American Kart Companies, modern era?

[kenny lawson]

For those who think Gary Hartman is gone........He's driving a taxi in Vegas along with Dan Lamello of APPCO, he's a card dealer, 21 that is! If your ever in Vegas, look them up, I'm sure they'll dig it. Funny..... I know Gary was still in it and active for the most part up to the 90's, But maybe if Dan would have diversified some and went with the flow of where karting was going back then, maybe he'd still be around, or maybe he just got tired, who knows. APPCO was big back then with the likes of Jeff Brown and others. Dan's mother was once married to Jim Russell of Raymore Mo. They were involved with IAME somehow or another, I have that mag. with the article of how McCulloch was going to the wayside and where Komet and the other foriegn makes were going. If you have and can read that article, McCulloch never upgraded or re-tooled there dies and fixtures and would be too costly for them to do so at that time. I can't belive there was any accuracy in thier quality controll department. Anyway, I'm rambling.... thankX for letting me. RacerX

[David Siller]

Kenny, thanks for the post.

It was me that thought that Gary was gone. I bought his Blimp pipe for the McCulloch and he made some cool enduro karts as well. I suppose that he and his dad John were at odds for many years.

I also remember Dan Lamello and APPCO. They became the BM engine importer and competed with Russell's for the catolog mail order kart parts business.

I also remember the "A" in IAME being that connection that you stated...! Dan also had something to do with the Margay motor, the LMR, maybe Dan designed it or something like that.

There were some very interesting people in karting back then...
_________________
David Siller
Since 1952
Kwik Kart Racing
Since 1972

[Rob Kozakowski]

Frank Musil (long-time Westwood Karting Association member) used to build and sell chassis out of his shop (I think the shop was called Karts & Wheels, but it's been a while!) in the Vancouver, BC area, with at least a few people running his sprint chassis until at least the mid-90's. Maybe someone else from the PNW can remember what the chassis were called?

[Don McGregor]

Frank's shop was definitely called karts & wheels (although he couldn't use that name for legal reasons for a few years). My understanding from him was always that the chassis were also called K&W. I won using one as late as 1998, and someone bought that kart from me and used it for a couple more years.

[Rob Kozakowski]

That's right - the chassis was called the K&W. Lovingly referred to by many as the "Frank-enstein". I remember Frank from my first attempt at kart racing in about 1985 - I think he helped prep our Briggs engine. And then getting back into it in about 1991/2 - I think we had him build some side nerf bars in place of those small rear wheel protecting bars for an older Emmick chassis - before the days of the Euro plastic. He'd already been involved in kart racing for at least a couple of decades, even back in the 80's. Hard not to have a lot of respect for all that Frank has done for kart racing in the PNW over an incredibly long period of time.

[David Siller]

The list: (sprints)

Margay
Invader
Emmick
Coyote
MXK
Olsen
Tommy
White
Eagle
Phoenix
Edge - (Comet Kart & Margay) [Out Of Production]
Trackmagic [???]
Shockwave [OOP]
CTS - (custom built)
TNR - (built @ Nelson then Margay)
Bug - (now Classics only)
Burton [OOP]
Hartman [OOP]
Kee [OOP]
JKS [OOP]
Proline [OOP]
Mako Shark [Hand-built and OOP]
GT Karts - (Canada) [OOP]
Cobra (70's)[OOP]
Viper (70's) [OOP]
Mario - (Canada) [OOP]
Trick
Indy
Time Machine
Buller
Alpha [OOP]
Sox
Beast [OOP]
Challenger
Lancer (had a cool fuel tank driver panel) [OOP]
STS
Blackhawk (very unique designs) [OOP]
JTS Lightning [OOP]
IKS Banzai [OOP]
Hornet - (I don't remember sidewinders though)
Red Devil - (Hellcat or Wildkat) [OOP]
Sbarbaro [OOP]
K&W
Razor
MGM
_________________
David Siller
Since 1952
Kwik Kart Racing
Since 1972

[Steve O'Hara]

add Cobra chassis built by Terry Hannum in So. Cal. He built sprints and enduro chassis, good quality craftsmanship. He gave me a dual sprinter to use for a while in 1973 or 74... not a bad kart.
Only built them for a couple years and then he go in some kind of trouble with the law and disappeared.
Steve O'Hara

[David Siller]

I changed it on the list as I had spelled it wrong with a "K". I remember them as well.
_________________
David Siller
Since 1952
Kwik Kart Racing
Since 1972

[Mitch Wright]

2 more American made chassis on the market now and available, both high quality and competitive, Razor and MGM. We are a Razor dealer and could not be happier, it is fast, easy to tune and roller sells for $2400.00.

[Tyson Henry]

http://www.razorchassis.com/chassis-info/

Good looking stuff. How come that style of front end isn't on more karts? Seems like setting up the front end would be way easier.

Anyone run those chassis with a higher hp motor? TAG or something?

[David Siller]

Updated...
_________________
David Siller
Since 1952
Kwik Kart Racing
Since 1972

[John Matthews]

[Dean Bare]

Hope im not too late to add BRE(Bare racing equipment) to the list, though primarily a "outlaw" kart builder (buidling outlaw dirt karts since 1986). We did build several shifter kart chassis and did pretty good with them in norcal, Ray cunningham of CTS was impressed with some of the design and engineering we had done, Ray's attention too detail and craftsmanship have and continue to be a insperation to me. We only built 10 I believe, I still have one, it featured A center mounted brake calliper, that actuated a subframe in such a manner that it would pull the center-front of the chassis down towards the track under bracking wen hooked for soft tires(it also makes chassis stiffer) and just absorbed the energy wen not hooked up (wich made the chassis softer) wich helped prevent rear tire chatter on hard tires also rear bearing hangers that allowed 3"
adjustable weelbase and over 1" of ride hight adjustment.
we dont build karts for sale any more, but very active designing and making kart parts, under a new label. Thanks for your time.
_________________
Dean bare
www.standardkartparts.com
meandean_77@hotmail.com

[Craig Diller]

Mitch do you know if they have any plans to make a sprint chassis?

[Dean Graves]

Bandit Karts. srint and oval.