open to a number of different categories for a wide range of ages, welcoming just about anyone who is interested in competing.
 | The FKCS welcomes racers from Florida and the surrounding region to build up large fields in all categories
(Photo: flwkasprintseries.com) |
“The expectation of many of our members is to use FKCS as the stepping stone to national or international level competition, so we are serious about how we run the series but we also want to keep it family friendly,” stated current FKCS Board of Directors President Todd Kovi. “Many racers really aspire to compete in prestigious series and they need something between the club racing and those higher levels to learn the ropes and improve their skills. FKCS is where they can accomplish those goals for a reasonable cost. We have our series regulars, who just plain enjoy a great weekend of some high level competition, expect a professionally run series, yet walk away all friends at the end of a race and look forward to the next event.”
The Rickert family - Karl and Nick - make the trip from Tennessee for each event. Transplants from Florida, they return to their former state to campaign the full season. Nick earned the Easykart 125 Heavy championship and finishing third in the TaG standings in 2010. “We decided to continue to race the Florida Karting Championship Series after a job change and a move to Tennessee,” stated Karl Rickert. “Nick has been a sponsored driver for Monticello Karting since he was 12 and has a successful career in the series. The competition at FKCS is second only to a national event with many nationally ranked drivers within the series. We love the competition, camaraderie, and friendships that we have in the program.”
The series hosts classes for both 2-cycle and 4-cycle divisions with select classes counting toward divisional transfers for the WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series and in previous additions for the Gold Cup Series. The series includes your typical WKA classes to allow transfer points, but the series also welcomes a handful of regional and club level categories that are becoming more and more popular.
The Pure Stock class, including the Clone engines or the Honda GX200 option, will run as a local option class. This allows driver from 8 to 16 and above to join the event at their local track and get a taste for the level of competition and the fun the FKCS has to offer. Introduced to the North American market through the state of Florida, the KF2 engine choice is an option at the local level throughout Florida and the FKCS has a place for them in their program as well. Shifterkarts is another genre with ICC, modified Motos, and Stock Moto all running in the series. The FKCS also welcomes single-manufacture classes, including the popular Rotax divisions and the Florida-based Easykart programs for drivers of all ages.
 | The new Race Complex facility in Fort Myers will be part of the FKCS schedule in 2011
(Photo: racecomplex.com) |
For 2011, the classes offered have been trimmed to mostly 2-cycle categories, primarily due to the feedback received from the membership. During the off-season, one key factor for the changes made to the upcoming 2011 season was the survey that FKCS performed at the end of the 2010 season. Roughly 150 karters provided their feedback to help guide the Board of Directors toward the direction their customers were seeking.
“The survey had many great suggestions and frankly, we have used those and the feedback we get during the season to make positive changes,” commented Kovi. “I don’t think we will ever stop evolving, but providing consistency is what I think keep people coming back. Plus, we are a club and our focus is 100% on the membership and racers, which is a big advantage over anyone trying to make this a business.”
The 2011 schedule for the Florida Karting Championship Series will include six events at six different locations. The season begins at the most southern track in Florida and the United States - Homestead Karting - south of Miami on January 28-30. After taking the month of February off, the action returns with a trip to the Andersen RacePark in Palmetto - along the shores of the Gulf south of St. Petersburg and Tampa - on March 4-6. A month later, the drivers head to Round Three at Ocala Gran Prix on April 1-3 before making the trek to a new facility on May 13-15. The new Race Complex facility in Fort Myers is currently under construction and will be included in the FKCS 2011 schedule with information on the track to be released soon. Round Five takes the series to the historic 103rd Street Sports Complex in Jacksonville on June 17-19, home of many national and international events during its time. The finale will be contested on August 5-7 at the Monticello Karting facility in northwestern Florida, close to Tallahassee.
Kovi and the rest of the FKCS Board of Directors made sure the schedule was the best options available for all involved. “We took several things into consideration - including the results of our survey - in trying to make sure we get back to the tracks that have supported FKCS throughout the years when we formed our schedule this season. With the number of tracks we can pick and choose from exceeding our race count, it definitely gives us a bit more flexibility on the scheduling. However, we also take into account typical vacation times, holidays, standardized testing activities, and graduation / final exam periods. Those considerations are in addition to WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series schedule and, of course, we have a good relationship with Bill Wright and work around the Florida Winter Tour dates so that we can offer karters options for some very competitive racing.”
 | FKCS ends each season with a Charity Event, benefiting the Victory Junction Gang
(Photo: flwkasprintseries.com) |
While the Florida Karting Championship Series is a traveling series, they welcome and encourage local/club drivers to compete in their events. This helps build the series numbers and in-turn pushes those drivers into series regulars after they experience the FKCS. With a 12-month season for racing, it allows drivers without the big budgets to test their skills at other facilities against strong competition and still compete at their regular local schedule.
“We have contingents of racers from around the state that normally participate in the local club events for most of the tracks we visit. By visiting these tracks, everyone usually gets one ‘home track’ advantage race and FKCS also brings in additional revenue for these tracks, whose owners have supported the series for many years. Plus, we get a lot of feedback regarding the challenge of running the various tracks and we do vary the configurations from year to year to keep things fresh and to keep everyone on their toes as much as possible. Being a racer myself, it’s really satisfying to pull off a win at a track you don’t frequent.
Kovi continued, “We have the technical venues on our tour like Andersen RacePark to the speedway approach of the 103rd Street Complex in Jacksonville and everything in between. That forces everyone to have different strategies based on many factors and sometimes keeps people scrambling to find what works best, but that is what draws a lot of racers and their teams to the regional or traveling series. Lastly we always consider the economics of racing. While folks have lots of choices to spend their disposable income, we try to make it an easy choice by not staying too concentrated in one particular geographical area of the state. Some members certainly are better positioned from a proximity standpoint but we feel over the six races we run that on average most racers travel about the same total distances. There are the exceptions to those that might live in the Panhandle or down in the Miami area, but we also draw racers from as far away as the Midwestern states, Texas, and of course the Southeast.”
For the past three seasons, the FKCS has wrapped up the year with a charity event at the Ocala Gran Prix. A weekend filled with racing, concession kart fun, an auction and other activities to help raise money for a number of charities, specifically the Victory Junction Gang Camp thanks to help from a number of companies and the series competitors.
 | The year-end banquet for the series rewards the racers well with prizes ans awards totaling nearly 30k
(Photo: flwkasprintseries.com) |
“The Charity event was originally started in 2006 by President Alex Oppliger. Three years ago we made a decision, based on a suggestion from our VP Victor Evans, to focus our support on a charity that helps kids and families who are also supported by other racers. Thus, we decided that Victory Junction, one of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, met our criteria and was aligned with the values of our organization. Since 2008, the event continues to grow and we hold it each year at Ocala Gran Prix - whose owner, Jorge Arellano, donates the use of the facility and his concession karts which is a very generous level of support for our event. And without whose assistance and help of his staff, it would be very difficult to pull off. We want to continue growing this into a premier charity event and even had Austin Petty come down from the camp with the Victory Junction race car this last year and also participate. With just three years under our belt on this event, FKCS racers and sponsors have donated over $40,000 to Victory Junction, which we know helps make a great difference in the lives of kids and families who don’t have the luxury of coming out and enjoying our regular racing events.”
The series also gives back to its racers at the year-end series banquet. From the large Eagle trophies, champion jackets, sticker kits for both karts and trailers to the numerous door prizes, nearly everyone who attends walks away with something. For the past three years, Ocala Gran Prix has stepped up to offer the top-five in each class gift certificates that have totaled over $10,000 each season, with the series returning roughly $30,000 back to the racers.
Like many of the national and international programs, FKCS is also stepping up their coverage for the 2011 season by providing live timing and scoring via their website (www.flwkasprintseries.com). The live scoring will be accompanied with live blog, audio and limited video and driver interviews thanks to series announcer Tony Modica and scoring head Karl Rickert.
Of course, there are many people that put in the time and effort to make the Florida Karting Championship Series, as Kovi confirms, “FKCS is really successful for lots of different reasons but one standout over all others is the fact we have a Board of Directors, who are voted into the position by the membership and who receive only the smiles and thanks of the competitors after each event as their compensation. We have a great crew of workers who are passionate about karting, and we have a membership that supports the program through their participation and candid feedback. The board works tirelessly during the off season to prepare and get ready for the next season with many putting in 10-20 hours a week or more as we get close to the each event. Many racers or their family members are always willing to lend a hand where needed and our sponsorship base for the series - Ocala Grand Prix and Andersen Racepark - along with the many small business owners that step up and provide funds for class trophies help us pull off the seemingly impossible task of running these large events.”
In the current state of the sport, karters are picking and choosing where and when they race. For those in the state of Florida and the surrounding area, many are selecting the Florida Karting Championship Series. With the program focused on the karter and produced by the karter, racers have been impressed and continue to jump on board with their program. |
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