What direction is US karting moving?

Kyle Prokup

I bring this up as a thorn in my side, and know that there isn't a definite answer to this: Where is karting growing in your area?

Most of the active users on this forum race at a Regional to National level on a regular basis, or are karters with their first kart. And in some ways it introduces the problem I anticipate. Is karting growing only at the top?

We race for competition, not for money. A late model driver will compete in a race with the highest purse, because thats where the best are. In nature, karting can't promise those purses on a regular basis that those events hand out; so competition dictates who is where.

So, want to race with the best? Want to keep improving? Start driving across the country with other racers who may live only 2 hours away to race a high profile race. And there are more of these races coming.

My concern is that, because of the competitive (non-monetary) nature of karting, will the best keep just moving up slowly spending more and more to try and compete as high as they can? Do the best simply keep moving up- leaving regular-joe-karters muddling around the local track? I think that this progression is destroying grass-roots karting. Want to be the best? Your going to need to spend X,XXX a year to race at this level, and XX,XXX at this level. Or you can race the same 6 people at the lonely local track. Could introducing purses at local racing levels bring racers back home?

This isn't intended to sound as grim as it sounds, and isn't a response to any other discussion. I love this sport, but I sense a serious bubble forming at the top. If it did keep trending in that direction, it could become a rich mans sport. So the yearly question, how is your local track going to grow this year?
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patrick slattery · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:10 pm Post subject:

Until karting becomes a spectator sport we will be treading water at best.

Greg Wright · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:55 pm Post subject:

Great topic and hopefully this will turn into a reasonable discussion about our sport.

Is our sport growing only at the top?
Personally I don't believe that it is growing at the top either. Looking at WKA Man Cup the entry numbers have been pretty much stagnant for several seasons now. Some of the names change but overall entries are close to the same and with drivers often entering 3-5 classes (or more) the number of helmets on heads may actually be down.
Supernats, FWT etc. look good on the surface but without the Euro and Latin American influx it wouldn't look nearly as good and doesn't indicate growth in the sport in North America.

Are current trends destroying grassroots karting?
Simply yes!

Bringing purses to local racing.
Good question but on the surface I very much doubt that it will be any help, any substantial purses will cause the level of competition to rise (good) and the costs to compete to escalate (bad)

I do know this, for the sport to keep doing the same things and expecting different results isn't going to cause growth to happen.
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Cory Ross · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:22 pm Post subject:

As a newcomer looking in the sport lacks variety yet has a million class choices. This could be hurting numbers. The top drivers find a chassis and motor they like find where it can race and stay there. You cannot go a try a different series without major changes(re:$$$). The focus on making everything spec makes it very difficult to move around and try other races. Hell I am finding just to race at different tracks near me means changing things on the kart to make it legal(more$$$). Look at SKUSA with the MG whites. From what I can tell they are the same as MG yellows. So what makes a tire legal is the color of the lettering?? So now you are segregating the sport more yet not offering anything new and different.

I am happy to see the regional SKUSA series near me has opened up the motor rules to allow different manufacture motors to be raced. Give us choices and open up the rules some. To keep costs down and prevent drivers from picking the best motor for a track make drivers commit to only one brand motor at the start of the season. Some motors will perform on certain tracks and other motors on other tracks.

The spec racing is killing things because every track has their own idea of what spec is and it prevents people from moving around. This will make the top look like it is growing since they are the ones with the money and knowledge to change things around and make it to different races. Race series should open up the rules and pick tracks that will play off the advantages and disadvantages of the various brands(tire, motors, etc) they allow in each class. Look at motocross, I can take my 250 to any track in the country and race(grassroots club all the way to pro)without making a single change to the bike sitting in my garage right now and be 100% legal. You cannot even think about doing that with karting.

My head is already spinning looking at the race schedules of tracks around me and figuring out where I will race and what I will need to do to my kart to race in the various races. I do not want to sit at one track and do all of my racing and driving there. Going to different tracks is what I want to do. Yet the rules discourage this kind of thing.

Ron Gordon · Joined: 27 Dec 2009 Posts: 150

Kyle,

I believe that kartings biggest problem and possible participation downturn has to do with so much emphasis being put on the ones at the top and trying so hard to please the ones at the top or with more money and forgetting to promote karting and get the new blood needed to keep it growing...Starting at the bottom, so to speak...

The problem of always pleasing and changing things for the top 1 - 2% is that they eventually "top out" and fade away with no one to step up and take thier place, as on thier way to the top and the constant catering they recieved while getting there has already pushed the middle crowd out of the sport and thats what helped put them on top to start with.

So i would answer your question of (Is karting growing only at the top?), I would say its not growing at the top, its starting to get lonely at the top, because the ones at the top have already out spent, over ruled and over turned the competition behind them and the challenge is lost.

As for your last question, ( how is your local track going to grow this year?), I and a few others at out club believed that growth starts at the bottom rung in karting and we started our growth last year and we are on target to see that growth double this year, the youngest karters, Kid Karters. This is a karting group that brings the biggest potential for growth, along with the biggest gate entry at each event. Because when little 5 year old Johnny or Janie shows up they bring the whole family with them - Mom, Dad, Grandpaw, Grandmaw, Aunt, Uncle...ect. And if you can ensure little Johnny or Janie and thier entire crew has a great time, ensure that it stays fair for each of them and treat them all the same (as karting should be for everyone) then you get the rest of the family wanting to get a kart and race as well... and even in a race series of 14 race dates you have 100% participation from every driver from day one to the last race.

These people will then be proud to go out and tell everyone they know how much fun they had/have, how fair the competition is, how great they are treated by everyone they have met and the word starts to spead at the bottom of the ranks and more want to get involved and they bring more next year.

The common trend in karting has come to trying too hard to keep and please the people already involved and hooked, rather than looking at bringing in new blood, even starting at the bottom, making them happy and helping them grow in the sport to be on the top one day. Ensuring that they are given a good start (good taste in thier mouth) in karting and recieve fair treatment and are always treated like everyone else in the sport, whether it be the ones at the top or the ones trying to get there.

The karting community doesn't have the luxury of choosing whom we let in, especially in todays world, like other forms of sports or even other forms of motorsports do, we have to actively welcome and actively seek new blood and cater our programs around each and every karter from the top to the bottom.

Also, If karting can do this with 5 - 8 year old kids before they can get influenced by other sports out there, we can grow and not scare them away by treating the starting rung of karters like they are not really wanted or needed or their class is any different than any other classes out there.

Every person in a kart is a karter, no matter how old they are, what size thier engine is, what kart chassis they have or class they race in and should always be treated as such.

Ron
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Ricky Brown · Joined: 28 Oct 2012 Posts: 27

I don't usually chime in on these things but here goes... I raced karts from age 12-19. When I started racing from what I remember it was pretty much grass roots racing. There were basicly 2 engine choices 5hp Briggs and 100cc 2 stroke. That was it! I'm almost positive we ran wka rules at every track we ran too, no exceptions. As the years passed the racing got a lot more competitive and a little more expensive but we were on a budget. We were still able to compete though and i'd say we spent verry little compared to most. As the competition grew for whatever reason there started to be more classes. Jr/sr Champ kart, ss briggs, jr/sr mini cup (I raced oval) when we had more classes the nights got longer and the fields got smaller! Insted of 4-5 classes with 10+ karts there were 10 classes with 4-5 karts and the racing suffered. Thats when we stopped racing. Now 13 years latter I have decided to get back into the sport that I have always loved. I went to my local track to see what was going on and saw all the shifters and rotax karts. Although I found them verry impresive I was looking for something a little more " grass roots" still on that budget! Then out came the world formulas. Granted they wern't as fast but my grandfather always said the class with the best racing is the most fun and it's usually not the fastest group with the best racing! The world formulas absolutely had the most fun on the track at a reasonable cost. So I guess my point is I would have never got back into karting had there not been a somewhat affordable class. I know a lot of people say that no karting is affordable but if your not trying to pretend that your racing a formula one car on sunday for a plastic trophy it can be! When more people realize this and come togther to have some fun and not kill there savings the sport does have chance to grow. Sorry for any mistakes, thats a lot to write on a phone

Ricky Brown · Joined: 28 Oct 2012 Posts: 27

Someone is always going to have more $$ than you no matter what and where you race. Do the best with what you can afford and enjoy the sport!

Matt Dixon · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:26 pm Post subject:

I think what would help the clubs would not be the Regional/National guys come back and racing, that would probably do the opposite and scare away the club guys. Instead if they came out to club races and helped the new guys understand what it is takes to makes them go faster. That might help at the grass roots level more.
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TJ Koyen · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 9:21 pm Post subject:

If all the armchair karting experts of the interwebs got out there and spent just half the time racing their local club that they spend here complaining about the sport, karting would see an unprecedented boom in entry counts across the country.
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Lawrence Doty · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:10 pm Post subject:

Waaaay too many motors...

Local track has a couple of drivers (that I know of..) that race National/Regional events and do very good. They both also make 90% of the club races...they love to race..doesn't matter who. They are also very involved in the club and are always willing to help other drivers!

...I raced at the club race this month...and I'll be there next month racing also!

Oscar Aguilera · Joined: 18 Jul 2001 Posts: 1614

tj is on here as much as anyone else...but he lives in wisc....too cold!!!

i think karting will always have counts in correlation to the economy, and jobs.

at the top...there is a % of racers that will always race there because they have the time luxury needed at big events because they have the money to spend the time.

i dont think you need to spend a crap load of money on the kart or motors to run up front...it is the traveling that kills it IMO.

as for locally...i see more classes with the chonda as being a good thing. when karting can offer a cheap class more karters will join in. i have always said indoor karting is great for getting drivers to go to outdoor karts.

i also see a slight come back of the kt100. i know i know they have been up north this whole time....but down here...i can maybe see some guys out there with the old kt and before there were none.

i think karting is the same it has always been. but we have nicer tracks in the country as a whole and cheaper classes to get drivers into karting.

karts do not bring specatators, food, or beer sales....so karting will never change. racing in the heat of the day is also IMO a turn off for both spectators and some drivers that might not be in such good shape. we need saturday night races with good concessions and a good announcer to get more into karting. and without large crowds to buy food and beer...there will only be money that sponsors give. and that is a one off deal because there are no spectators!!!!

with what i see as needed at a track ( sat night, good food, announcer) a track could triple its income with a free spectator area and a $5 charge for parking....compared to the over priced pit passes that most tracks seem to depend on for revenue. a pit pass turns spectators off...and the spectator is your next new karter.

i think the top has been the same plus or minus will be based on series available to run...and locally it is based on extra income.

we have better use of websites and social media...we have better tracks, and more user friendly karts....then it comes down to people wanting to get into a race car.

the single biggest expense is the tire bill and tracks keep wanting to run sticky soft tires by comparison to days past.

you really have to love karting to spend what we do and know there are other options out there that cost less and you actually win some $$$ for your efforts...with large fields and excellent competition. but it is on dirt? if you like asphalt....then there isnt anything better than karting for wheel to wheel action and time on the track. but the size and complexity doesnt add up to the cost of a kart.

just my opinion.

TJ Koyen · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:54 pm Post subject:

mike prokup · Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Posts: 228

kyle good topic..... karting is a mess and eveyone has a right to voice their opinion.

These forums are for everyone.

Bernard Muminovic · Joined: 24 Jul 2009 Posts: 598

Here in the North East we have the North East Shifter Series. It has grown over the past two years and has seen one of the biggest shifter kart fields in the country. We are hands wide open to the new comers, everyone knows each other, the front runners are always willing to help out with any questions that anyone may have and we make everyone feel like we are a big family. On top of that, we provide incentives to all new comers. This year we are offering $500 to the "rookie of the year" award.

The moral of the story...keep politics out, make the new comers feel at home. Be a leader and point them in the right direction!
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Tom Varner · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:33 am Post subject:

SCCA used to and maybe still does require so many local/regional races to be able to get a National lisence -

I think Rotax requires a certain number of club races to be able to run a national -

WKA should require the same thing - a certain number of club races per year before you can run regional or national races