(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca)

As I was flying to Portland yesterday morning for the final event of the 2024 USF Pro Championships schedule, I found myself motivated to get back to writing. Over the 30 years of my career in motorsports journalism, I’ve hammered out my share of words. I fondly remember when I first got my start as a cub reporter for Performance Racing News in the fall of 1993, and how thrilled I was to see my work in print. I covered what they assigned me, from stock cars to snowmobile grass drag racing, jet-ski racing to regional road racing. And yes, karting was in there as well. Being a published reporter (at four cents a word) opened up a new world for me, and every byline proved to me that I’d made the right decision to focus on journalism as my career path. So, there I was, high in the skies traveling from Toronto to Chicago on the first leg of my journey, pulling out my laptop to start this editorial. It was time to make my ‘Morning Coffee’ column a much more regular series here on eKartingNews.com.

I’m not looking to make these regular editorials long-winded diatribes nor will they always need to hit hard in terms of the topic. Some days, they may just be my random thoughts on the sport or my feelings on a conversation I had with a driver, parent, track owner, or industry member. I feel that they just need to be genuine and organic, linked to the title of the column. I want this to be a series of editorial offerings that you can read through while you’re taking in your first beverage in the morning, whether that’s water, coffee, tea, or an energy drink, whatever your flavor.

Topics of past Morning Coffee columns have always come from trackside discussions, what I read on social media, or just beliefs I have in the sport that I feel compelled to put out to our community. I’ll continue to use these as pools from which to draw inspiration. I think we can all agree with the notion that social media can be both a treasure trove of constructive discussions and a cesspool of negative garbage. I’ll do my best to sort through it all.

On the topic of inspiration, right now, I’m encouraged by the thought of how many passionate people we have in the sport of karting. The leaders of our industry are dedicated to building the sport and to providing the level of service needed by our racers. Whether it’s at the club, regional, or national level, the men and women who power kart shops, trackside support trailers and pro shops, and race teams are all helping to grow the sport of karting overall. Club racing is the foundation of our sport, and my kudos and respect goes out to every volunteer club president treasurer, board member, corner worker, and club staff. You all make the sport happen, each and every weekend.

I feel the same way about the promoters of our major national and regional series. They have the thankless job of trying to put on a pro-quality event while making everyone happy, which is impossible. Many of them promote races as their full-time occupations, which is fantastic because we benefit from their 100% focus and dedication. The sad part is that many in the community chastise them for making ‘too much money’ off the racers and teams. This will be a separate column down the line, but this is capitalism at its best. At a level of racing where national series work to one-up each other with all that they provide, the racers are the real benefactors. I want promoters making loads of money so that they’ll keep doing it, and will keep dumping profits back into their series to provide a steadily improving product. We need events just like we need karts, engines, and tires. Without promoters, there is no karting.

So, there you go. Just a little brain dump from a writer who has decided to get back to writing. I’ve got three more columns on the go during this second leg of my trip – Chicago to Portland. When you decide to turn the idea tap back on, it’s not often easy to shut it off.

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