Where Have All the Go-Karts Gone?

Does anyone know if there are any old fashioned go-kart tracks near the Houston area or go-kart clubs?

I'm looking fror folks racing 50's / 60's style adult go-karts.

 

Google WKA, World Karting Association

 

There's a HAMB go-kart social group...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=597

 

I got two..66' or so Dart Kart [rupp] and a 80' or so Yamaha..No place to run them without actually getting envolved in racing..Too bad my enthusiasim for racing isn't good as there is a track that runs every sunday between memorial and labor days bout mile from my house...

 

other than women .. there are very few things as fun as a go-kart

 

Around here they always seem to show up on Craiglslist minus the engine for a low price when I'm broke.

 

There was a man that posted video on the local public access station of film footage of go kart racing in the 50s. He and a friend traveled from Wisconsin to races in California and Texas.

There used to be go kart tracks all around the area in the 50s and early 60s. One of the old tracks is overgrown but still visible. Karting made a big comeback about 15 years ago but has slowed considerably.

 

Many thanks.
I used to kart with my dad back in the early 60's when I was a child and I have been giving a lot of thought to getting back into it.
Drag racing is too expensive and most hot rods or even project cars are outside of my budget...that only leaves go-karts and mini bikes!

And I am not safe of four wheels so mini bikes are out!

 

Thanks but this exactly what I did not want to get into.
The WKA seems to be to old karting what Cu$tom $how Rod$ are to Hot Rodding.

And the closest track is San Antonio!

I am talking vintage 50's and 60's karting.
I will switch over to the dedicated site...

 

Google "Vintage Karts"- lots of stuff over there. The Vintage Karting Association, and Rear Engine American racers (REAR) have lots of info, events, etc for the early days of Karting.

 

"Where Have All The Go-Karts Gone"..... wasn't that a Peter, Paul, and Mary song?

There are a number of Youtube videos showing vintage Go-Karts. Some of the vids were from a meet at the Adams track in Riverside, Ca.

 

I still have all the .25 and .35 cent go kart magazines from the early 60's all the way up into the mid 90's

I remember in the 60's when the only association around was the I.K.F. in Calif. and we all belonged to it or we could not race.

Around 1970 a few of the guys told me they were going to start a New association called World Karting. They also said they were going to be running 4 cycle engines and keep in mind that in the 60's almost everyone was running a 2 cycle

Well the rest is history because the W.K.A. really took off and became the number one association for anyone interested in racing karts.

Check out National Kart News which I still have card board boxes full of since I used to sell it during the 80's when it first started.

The karts of today really are very high tech racing machines compared to what I raced in the 60's.

I have friends who started out in the family two car garage selling kart parts and once the business was doing over half a million dollars a year purchased their own building.

Karting today is very different then in the early day's and today racing engines can cost thousands of dollars.

Jimbo

 

Sure wish I had this one back. I still have the two Mc's that we ran back in the 70's. My two sons now 48 & 46.

 

karting is alive and well here in the north
http://michkartclub.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kSyDnxDQjM0

 

also FYI
you can get your kids in derby for less than a grand

 

Funny this thread just popped up, yesterday i got my "Go-Kart" manufactured by Go-Kart manufacturing out, put a new 5 hp briggs on it and took it for a spin! Damn that things fast, restored it for my son about 25 years ago with a 3 hp briggs, never could get the original west bend running, forgot how much fun they are.

 

http://rearenginekarts.com/index.htm
More stuff here.

 

Sister-in-law made the cover that Kart magazine I think in 02-03...

Karts have gone to shifter carts, 125mph bullets.

 

THANKS!! Another toy I must have!!!(I,m driving my wife nuts) Happy Days!! Pete

 

Supercharged, I sympathize with you on this one. When I was a kid I wanted a kart so bad, but was never allowed. I found one about 4 years ago at a Motorcycle swap meet and traded a unit Triumph oil tank for it. After I hung a 3hp Briggs on it, it became the "home entertainment center" for or home. It didn't matter the age or the gender, everybody that came to our house wanted to drive the go kart. So I thought a vintage Go Kart race club might be fun. I went out to a local Kart track, saw the new stuff run, (no thanks!) and asked about putting togehter a limited class of sorts with similar Karts to mine... Laughter all around!!! Wish I could have got somthing going, cause I think it could be a ball.

 

Some cat named Mark owns them all !!! >>>>.

 

Jacksonville, Florida has a very active karting scene.

 

a pic of me in my brothers 1964 Cates frame with the then new MC91 (and I got his old MC49 for my cart) about 1968 or so....by then the lay down - disk brakes and Comet motors were taking over....after getting shed of it about 1974 or so I was able to get it back in the 80's and restore it to give to my bro on his 30th birthday....he never started it and then gave it to a buddy to use with his kids and it was lost in his friends divorce....if I only knew...still hurts seeing his "clown" of a friend...

 

Chip I say we do like the lonestar roundup with the mini bikes and start a show here and run vintage go-karts

 

there was a track out off of 290 about 10 years ago. always meant to investigate but never got around to it. I did see a newer racing kart for sale in my area of Houston (willowbrook) so it had to of run somewhere.

 

Guys, there are pockets of organized vintage karting all over the country that fall under 3 main organizations. They are all dedicated to vintage racing karts, so it's not a "run what you brung" kind of deal, but about restoring 60's and early 70's karts to the way they were raced and then running them at speed with some friendly dicing but no serious racing. Vintage parts are too hard to come by and no one wants to tear stuff up. On the west coast the main group is the Vintage Kart Club of America, (www.vkcoa.com) in the midwest and South it's the Vintage Karting Association (http://vintagepowersport.com/vka/) in Ohio is a group that is dedicated to only 60's rear engine karts (http://www.rearenginekarts.com/) and back east there is a loose group of guys that hang out on http://www.vintagekarts.com/

If there is nothing happening within driving distance in your area and you want to organize track days for vintage karts in your area, here is my website that spells out how to work it out with your local modern kart club and the things that need to be considered: http://sites.google.com/site/uvka4u/ I organized vintage kart meets from 2001 through 2007 and will still occasionally put together an informal track day. Back in 2001 none of modern karting understood what we were trying to do or wanted to have anything to do with us, but it has grown and gotten a bit easier since then. So if you want to read about the roadblocks I came up against and how I got around them so you don't have to reinvent the wheel, check the site out.

 

That's exactly what I had envisioned! Yes!

 

Hellcat Wild cat

 

Yep!... One of my favorite songs...

 

Here are a few ideas. Find a track. Try ikfkarting.com. There should be a track directory, by state, but no. Click on Links, to see some of the clubs, which run the tracks around the country. The International Kart Federation is in Ontario, CA at 909-923-4999. Their goal has always been to keep tracks and the clubs that run them going. The clubs have always needed to increase revenue to operate and improve their facility. They do that by charging people to run their kart on their track thru track fee or club membership. Next, find out when they have practice days and how much for you to bring out your kart. Sometimes they open the track for a period of time after a race day. That was, typically, when you could let someone try out your kart for their first time. Come watch the race, drive one, get hooked, you get the picture
Be prepared. Do your best to have everything you need to run your kart including any help you might need. Karters are very helpful, but they have their own deal to manage. My bet is that they will get a GIANT kick out of a vintage kart or karts. They may even have one or know of one.
Want to do your own deal, IKF will be the cheapest, BEST way to get insured. You'll see!
If you choose to try to run it on a parking lot, be prepared to be run off. They are just covering their ass. If you do get to run a bit, WATCH OUT for curbs! and cars!! (Especially if you let someone else try your kart, Have the, "If you wreck it conversation")
Pat Elridge at IKF recommended ekartingnews.com for questions and answers.

If you think you like riding them, wait til you race them!