Official Sodi Kart Expo International Show Discussion

[Sanford Mitz]

Thanks. I'm looking to port them to an Ipod. Makes driving more interesting.

[David Cole]

Hi everyone, back to the EKN office, we have loaded photos from the show to our official gallery: http://www.ekartingnews.com/photos.php?sshow=0&gal=207&sshow=0

We'll have our report on what we saw at the show tomorrow.
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David Cole
News Desk Manager
eKartingNews.com
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[Greg Wright]

[Darrell Sitarz]

I want to personally thank all the sponsors, roundtable participants, 90+ exhibiting companies and the attendees for what was an outstanding 17th annual Sodi Kart Expo. The snowy weather on Saturday did not dampen the attendance one bit with a huge crowd coming through the gate and the sunny Sunday attendance was outstanding as well. Given the worldwide economy, the ill-timed FWT and other factors, I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Mark your calendar for the 4th weekend in February next year, again at the DuPage Expo Center in St. Charles, Illinois for the 18th annual Kart Expo International.
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Darrell Sitarz

[Linda Willareth]

Tonight's show should be a great one--recap of the Expo in Chicago and results of Racefan karter poll. Hope everyone listens. Tonight--8p.m. midwest time racefanradio.com

[SHAYNE SHIPLEY]

How was the ROUND TABLE discussion?????
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Shayne Shipley
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[Linda Willareth]

I was not able to attend the Round Table--I heard that indoor kart concession owner, Tony Stewart, was a terrific speaker--but concession karts don't interest me. contact Racefanradio.com (they have a phone number) maybe a copy of the forum will be available for you. I think I did hear that one set of rules was agreed upon among the forum participants (seems like a good, logical idea, huh?) I did learn that Tom Bagley, manager of the nation's most successful country club membership road race operation, and close friend, was on the panel. They, too, have a kart track at their Joliet, Illinois Autobahn facility. If you have never seen Autobahn, located within two miles of Chicagoland Speedway, IT IS SOMETHING TO SEE. I do think everyone should mark their calendars for Feb. next year to attend the Expo--while a little smaller in vendor numbers than 5 years ago, the gate traffic was very good--and worth your time.

[Dan Schlosser]

Linda, what Tony brought to the table were some of the most salient points I've heard in any discussion of the kart racing business. To put it bluntly, he gets it. The best part is that he has no agenda, no product to defend and no rules or series baggage. The kart racing business has much it can learn from people like Tony - I was very impressed.

The other panel members were very good as well but I came away with pages of notes from Tony's comments.

I also really appreciated the survey information that Ray and some of the others worked on. While a bit mind numbing trying to take it all in at once, I know in reflection there was much to be learned there.

Good experience all the way around and I will be there next year if they do it again. I'd like to see something similar at PRI to incorporate a different cross section of participants and attendees.

For the future I'd also like to see this potentially split in to two discussions - 1) how to grow the sport by attracting new people and retaining current customers & 2) how to put together a more sensible and streamlined set of rules and classes.

Just my $.02

[Linda Willareth]

Your two cents are worth millions--to the sport, the shop owners and importers, competitors, track owners--they might not admit it but NEW IDEAS are important to the growth of the sport--guess we all need to get ahold of a copy of that forum's notes. And I love your idea of two discussions--PRI is quite the place for awesome imput, but I have to remain loyal to Darrell--he has been very loyal to kart racing expos for years--long before PRI was even heard of--but I'd love to hear what some of those "heavy hitters--including Indy and NASCAR drivers have to say (many are active karters) about the sport in an atmosphere where they could freely talk. I enjoyed your post, Dan.

[Roger Ruthhart]

I have to agree with Linda on this one and give props to Darrell for all his efforts to try and do something for our sport. Despite the fact that the economy and the unfortunate scheduling overlap by the Florida Winter Tour kept some businesses away, the show was still a tremendous success. It just meant more people coming past the booths of those of us who attended.

As is always the case, our involvement was well worth the time and cost. We were able to meet with people involved in our event, past and potential racers, find out first hand about the karting survey, hand out information to karting media and businesses and make a couple of potentially lucrative sponsor contacts. Despite all of the problems in the world, still a great effort on Darrell's part. The Expo, roundtables, Friday night racing, live web cast ... the whole package.

I hope everyone will support the show in 2010.

As for PRI, it's great for exposure of our sport. But it needs to be less about egos and more about involving and connecting with those in motorsports who came from karting.

Both shows have a place, but karting needs Kart Expo International as the premier place where all the players in OUR sport come together once a year. Thanks to Sodi Kart for its ongoing sponsorship of the event and thanks again, Darrell. The Rock Island Grand Prix is proud to be a sponsor and is looking forward to the show FEB. 27-28, 2010. Mark down the date, don't schedule on top of it, and be there!

[Charlie Tackett]