Pitt Race hosted an Open House for karting yesterday where my son Andy went to represent Kartwerks by displaying a few of our karts. He met with several new families/racers with one family in particular being very interested in moving forward. The young lady that will be the driver got interested from watching Kart Life. The highlight of her day was getting to meet Savannah.
This isn’t rocket science people – karting has been given a gift and the fact that the industry on the whole has done so little to take advantage of it is frustrating and shows the incredible vacuum of leadership in this industry in the US.
While IAME, Vortex, Rotax, Briggs, MG, Bridgestone, WKA, SKUSA, USPKS, etc continue to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight over market share, we watch that market continue to dwindle. Rather than be the engine that drives karting growth they choose to be divisive, petty and increasingly effective at driving people away rather than bringing new blood in. Market growth is infinitely more important than market share.
As a small kart shop I can attend a few shows to promote karting, spend a few dollars on advertising/sponsorship and generally try to be a positive voice for the sport to the general public. I don’t have the wherewithal to advertise on Kart Life or leverage any other opportunities of that magnitude to expose the sport to new people.
I have made a conscious decision to not sponsor/advertise anything other than local or club level programs that bring new people in to the sport. I will no longer sponsor any series, event, etc that is not using those funds to bring new people in to the sport. That said, if an industry effort was put together to grow the sport by doing things such as advertising on Kart Life, or potentially the SKUSA broadcasts on CBS Sports this spring, my checkbook is open and I have a pen in hand.
