The sun has set on the 2023 season and we welcome 2024 (Photo: Nate Dean - EKN)

It’s one of my favorite songs of all time, and one of the best covers, all wrapped into one – ‘Turn the Page’ by Bob Segar, covered by Metallica years later. The song is about the emotional ups and downs of being on the road, something a lot of the karting industry has in common after the 2023 season. It was a grind of a season, from the winter months until a small break in May, and then right back at it all summer long and into the fall season.

That is probably the one big difference from the time I started with eKartingNews at the end of 2004 and today. Winter was a time to regroup and enjoy an actual off-season away from the track, like what we see with NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, F1 and other forms of motorsports. December was the one month you could put the luggage away in the closet without having to unload and load within 24 hours. Now, the month is becoming invaded with new races, in addition to the annual WKA Daytona KartWeek event.

There are different viewpoints to the 12-month race schedule for karting in the USA. On the ‘Pro’ side, there is plenty of racing to select from with different promoters, series, categories offered across the board. The Con: burning out those individuals who feel they need to be ‘at every race’. Now, this is not the case for everyone, however, it depends on where you are and what your racing budget is.

The fact that we have 12 months of notable kart races is remarkable and shows that the sport is at a healthy stage in terms of the industry. The winter programs in 2023 had solid numbers, from the many races in Florida to the Challenge of the Americas on the west coast. The major series – USPKS and SKUSA – saw substantial entries during the spring and summer months, as did the regional programs from the Northwest, Rocky Mountains, Texas, Southeast, Midwest and Northeast. Then adding in the one-off events for 2-cycle and 4-cycle genres and we have a full calendar across the country.

Numbers are strong, but we as a sport cannot be complacent. We must continue to put a focus on introducing new people to karting at the local level. The pyramid works, but only does so when the local level is healthy. We see several facilities welcoming more and more new people and families into the karting community across the country. That beyond anything else is the positive.

Now, as we enter the 2024 calendar year, it’s time to put 2023 in the past and start planning and anticipating the excitement that is to come with a new season of racing.

At the top level of the sport, we are seeing a new era entering the 2024 season. The Challenge of the Americas has become an independent program, welcoming ROK and IAME along with the FIA KZ and OK-N engine platforms. SKUSA and ROK Cup USA call Florida home once again for the first three months of the year before the USPKS kicks off on Spring Break weekend for those in the north, returning to Texas for a second straight year to start their five-race program.

SKUSA returns to a traditional date for its WinterNationals in Florida, before heading to Ohio for the first time in June with the SpringNationals and wrapping up at New Castle as the SummerNationals decides this year’s champions. This will mark the first time in the now 15 years of the series it has not hosted an event in either the Pacific or Mountain time zones.

With that, we at EKN are adjusting our EKN Driver Rankings system for the 2024 season. All the major programs and events will have the same base rating – including Challenge of the Americas, Florida Winter Tour, ROK Cup USA, SKUSA Pro Tour, SKUSA Winter Series, United States Pro Kart Series, and Rotax US Trophy Series. One-off events like the Rock Island Grand Prix, IAME USA Grand National Championship, ROK Vegas, Rotax US Trophy Final, and, of course, the SKUSA SuperNationals will be elevated with an initial base rating higher than the series events. More on that in the coming weeks.

We are looking ahead to the near 20 events on the 2024 EKN Trackside Tour. This includes traveling to the SKUSA Winter Series, Challenge of the Americas, SKUSA Pro Tour, United States Pro Kart Series, US Trophy Final, Rock Island Grand Prix, Cup Karts North America Grand Nationals 8, SKUSA SuperNationals 27, PRI Trade Show, WKA Daytona KartWeek and more! EKN will continue to bring you updates, photos, videos, results, race reports and more with the best in-depth coverage of karting here in the USA.

My latest column helped to launch our new Roundtable segment on YouTube and for the EKN Radio Network. We will expand on the topic ‘2026 World Karting Championships to the USA’ and more with future episodes and of course continue with more Face2Face shows as well. The Hot Seat will amp up in 2024 with more Q&A podcasts with notable figures in the sport along with other podcasts coming throughout the year.

It’s been a pleasure to provide coverage over the last 19 seasons, now entering my 20th with eKartingNews. 2024 is sure to be a memorable year, and I’m itching to get back to sitting inches from the circuit, camera in hand, and providing the best karting coverage possible.

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