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| Behind the Laptop - January Commentary from EKN's David Cole |
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How many young karters can say they have run on some of the most historic and high-speed facilities in North America, such as Daytona, Road America, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, Infineon Raceway or Portland International Raceway, etc.? If I were to take a poll, I would say the number is not very high, and why is that? It’s a question I wish I had the answer to.
If you have been born into the sport of karting, it is very likely that you will eventually venture into the driver’s seat, whether it’s very early or later in life. I myself asked my father for the chance to race at the age of 10 at the local kart track where he competed. Very cheap, he got me a kart and we went to the track. I hate to admit it, but I sucked. Two years later, I was back doing what I did before, watching from the sidelines and helping my dad work on his kart.
Around that time, our local club lost the track and we needed to find a place to race. That’s when my dad returned to road racing or enduro, as I knew it then, during the late 80s and early 90s. I remember seeing fields of 100 karters in one class at Daytona, while reading names like Dismore, Haddock, Spaude, Pruett, and many others in the WKA magazine.
I got the itch again at the age of 15. In my second time out, I went to Mid-Ohio and finished 20th out of about 60 karts, so I was hooked immediately. It was a thrill running on the very same track as some of my professional racing idols, let alone racing against 60 drivers at one time.
From there, I continued to run road racing events with my dad, and eventually my brother, with only a few sprint races after a new local track was built near my home. However, I didn’t really care for it as it didn’t have the speed factor and the prestige of running at tracks like Mid-Ohio, Road America and Daytona. And also, I would sometimes race against 20-30 guys at once, depending on the event.
Fast forward to 2007. Many of the enduro clubs I raced with are slowly going away, the fields are slowly diminishing, there are very little new racers in the paddock, and now one of the longest running road racing events, Daytona, is history. Why?
 | | Yamaha Sportsman Heavy lay-downs on the Daytona high banks |
With the exception of a few, numbers at the road racing club level continues to decline each year. One of the factors as I see it is the disturbing lack of new members. The same people that have been running the club for the past 30 years are still running the club, to the best of their abilities. But there is no new support to help with registration, setting up cones, watching the scales for an hour, or even going to a monthly meeting. Is it the new era in the 21st century to just expect someone else to do the work? If it is, it’s not working. Eventually, the long-time members of the club will move on, one after another and eventually, the club will just disappear. I’ve already seen it with a couple clubs, both road racing and sprint.
So why is there very little new blood in road racing? Occasionally, a friend of a friend will get someone into the sport, and they will become a regular at the track, which is the best way to help put karting in front of those not involved already. But road racing is losing more drivers then it is gaining. I admit, it is much easier to go out and buy a TaG or ICC shifter kart now then it is a laydown or sprint-enduro kart. This is the reason that those two divisions have seen the most growth and the bigger fields at most road racing events. However, there still is a decline in overall numbers, more-so in the traditional classes. On the East Coast, the laydown classes have not seen very many new drivers over the past few years, while the sprint-enduro group has thankfully enjoyed some growth within the junior ranks. Whereas on the West Coast and in parts of Central U.S., laydown karts are soon to be relegated into the vintage ranks, with as few laydown karts as are still running.
And what will become of karting events at the more known facilities? For the first time in over 30 years, there were no sounds of kart engines zooming around turns three and four of the Daytona International Speedway this past December. Though WKA and DIS say there is an open door for a possible return of road racing to the facility, the future is uncertain. Now, as the years pass, the tracks step up their rental rates and clubs are losing money with low turnouts. This is strictly out of the karter’s hand, except to help promote each club and help solve the problems above, by bringing in more new people to road racing.
 | 99 125cc Shifters heading into turn five at Road America
(Photo: Super Kart Illustrated) |
So do we need to convert the classes over to more sprint-based in order to get more entries across the board? The Road America SuperNationals has been very successful over the past few years, reaching nearly 1000 entries in two days of racing. I believe that one factor that helps the entries grow is promoting the sprint-based classes. With one of the top sprint clubs in the country running the event, most of the Badger Kart Club regulars race at least two classes a weekend when not volunteering their time to put the event on. It may be beneficial for clubs to run a few more sprint based classes to bring in new blood.
Another part that could help grow road racing and karting in general is bringing in the Cadet drivers to the big tracks. Now, I know what you all are thinking, “They are too young to be on a track over a mile long.” Well, I say ‘yes and no’. I’m not saying that you should take your eight year-old to Road America for his first race. What I’m suggesting is getting the young drivers exposed to the different type of karting after they have experience under their belt at a local track. Over the years in the Midwest, I’ve seen a couple drivers get some Cadet experience on the big tracks and go on to continue through the Junior ranks and now the Senior division in road racing. A few more clubs and series are trying this and may be helpful in growing the road racing base back up.
Do I have all the answers, no, but what I do hope to see is more support at the local and regional level. I would hate to watch a professional car race on TV in 30 years and say that I used to race at Road America or Road Atlanta, rather than being able to say that I can still race there. That would be a tragedy.
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