Challenge of the Americas promoter Andy Seesemann (Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)

The Challenge of the Americas kicks off its 17th season on the February 2-4 weekend at the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson, Arizona. Series promoter Andy Seesemann is fired up and ready for this year’s edition, having made some significant changes to his long-time program. For those of you who are new to the sport and not familiar with Seesemann, Andy’s a karting veteran who has been in the sport for over 40 years, beginning like many of us as a young karter himself. Andy started in 1983 racing Junior Restricted Rookie Yamaha at a club in Katy, Texas. A long career behind the wheel had begun. Fast forward several years, Seesemann added making a living in the sport to his resume as he entered the industry working for iconic shops like Pitts Performance before launching his own effort in 2002 – Full Throttle Karting.

Full Throttle Karting, which was based on Orange, California eventually began organizing event under the ‘FTK Promotions’ banner. Without promoters, we have no races, and for the last 16 years, Seesemann, FTK Promotions, and the Challenge of the Americas has provided West Coast racers with a top-notch winter series to dial in their programs for the ‘regular’ season. An over-riding theme for the Challenge’s longevity has been its ability to adapt with the times and with industry fluctuations. Launched initially as a Rotax series in 2008, COTA needed to pivot in 2018 to adopt the ROK Cup platform, and it will do so again as we enter 2024 with a move to an open formula. This year, IAME engines will run alongside ROK motors in all classes from Mini to Senior Shifter, where KZ powerplants will run head-to-head with ROK Shifter with a set balance of performance.

As we debut this new ‘Promoters Series’ on EKN, we caught up with Andy as he prepares for the 17th edition of his program.

eKartingNews: Andy, thanks for taking the time to chat with us ahead of the 2024 Challenge of the Americas. I’m sure you’re ready to get things fired.

Andy Seesemann: Thanks, Rob. Yes, it’s time to get things rolling! All the planning that started six months ago is about to be put into action. Track contracts, staff travel, insurance, awards, tire and fuel shipments, etc. and all the other things that we have to plan are all in play. It’s now getting close to the time to execute. It’s like being in that team sport locker room and looking at the countdown clock, trying to stay calm at the same time getting ready to play the game.

The green flag will wave on the 2024 Challenge of the Americas on February 2-4 in Tucson, AZ (Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)

EKN: I love that analogy. We’re heading into a new season and this year will see some significant changes to the Challenge of the Americas, can you give us a quick overview before we dive deeper into the individual components?

AS: Absolutely. For the first 16 years, the Challenge has been part of a large worldwide program. The first 10 with Rotax and the last six years with ROK.  While it is nice to part of a big program, it was time to pivot, just as you had said. My time with ROK was great and there are no hard feelings from my side. It was just time to make a change. Unfortunately, things are in flux in the West. Single-make programs are struggling to get good entry numbers, as opposed to the big numbers in the East. It’s cyclical, as I can remember a time where the West was dominant, but it is very different right now. So, I decided to open up the classes to multiple engine makes to be able to wrap our arms around as many competitors as we can and give them a place to race. It’s not an open, ‘run what you brung’ type program, but structured where the engines that are used by 95% of the people in two-cycle asphalt sprint racing are utilized.

EKN: So let’s dive into that, you’ve allowed the IAME KA100 in your 100cc classes for years, although due to the factory exhaust restrictors, Junior 100cc was almost strictly the VLR100.  Now to the more significant evolution. Your Mini ROK and shifter classes were pure ROK categories. You’re opening them up for 2024. An open list of engines will be eligible for the Shifter classes with the KZ engines – Vortex, IAME, TM, and Modena. How’s the feedback been with that move? KZ is definitely picking up momentum in the US.

AS: The move has been positive for both categories. Our 60cc Cadet class has already met its 2023 entry total and in fact it’s up more than 30% with several days to go before pre-entry closes. We are on pace to exceed our 2023 shifter participation as well. More specifically, KZ momentum is positive in the US, so it was a no brainer to go with that trend. The US karting market seems to go through an overhaul every 5-7 years, especially in the shifter category. If you recall, we had Mod Honda, then ICC (KZ), then Stock Honda from the late 90s to the mid teens, then the bottom fell out of the shifter market. ROK Shifter absolutely saved the category. The ROK Shifter was perfectly positioned to take over the market when Stock Honda was killed. It’s been six years since we made the initial push. So, KZ is back and now it’s the package on the rise. Entries are rolling in for Shifter Masters and as I announced a few days ago, in Shifter Senior, four of the top 11 EKN-ranked shifter kart drivers are entered for Tucson as part of the GFC squad. Italian Motors is bringing out former multi-time World Cup and European Champion Bas Lammers and last year’s ROK Cup Italy ROK Shifter Champion Nicolas Taylor to run as well, so the category should be very competitive and biggest field in the US thus far in 2024.

Big numbers are expected in the Junior and Senior 100cc categories once again (Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)

EKN: You’ve made a move with your spec tire program as well. Can you provide some of the background on the move to Vega and which compounds will the series employ?

AS: Certainly. Tires have been attached to engine programs since Rotax started the mono-brand categories over 20 years ago. Whether it’s Rotax/Mojo, IAME/Evinco/MG or ROK/LeVanto, there is always a pairing. So, as an independent program, I felt that having a “non-connected” tire as our spec tire was the best choice. Tod Spaude from TS Racing worked with me a ton to put a program together to introduce Vega to the West Coast. For the 60cc Cadet class, we will be utilizing the Red VAH compound, which is well known by competitors in the Cup Karts North America program. All Junior and Senior classes will utilize the newly homologated Green XH4 compound, which is the CIK “Option” tire. With our testing this past summer and fall, we determined that these were the two best choices for our class lineup. Lastly, we will utilize the W6 WET tires, which is widely considered the best rain tire in the market.

EKN: OK, we’re dialed in the engine and tire evolutions, now let’s talk about the opening weekend and the relocation of the second race. Monster Energy Supercross got underway earlier in the month in Anaheim, CA with what many refer to as ‘A1’ with the series leveraging the venue twice in January. Let’s borrow from SX and talk about ‘T1’ and ‘T2’. The Challenge will run back-to-back events at Tucson this year, which we consider to be one of the best pure racetracks in the country. So let’s talk about T1…how are things looking for the first race of the series?

AS:  You bet. T1 is looking great at this point in time. Obviously, we had a setback with OK-N, but that’s beyond our control. The competitors control one thing, whether they enter or not.  They didn’t so, sadly, we had to drop OK-N.  That being said, entries in the other six classes are strong. Yes, I said six classes. How refreshing to not have 10 different redundant classes to trudge through all weekend. With more than two weeks to go before we see karts on track, three of the classes have already exceeded their 2023 entry numbers, with two of them having more than 25% growth. That is a great sign. The other classes are on pace to match last year as well, so we should actually see an increase in overall numbers even though we lost a class. With the way things are in the West right now, that’s huge. Tucson is a great track and for the first time we are racing in the clockwise direction, so it should be very exciting. It’s been almost 20 years since a national event such as Challenge raced in this direction, so it will be a brand new experience for everyone, which makes for a fun time.

The Shifter categories will welcome the KZ engine platform for 2024 (Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)

EKN: Expand on the numbers with the 25% growth. We all know that numbers breed numbers, so it’s great to see. The reverse effect happened with OK-N as everyone sat on the fence and ‘talked’ about entering, but they didn’t, and you had to drop the class. Tell us more about the classes that are showing big growth.

AS: The classes with the biggest growth are classes for our youngest competitors and oldest competitors – 60cc Cadet and 100cc Masters. Traditionally, our 100cc Junior and 100cc Senior classes are huge, with half of the total entries coming from those two classes. That means the other classes average in the teens as far as numbers go. With 60cc Cadet and 100cc Masters experiencing 25-30% growth over last year’s totals with several days left in the pre-entry period, each of those classes could see a 50% increase! That means a class could go from 10 to 15 or from 14 to 20 pretty quickly, so it’s a great sign.

EKN: That’s truly positive momentum for the west coast, where things are not what they once were. Two of the consistent positives of the Challenge have always been the staff and the atmosphere. You’ve got an experienced crew of staff who has been with you for many years, and that stability and consistency plays into the overall weekend experience and atmosphere. Can you give us an overview of the staff you’ll have in place for T1?

AS: My Challenge staff is my family and has been my family for many years. For one, it makes my job during the event very easy, as everyone understands their role and tells me to get out of their way so they can do their job. The other benefit is that the returning competitors and teams know what to expect. They know how the Race Directors officiate, or how the Tech Staff looks at things, so team owners and mechanics that have come to our races for a few years can coach their newer clients on our way of doing things. Our Race Direction staff is much the same, with Taylor Jocelyn and Marc Miscione as my #1 and #1A on-track. Tyler Brooks and Josh Veloz assist them, along with someone who worked for us in the past, Ryan Egan from the ROK staff.  Guy is on the grid, Maddi Park (Egger) as Race Secretary and Megan, Ashley and Nichole (when she returns from maternity leave) doing tires. The tech staff is the same, as Dave Davies, Rob Yardley, and Corey Tapp will be verifying good finishes by inspecting the equipment post-race. This year, we added a few staff members as we always have a bit of turnover and I look to strengthen a few areas. Chase and Rebecca Gordon are joining us in scales and the back of the grid. Chase used to work with Tyler Brooks at K1 Racegear, so he is no stranger to karting. Delaney will be doing wristbands and swag after working at Pats Acres for a few years doing the same and I added Cameron Edwards, my first addition from my new home in Idaho. Cameron helps out at the local tracks, officiating at Kart Idaho and Blue Valor and also helping promote dirt karting events, and has been in karting for 25 years. Obviously, Angel Matta will be there to hang banners and take lunch orders and Erik will be Erik, the paddock’s best friend and bartender. Obviously, you and David support us with the great coverage and announcing that you provide and Sean Buur takes some photos, posts some things and sharpens his sarcasm. Cody from CKN has come down for several years and we are happy to have him within the fold. Lastly, and most importantly is Shelby Jocelyn, my rock. If Shelby ever quits, I will stop organizing events. She does all the admin, registration, communication along with being the best scorer in karting.  There is simply nobody better. So, yes, I am very lucky to have my Challenge family with me on this journey. I could not, and would not, do this without them.

The Challenge family (Photo: Cody Schindel – CKN)

EKN: The family atmosphere is always apparent with the COTA staff and that permeates throughout the paddock as well, from morning warm-up to the fun at the post-race podium celebrations. Any last thoughts to wrap up this chat as we look to the opener in Tucson on the February 2-4 weekend?

AS: Lastly, I’m just excited to see all of our winter karting family back and say ‘welcome’ to the many new friends that are joining us in Tucson. If you are coming and haven’t entered yet, or are on the fence, be sure go to www.challengekarting.com and enter for T1. You will have a great time. We do have a lot of fun in a high quality, high value race event, with a drama free paddock and a family friendly atmosphere.  An example of this was a couple of years ago was when a competitor’s daughter was thought to be missing. Without an announcement or a big plan, about 20% of paddock immediately dropped what they were doing to look for this six-year-old. She was found 10 minutes later sleeping behind a box in her dad’s trailer, but that’s not the point. In the time we are in karting, with closed off tents, glass walls and seemingly each team having a security guard or a VIP list, our paddock banded together to help find a little girl. Where else would you see that? Nowhere except The Challenge.

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