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| March 15, 2012 News |
| Inaugural Texas Lone Star Grand Prix Takes on Streets of Dallas |
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The chance to drive karts on city streets is a rare and unique opportunity. The proposition to race for two days on the very grounds a former Formula One grand prix took place is another exclusive occasion. This weekend (March 17-18), karters from all across the country will take part in the inaugural Texas Lone Star Grand Prix outside the prominent Cotton Bowl at the Dallas Fair Park. On the very same grounds the 1984 Formula One Dallas Grand Prix took place, drivers will have a chance to bring competitive karting to the doorstep of millions living in the greater Dallas area. Officially announced in September 2011, the organizers of the event have been busy for the last several months putting together from scratch the inaugural event.
“There have been huge challenges in putting together a first time street race in a major metropolitan area,” commented Texas Lone Star Grand Prix Vice-President Robert Miller to EKN. “With that, we feel good about where we are in the process. Our hope is that the LSGP creates a little enthusiasm for the sport and will attract more people to it. We are very pleased that we have drawn in an equal mix of sprint and road racers all coming from different organizations, including IKF, WKA and SKUSA from 18 different states as well as racers from Argentina, Mexico, Bermuda and Canada.”
Unlike any other street course for karting in the United States, the layout for the LSGP is over 1-mile long. At 1.4 miles with 17-turns, the high-speed track will be like no other. As mentioned before, some sections of the track were part of the 1984 Grand Prix. The front stretch for the LSGP through turns 1-2-3 were part of the original course along with the section running around the Cotton Bowl, turn 10 to turn 14. Event officials are bringing in over 1800 bales of hay to keep the course safe along with plastic barricades in certain key areas. The city has worked with the event to repave certain sections of the course to ensure the surface of the track is safe for karts at high speeds.
The event will be contested over two days with teams moving into the area on Friday. Saturday opens up with three eight-minute practice sessions with a final session at the end of the day reserved for qualifying. Drivers will receive a warm-up to start Sunday prior to the Prefinal and Main Events for the nine categories.
Stock Honda Light will be the largest class, according to the pre-entry list as of Friday, March 9, with a diverse field of 26 drivers set to battle. Reigning SKUSA Pro Tour S2 champion Kyle Hathcox highlight those coming in from the sprint section of the sport, along with Colorado’s Christian Schureman, S5 standout Alex Tartaglia and many others. A large contingent from the road racing sector will look to earn the inaugural win. Veterans Chris and Ryan Hegar will make the trip down from the Pacific Northwest to add another event to their long list of victories across the country. Brian Fisher and Byron Rothenhoefer carry the flag from the east coast RR contingent with Josh Lane representing the Great Lakes. Leading the Texas charge will be Waylon McCulloch.
The Stock Honda Heavy division will see 21 drivers take to the 1.4-mile course. The Hegar brothers will be among the favorites, including a number of S4 drivers from across the country. Lance Lane earned the #3 SKUSA plate in 2011 and is a multi-time road racing champion. Michael Mantel scored five IKF Duffy wins at last year’s Road Race Grand Nationals, making the move up to Stock Honda for 2012. Coy Dayton also scored a Duffy last year, schedule to compete this weekend along with a host of others from the great state of Texas.
The open shifter class, 125 Modified/ICC class, will match up the modified Honda engines with the purpose-built ICC kart engines in a grudge match. Twenty-two drivers registered prior to the event with a number of veterans. Hailing from Texas, John Kindhart has a number of victories to his resume, sprint, street, road racing and more. Another street race title may be in his future. The Hegar tandem will race a third division, going for a sweep in the shifter divisions. The father/son duo of Lance and Josh Lane has been known to build monster modified engines, with a number of others expected to be in the mix as well.
 | | The circuit will be 1.4 miles of street around the Cotton Bowl |
Four TaG divisions bring a wide age range of drivers from Masters, Senior, Junior and Cadet. Masters is the highest total with 23 drivers from across the country, including a strong contingent from the LAD Specialties outfit in Chicago. TaG Senior will see another IKF Expert, a multi-time Duffy winner in Anthony Honeywell from Oklahoma leading the charge. TaG Junior and TaG Cadet have a number of young talented drivers from the Texas state and surrounding area, set to make their first ever starts in a street race.
Rounding out the class lineup are the Chonda and KT100 Pipe categories. The Chonda, or better known as Clone to most areas of the country, will see 19 drivers grid up for the race, including a large portion of drivers from Texas. The Yamaha class is a popular one in the road racing ranks in the central portion of the country and the 21 entries shows it. With the tight racing in both expected, there is no clear-cut favorites in these classes.
The staff behind the LSGP has been working hard to spread the word of the event across the national and locally. A number of local media outlets and motorsports photographers that cover NASCAR and other professional motorsports in the area will be in attendance. Live timing of the event will be available through the Race-Monitor.com, obtainable on most smart mobile devices.
Miller continued, “The racer excitement about LSGP has really been amazing and has made all of the hard work worth it. Major sponsorships from event partners like, MG Tires, Motul, PPG, and Monster Energy have helped tremendously with the cost of the event. Texas kart clubs and worked together to promote and put on the event. For instance, North Texas Karters is furnishing crash pillows, plastic barriers and course workers.”
The Texas Museum of Automotive History, which has a collection of cars worth over $30 million, is supporting the event by putting on a car show that will include approximately 200 classic, custom and race cars. Two vintage Indy cars including one driven by Marco Andretti will be on display. Also on display will be NASCAR race cars and racing Ferraris. The LSGP officials team is led by race director and former IKF President James ‘Mac’ McMillan with veteran racer and official Rick Fulks serving as the assistant race director Rick Fulks. The event will open to spectators at a price of $10 for pre-ordered tickets or $15 at the gate. For more information on the event, click to http://www.longstargrandprix.us |
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