For over 30 years, the Odenthal name has been front and center in American karting. As is the case with so many businesses in the industry, the sport began as a family affair for Keith Odenthal and his sons David and Joel, and they became a potent team, winning IKF Grand National championships during their careers. Eventually, Odenthal Manufacturing Inc. launched in 1992 and their first product was a one-piece Yamaha KT100 third-bearing support motor mount. It was also at this time when they introduced the wedge-style engine mount clamp that didn’t completely wrap around the chassis tubes, but instead fit in between the rails which helped prevent the mount from dragging on the curbs. This style mount and clamp style was very successful and the company started developing a strong following. Known for their attention to detail, they changed the company name to Odenthal Racing Products in the early 2000s and ORP has been the industry standard every since.

EKN Editor-in-Chief Rob Howden caught up with David Odenthal for a new edition of our ‘Fast Five’ interview.

eKartingNews.com: David, thank you for taking the time to chat with us. It’s always a pleasure to see you guys trackside and, when you’re not at an event, the Odenthal name is certainly represented through the sport thanks to the wide use of the products that you and the team manufacture at Odenthal Racing Products. From your industry-standard motor mounts to being the leader in the development of on-board camera mounts and cases, ORP has made an indelible mark on our sport. Your family has been part of American karting for over 40 years – what keeps you pushing so hard to innovate your product line?

David Odenthal: It is what makes me happy. I just love to innovate and I still love karting. We have a really strong following now, so it makes sense to keep tapping into this market. The other thing that drives me is that when we are continually getting copied, I’m motivated to make the next update so that we are always one step ahead of the competition. It’s also one of the most rewarding things I do in my working life. When we come out with a new product, and everyone comes up to you and says how much they love it, that is very satisfying. Of course, with popularity comes some negativity as well, but honestly we get very little complaints. My son Alex has done a great job taking over the role of ORP Sales Manager, and our policy of taking care of people’s broken parts is unmatched in the karting industry.

EKN: ORP’s engine mount designs have revolutionized that particular component. How much has customer feedback fueled your continued development?

DO: Customer feedback has played a key role in the quest for continuous improvement! We continually try to implement little improvements here and there when we can. For example, with our 8-degree Briggs 206 mount, we are on revision 12. Most of those updates were because of customer input.

EKN: We’ve spoken before about how you guys are always pushing to improve your products and that takes capital investment in machinery. Do you have any new equipment at the shop? I know you have also launched a new website as well.

DO: We recently purchased a 500mm 4 axis horizontal machining center with a 50hp, 20,000 rpm spindle. That is going to be a real game changer for us. This machine is coupled with what they call a ‘rotary pallet pool’. This pallet pool facilitates us having all of our products online and in continuous production. When you have this many jobs, you also need a lot of different tools to make all these parts, so this machine also has a very large 240-tool matrix. This will eventually allow us to keep our inventories lower and give us the ability to meet demands as they arise. We just launched our new website – OdenthalRacing.com. This has been a long time coming, and we are really excited for our new home on the internet.

EKN: I know how proud you are that almost all of the components from Odenthal Racing Products are made in the United States. Can you give us some insight into your company philosophy?

DO: We have mostly in the past been all about ‘Made in USA’ and everything being made in our own facility, but more recently we have felt the need to utilize some offshore vendors for a couple of our products. Mainly when it comes to our Tuff-Kase GoPro cases. We took something people were already using and just made some improvements to it. We are already on our second revision calling it the Tuff-Kase II. We are about to launch a wide-angle lens tube to allow for the use of the ultra-wide lens that are available for the GoPro 13. My basic philosophy is to solve problems and always make it better. I don’t really want to just have the same as the next guy, I want to be better. All in all, we are still over 90% made in our facility right here in North Idaho!

EKN: David, let’s wrap up with asking about what new products are coming from ORP. Is anything new coming down the pipeline?

The new TUFF-KASE II by Odenthal Racing Products

DO: Yes, Rob, there are a few things coming that we are really excited about. We have a lightweight battery mount for the Antigravity 401 lightweight batteries, that will mount to our EZGP camera mount system for shifter people who want to run a Smarty cam. Currently, there are not any solid solutions for this.

Another thing we are working on is an ultra high-end and lightweight sprocket hub and guard system that will be completely CNC-machined from 7075-T6. This system will feature a machined hub with fully CNC-machined sprocket guards and spacer that will be able to take some heavy abuse without failing. The plan for this is to make a few and get them in the hands of some of our top teams and sponsored drivers to test. Once we have a little time on them, we will release these to the masses.

We also have a larger lens tube for the Tuff-Kase to allow users of GoPro 13’s to run the ultra wide lens. This will be available soon. We just released our Tillet-style low profile seat washers, which isn’t that exciting, but will still be popular. We are about to release a rear bumper retainer which will feature a heavier cable for a more secure retention. There are a few more things banging around in my head that have yet to reach the drawing board, but will soon, I hope.

EKN: Thank you David for your time and we are excited about the new products to roll out by Odenthal Racing Products

DO: Thank you EKN!

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