JohnHKart
01-11-08, 10:51 PM
I've been racing go karts off (mostly off) and on in the city of Carson's Go Kart World Wed night league racing nights since the summer of 94.
Unfortunately from 94-2001 I was working on cruise ships so I would only be able to race for a few weeks at a time before returning to a ship gig, with one long stint of three months off in 95-96.
During that time I did rack up a bunch of top fives and led races, only to get tripped up in backmarkers and get passed for the lead. In the meantime, I was also racing part time at the Jim Hall Kart School and took all their classes and won a couple of class races and a race in their monthly racing series. I also raced in 93 at a nearby kart track's weekly race night, but winning there was easy and the track was alot easier.
In December 2001, I got off cruise ships and raced every week in Carson for six months, before an every Wed gig took me away for five years. In Sept, 2007 I returned to the track and most of my friends were still there, looking the same and welcoming me back with smiles. These guys are the coolest in the world, all die hard racing fans of all ages but most are in their 50s. And they're damned good drivers!
The track is a small oval slick track that takes quite a bit of skill to get around and I've had a love hate relationship with it over the years. Nothing I've learned elsewhere really applies here. This place is tough! I was on the pace pretty quickly when I came back, because I had just returned from lapping the Nurburgring and speeding around the Autobahn. I had a podium a couple weeks after my come back and led one race but got passed after about 15 laps.
I've been competitive when the conditions are right and had a lot of fourth places and good races since Sept. Then came the track's annual Ercse classic charity race, in November in honor of Fred Ercse, who died of a heart attack at the track in May of 1998. He was a tough old racer but a great guy, who worked on Emerson Fittipaldi's 1984 Indy 500 effort, among other achievements.
I won my first race there, a ten lap heat and was the only wed night regular to get into the main, where I finished 9th of 14 drivers. 52 were trying to get into that race so it was a huge thrill. The proceeds of the event are donated to the American Heart Association. That was great, but I really wanted to win a regular 40 lap race and am pleased to say I finally did it on Wed night!!
That kart was flying, the track tightened up and we were blazing around in 9.5 second laps (normal lap times are in the 11-12 second range when the powder is put on the track to make it a slick track. I found this killer groove on the bottom and the thing just stuck! I got stuck in traffic this time too, but I just had such a big lead I wasn't passed. Like Jean Alesi, I started to get real emotional halfway through but you have to control your emotions or risk losing. We were going so fast, my right leg and foot were killing me too, this was hard work!
This has been a dream of mine to win there for over a decade, and to finally do it is a total thrill. I'm also racing their fast Euro karts on their awesome roadcourse on Tuesdays, but still have a lot of work to do to be more competitive there. I've been walking around replaying that race for two days in my head and I can still see that checkered flag waving at last for me. I haven't won a race since October, 1998. Thanks for listening.
John
Victory Lane at last, Carson, January 9, 2008
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v720/JohnHKart/01-09-08_2017.jpg
http://www.gokartworld.com/
Unfortunately from 94-2001 I was working on cruise ships so I would only be able to race for a few weeks at a time before returning to a ship gig, with one long stint of three months off in 95-96.
During that time I did rack up a bunch of top fives and led races, only to get tripped up in backmarkers and get passed for the lead. In the meantime, I was also racing part time at the Jim Hall Kart School and took all their classes and won a couple of class races and a race in their monthly racing series. I also raced in 93 at a nearby kart track's weekly race night, but winning there was easy and the track was alot easier.
In December 2001, I got off cruise ships and raced every week in Carson for six months, before an every Wed gig took me away for five years. In Sept, 2007 I returned to the track and most of my friends were still there, looking the same and welcoming me back with smiles. These guys are the coolest in the world, all die hard racing fans of all ages but most are in their 50s. And they're damned good drivers!
The track is a small oval slick track that takes quite a bit of skill to get around and I've had a love hate relationship with it over the years. Nothing I've learned elsewhere really applies here. This place is tough! I was on the pace pretty quickly when I came back, because I had just returned from lapping the Nurburgring and speeding around the Autobahn. I had a podium a couple weeks after my come back and led one race but got passed after about 15 laps.
I've been competitive when the conditions are right and had a lot of fourth places and good races since Sept. Then came the track's annual Ercse classic charity race, in November in honor of Fred Ercse, who died of a heart attack at the track in May of 1998. He was a tough old racer but a great guy, who worked on Emerson Fittipaldi's 1984 Indy 500 effort, among other achievements.
I won my first race there, a ten lap heat and was the only wed night regular to get into the main, where I finished 9th of 14 drivers. 52 were trying to get into that race so it was a huge thrill. The proceeds of the event are donated to the American Heart Association. That was great, but I really wanted to win a regular 40 lap race and am pleased to say I finally did it on Wed night!!
That kart was flying, the track tightened up and we were blazing around in 9.5 second laps (normal lap times are in the 11-12 second range when the powder is put on the track to make it a slick track. I found this killer groove on the bottom and the thing just stuck! I got stuck in traffic this time too, but I just had such a big lead I wasn't passed. Like Jean Alesi, I started to get real emotional halfway through but you have to control your emotions or risk losing. We were going so fast, my right leg and foot were killing me too, this was hard work!
This has been a dream of mine to win there for over a decade, and to finally do it is a total thrill. I'm also racing their fast Euro karts on their awesome roadcourse on Tuesdays, but still have a lot of work to do to be more competitive there. I've been walking around replaying that race for two days in my head and I can still see that checkered flag waving at last for me. I haven't won a race since October, 1998. Thanks for listening.
John
Victory Lane at last, Carson, January 9, 2008
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v720/JohnHKart/01-09-08_2017.jpg
http://www.gokartworld.com/