Billy Musgrave scored his first SummerNationals triumph since 2015 in Pro Shifter (Photo: EKN)

In a continued effort to highlight the many outstanding performances by drivers around the country, eKartingNews.com is proud to introduce the ‘Driver of the Month’ program. Each month, the staff at EKN will determine the one driver who stood out above the rest and give the viewers a chance to know exactly what they accomplished and who they are.

Over the last 12 years, Billy Musgrave has made a name for himself in the sport of karting here in the United States. His first Superkarts! USA SuperNationals victory came in 2012 in the S2 Semi-Pro category. From there, he began racking up victories in the S1 Pro division at the regional and national level, including victories on the SKUSA Pro Tour. A trio of SuperNats triumphs from 2017 to 2019 put him on the list of the four-time winners, currently at just four drivers over the 26 editions of the event.

The last time Musgrave stood on the top step of the podium at the New Castle Motorsports Park for the SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals was in 2015 – the first time the New Castle, Indiana facility hosted the event. Fast forward to 2024, and Musgrave returned to for the final event of the SKUSA Pro Tour and the 10th edition of the SummerNationals at NCMP.

Musgrave entered his Factory Kart machine in the Pro Shifter category as the eldest driver at the age of 32. The SKUSA Pro Show began for the class with a split up session in qualifying for the 35-driver field. Musgrave was second in his group, transferring over to the Super Pole run. He came out of the green-white-checkered session fifth overall, putting him on the inside of row three for both heat races. Musgrave was able to improve to fourth in the opening moto before recording the same result in the second heat race. This now put him on the outside of row two for the launch of the main event on Sunday.

The field was slow to grid for the 20-lap Final, with SKUSA officials sending around the group to re-grid a second time. As they came around, Musgrave clutch cable broke, leaving him with the only option of putting the engine into neutral while rolling to the grid, and then slamming the engine into gear when the green flag waved. Musgrave performed this maneuver successfully, improving one position to be third on the exit of the opening corner. The aggressiveness of the leaders on the opening circuit led to contact on lap two. Championship contenders AJ Myers and Matheus Morgatto would push wide in a passing attempt, opening the door for Musgrave to slip past. The California driver would fend off early pressure from former SKUSA Pro Tour champion Kyle Wick before former FIA Karting World Champion Morgatto recovered and moved into second. Morgatto came close, but never was able to attempt a pass for the lead as Musgrave drove to his first SummerNationals victory since 2015.

The month of July was double win month for Musgrave, which began with success at the Stars Championship Series event at the Motorsports Country Club of Cincinnati on July 12-14. The ‘Clash at the Club’ began for Musgrave qualifying second in the field of 25-drivers. Billy came away with the win in the opening moto before holding second in the final heat race. Starting second, he was puched back to fourth early before fighting back up into the second spot. When leader Jay Urwin suffered a mechanical issue, Musgrave claimed the lead on lap 18. Billy was able to drove away to a three-second advantage at the end of the 23-lap distance for his first Stars victory. The win combined with his runner-up at Round Two puts him second in the championship. The series concludes on September 12-14 at the Trackhouse Motorplex in Mooresville, North Carolina.

The hard work and dedication of Musgrave with the Factory Kart brand, and finding a new partnership with Carblos Racing Engines, puts the California driver back on the map when looking at the SKUSA SuperNationals 27. The ‘Made in the USA’ brand will be gunning for its first SuperNats triumph, and a record-breaking fifth in the career of Musgrave.

July 2024 EKN Driver of the Month – Billy Musgrave

(Photo: EKN)

Bio

Born: Riverside, California
Hometown: Norco, California
Marital Status: Married – Chandler Musgrave
Children: No
Height/Weight: 5’10” / 150lbs
Education: 2 Years College
Occupation: Factory Karts, Inc.

Racing Resume

Chassis: Factory Karts
Engine/Engine Builder: Carblos Racing Engines / TM KZ R2
Sponsors: Baldozier Racing, Piston Bones Printing, Sypher Coatings, Five Five 7 Racing, Rude Image
Series You Compete In: SKUSA Pro Tour, SKUSA California Pro Kart Challenge, LAKC, Stars Championship Series
Years Karting: A lot…. Over 17 years at this point (Since 2007)
How did you get started in karting? Raced motocross growing up with my dad from when I was 4, and when I was around 15, he started looking to get into shifter karts for fun (and less risk of broken bones than motorcycles). He ended up getting an old used shifter kart for himself that he bought off Tom Kutscher when he still ran Extreme Karting, and then he picked up a used Top Kart with a Leopard from Travis Irving for me. I drove Travis’ kart like half-a-dozen times, then my dad let me drive his shifter and I never wanted to go back. From there we started racing with PKC and LAKC in 2008, and in 2012 I switched to racing karts full time after I broke my femur earlier in the year.
What has been the high point in your racing career? My answer used to be winning SuperNats four times… but now my honest answer is winning Orlando 2023 SKUSA Pro Tour on the IAME SSE 175 engine that everyone else gave up on. And then after the engine got ‘banned’, working like crazy to develop the chassis for the KZ engine and having now won two back-to-back nationals. The emotions in the last few weeks have been beyond words.
What are your goals in racing? My immediate goal is to now win my fifth SuperNats title. Long-term, I’d like to continue racing and developing our chassis models, as well as find some younger talent to pass on my knowledge to.
In a few words, how would you describe your driving style? Having honed my craft in Southern California, I think my driving style and strengths reflect that; I seem to excel on tighter, twistier tracks and in medium-high grip conditions where rotation and tire management is key. Learning how not to blister tires in 100+ degree weather at CalSpeed, or how to navigate all the banked hairpins at Buttonwillow or Adams, has provided a unique skillset that I think becomes prevalent at tracks like Cincinnati, Orlando, SuperNats, etc. Whereas tracks like Utah and New Castle have notoriously been a struggle, as we’ve never really had high-speed tracks like those to practice on.
Funniest moment at the race track? Rock Island 2019… Ask Jake French, because I can’t remember

Likes

Favorite Track: Motorsports Country Club of Cincinnati (permanent) / SKUSA SuperNationals (temporary)
Favorite form of professional motorsports: Karting… but I’ll say Supercross is a close second.
Favorite karting driver: Darren Elliott and Travis Irving are probably the two drivers I learned the most from in my early days, they taught me things about chassis set up that I still refer to. The other one would probably be Jonathan Thonon; though we only worked together a few times, it’s amazing the little tips and tricks a 4x world champion can give you. Shout out to Jake French too, we worked together and were massively successful a few years back, and he now helps me with the development on our KA100 chassis; his feedback and knowledge have been invaluable to us.
Favorite professional driver: Sebastien Vettel
Favorite website: Factorykarts.com
Favorite movie: V For Vendetta
Favorite actor/actress: Hugo Weaving
Favorite music/group: Chevelle
Favorite vacation/activity spot: Does the racetrack count?
Favorite food: In-N-Out burger after a day at the track

The Real Deal

What do you do when not at the track? Work on karts at the shop. Answer phone calls… so many phone calls and messages.
What are your goals outside of karting? Having a kid and raising a family with my lovely wife. Other than that, I think all of my other life goals fit inside the umbrella of ‘karting’.
What type of street car do you drive? Ford F350
What type of street car would you like to drive? I’ve been looking at Sprinter Vans lately… Something easy to transport karts in is really all that matters.
What are your pet peeves or things that irritate you? Drivers that look back while racing.
What do you think could be done to improve the sport of karting? A lot of things… but honestly it’s been wild to see how far the sport has come in terms of exposure and professionalism both on and off the track, and at the same time it’s regressed in certain terms of accessibility and simplicity. If I had to narrow it down to two things, I’d say:
We need to work on creating more avenues for normal people to find the sport of karting (increase accessibility). We need to revise the Pro Show format to go back to the original idea of a 2-3 hour block of content that can be packaged and sold to sponsors. As Pro drivers, we need to suck it up and deal with having limited practice time, or having back-to-back heat races if it means increasing the exposure of our sport.
What are your favorite aspects about the sport of karting? Honestly, my favorite thing about karting is the never ending feedback loop between driver and mechanic. Often it is one or both of the parents that fills the role of mechanic, and what truly separates karting from any other sport is the non-stop effort of driving → feedback → make changes → drive again to test if what you were feeling was correct and if you can go faster with your set up changes. The parent or mechanic oftentimes develop a level of communication with their driver through this process that would otherwise be impossible, and that to me is the magic of this sport and what it can bring to everyday people.
Other than that… there’s really just no feeling like holding 3-4 G’s through a corner and grabbing gears to go 95mph down the straight only an inch off the ground.

July 2024 Driver of the Month – Honorable Mention:

– Diego Ardiles: SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals – 1 Win (KA100 Junior) / 2 Championships (X30 Junior and KA100 Junior)

– Scott Barnes: SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals – 1 Win / Championship (Master Shifter)

– Turner Brown: SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals – Two Wins (X30 Junior / KA100 Junior)

– James Overbeck: SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals – 1 Win / Championship (KA100 Senior) / Stars Championship Series – 1 Win (KA100 Stars)

– Ashton Woon: SKUSA Pro Tour SummerNationals – 1 Win / Championship (Mini Swift)

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