[Kirt Burcroff]

I know I’ve seen a couple of vendors on facebook saying that they’ve seen some interest generated by the show. Hopefully it will somehow be a net positive.

I do think it’s unfortunate that adults see these kids as characters and now feel free to call them names. They’ve been made into characters but they are still kids. Kids that some of us know. I may have a different set of rules and values for my son when we’re racing but I know there are times at the track where a camera in my face, when something unfortunate happens on the track, would make me look like a complete ass taken out of context.  My son has been known to throw his gloves in the seat and kick a water barrier or two. With clever editing from 4 different races they could probably make him look like someone he’s not. That being said – If you show showed up at a race in New Jersey this Summer and filmed me at a typical club race, working on the kart, talking to other racing Dads, or watching my son, it wouldn’t be very entertaining. I wouldn’t even watch it. TruTV could use some better editors but we can’t blame them for concentrating on characters that will push ratings. I’m sure their goal wasn’t to promote the sport. If there’s anyone on a local, regional, or national level that doesn’t deal with difficult people at the track please tell me where, because I’d like to race there.

The show has been moved to prime time so I guess it’s pretty popular. Hopefully if there is a season two they will show some of those teams that aren’t spending $250,000 and just having fun with their family and friends. And I certainly don’t mean me or anyone I’m close to. After seeing how these kids have been treated publicly, I would never subject my son to it.

I’d be curious how many people had the same reaction I did to the floor pan bolt. It didn’t make any sense to me how it was unfolding, but I’m sure there are more than a few of us, that have been in similar situations, and were  pulling for those guys to get that damn bolt in and make the green.

[Kirt Burcroff]

My 16 year old son has worn the Leatt brace for two years and has been very happy with it. They make a great product.

[Kirt Burcroff]

Just saw a live video ad for Kart Life in the Lincoln Center subway station in NYC. Pretty cool seeing Malukas and Lemke wheeling those karts around in a subway station.

[Kirt Burcroff]

Great points Tim. It’s so true that as a Dad/Tuner it feels really good when you can beat a team with a paid tuner/coach.

We just started running WKA last year and I know for us personally it was cool to see the big names in the sport on the same grid. If people have $250,000 a year to spend, let them spend it. If I win the lotto I’m rolling in to the next race in a $750,000 motor home too. If someone is nice and makes the event better I could care less how big their wallet is.

Hopefully over the course of the series they show that you don’t have to be wealthy to compete and have fun with your kids and families at these national events.

I have so many people texting me or asking me at work if this “Kart Life” show is the same racing that we do. It is making people curious. There’s no such thing as bad publicity.

[Kirt Burcroff]

Is there a Top Kart substitute? I would love to not pay $275.00 for each axle.

[Kirt Burcroff]

My son is rapidly approaching 6′ and the at the Top Kart recommended seat placement he could steer with his knees. I’m gonna try moving the seat back and the lead forward and see how that tests.

[Kirt Burcroff]

It seemed that they tried to show a team with less funding last night with the Welage family but we’ll have to wait to see where they take that story line. We already know through the teasers we’ll get to see them get picked up by Top kart in some capacity.

If nothing else it’s a little karting fix for those of us that don’t race January through March. :)

[Kirt Burcroff]

Stewart – My son dreams of being a Nascar driver and would’ve rather started in Legends cars locally. I told him we couldn’t afford it and we were going to try Karting instead. If I knew then what I know now……..

[Kirt Burcroff]

I found it entertaining and pretty accurate to what we experienced in our first year competing nationally. The dollar figures were astounding but not surprising when you see the size of the haulers pulling into the track and teams going through multiple sets of new tires on the practice day. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is real but it’s not unique to karting. I’m sure that, like me, many fathers hope to hit the lottery to better help their sons. For me it’s not necessarily about getting to the front, it’s about having the funds just to continue going. The family atmoshere, intensity, comraderie and mostly the time spent with my son on the road is priceless. I thought they did touch on those things on the show.

I do hope they spent some time with some of the teams that aren’t spending $5,000 and up for a race weekend.

What a relief it was to see a father encourage his son to keep driving cleanly even in the face of a competitor that may not be. Phil Tavella gets bonus points in my book for that.

My experience with Henry Malukas was that he really is just a nice guy. He came over to chat with me in South Bend while I was trying to fold all of our gear back into the bed of my pick up and he was honestly just cool and curious about how we travel to races.

Even though we sometimes live in that world I found it fascinating. I will be curious as to whether this ends up promoting or hurting the sport. I have a daughter that dances competitively and I don’t think “Dance Moms” did that activity any favors.

[Kirt Burcroff]

When I just had one kart and a scissor stand I built two work shelves (3/4 ply bookcase style) on either side of the trailer – the same height as the kart stand. Push the kart in on the x-stand and roll it right onto the shelves where there are 4 d-ring tie downs. when the kart wasnt in the trailer I bolted my vice and tire changer to the shelf.  The shelves we’re also installed with loose pin hinges so they could be removed and put in my garage in the Winter when we weren’t racing.

if you’d like a picture just email me at kburcroff@yahoo.com and I’ll send you a picture of the trailer with no kart in it back then.

 

[Kirt Burcroff]

I would be interested to know what started the exodus from WKA to USPKS in the East? What was it about WKA that made people want to jump ship?

[Kirt Burcroff]

Of course – Why didn’t I think of that? I’m adding weight to get my son up to senior weight this weekend and I’ve been running without the third bearing. It’s going back in Saturday. Thanks for the inadvertent tip T.J. :)

[Kirt Burcroff]

X30 – Regional and very limited national schedule.

 

My son and I got caught squarely in the TaG  dilemma. Having just moved to TaG in 2014 it only made sense to buy X30s. That decision has helped us fit really well in WKA national and regional races, but excluded us from the hot series’ of the day.

Diminishing kart counts have us wishing we could follow the big fields but I refuse to buy the predecessor to the engines I own.

So we’ll keep throwing our money at WKA and hope the crowds come back and join us.

 

[Kirt Burcroff]

Thank you. I don’t have a lathe so I may have to go the thick washer route.

[Kirt Burcroff]

Exactly the issue my son and I are dealing with. He’s running senior this coming year. We don’t have the money to compete regularly in any one national series (because it’s gotten God awful expensive to compete with the pro teams)  but we love travelling to big races when we can afford it. The problem is that with every series doing something different you need about four different packages. And I really don’t want to go back to those Yamaha clutches. :/

I’m wondering if SKUSA is dipping their toes into the crazy East Coast series wars with the announcement that they are coming back to Indiana.

 

[Kirt Burcroff]

And now SKUSA is heading East to New Castle for Summernats. This could get interesting.

 

[Kirt Burcroff]

TJ – My son is making the transition to Sr after our last club race this Sunday. He turns 16 in two weeks. We raced WKA this year and fit well into their Jr. program, but the problem is the classes are getting smaller as many people have fled for USPKS. The way I read the USPKS class structure we have to come in at 405 lbs. with the X30. That’s an 85lb add. Either that or I have to force feed my kid like a turkey before Thanksgiving. ;) I might need a team of people to help lift the 270lb kart onto the stand.

I did decide to put all of our eggs in one basket this year (Sold every motor but one club-level yamaha and the 2 X30s) Hopefully we can find some exciting events to race in this year. We’ll start with Kartweek and go from there.

 

[Kirt Burcroff]

I would love to have my son try a SKUSA race but we’re not funded for that big of a trip yet. They seem to have a pretty solid class structure and direction for the future.

There are a lot of politics in the sport and I guess that’s inevitable. When I asked why we run new Bridgestone tires each day in the WKA races (and I do understand it’s “optional”), only to be told that Bridgestone pretty much mandates it in return for their sponsorship, I was pretty surprised. An obvious way to cut $220 off of most weekend racing tabs is out of the question because Bridgestone gives a few dollars for each entry. How about instead of selling 18 people two sets of tires you sell 36 people one set?

As for kart counts. Every racer wants competition. The biggest field we’ve ever had at a national race is around 18 karts, regional race-12 and local-10. There is another series that has higher counts, and from everything I hear  it’s run very well, but my son isn’t 30 and I’d have to put his sister in the seat with him to make weight at 405.

There are going to be a variety of chassis and different series’ will use different tires but the engine problem seems like it could be fixed with a few drivers, one test weekend and some lead.

It feels like the sport could be a little more user friendly. If it was maybe we could all stop talking about where all of the racers have gone every week.

[Kirt Burcroff]

David – I think you misunderstood my point. I’m looking for more places to race, but because of the combination of my son’s age and engine restrictions it is getting more difficult to find decent fields. When you restrict a class to just Leopards it excludes people. Maybe not many, but it excludes people. It seems like you have to go to Vegas to see full fields.

Family time is precisely why I love Karting. I wish we had started when my son was much younger (So does he :)).After a weekend at the track I’m counting the minutes until we get back. The wins and championships are nice but I look forward to the drive to the track more than I do the race itself. That time with my son is something I’ll cherish forever. I know I’m not the only father putting himself in the poorhouse to buy as many of those moments as I can.

I was warned early on (perhaps unjustifiably) that Rotax was a money pit, with too much variance in motor quality, and my son is a few years away from shifters. When I read that IAME wanted to eventually phase out the Leopard in favor of the improved performance of the X30 I figured the choice was obvious.

My point here is to ask if there really is no way to balance the performance of two or three engine types so you don’t need an arsenal of engines for Local, Regional and National racing. If I have to add 15lbs I will, but just let us race.

[Kirt Burcroff]

There are so many competing interests in kart racing. Importers and business owners vying for diminishing dollars. You’ll get a ton of advice and some of it will be useful. It does seem like promotors and series sponsors are starting to get the message that we need to focus our sport a little better so it’s easier for new people to figure out and for veterans to stay happy and solvent.

In 3 years we’ve tried Yamaha, PRD, HPV and now X30. Always chasing bigger classes and reliable, fast engines. As David says you need to see what class excites you where you’re going to race and equip yourself to run it. After that you just have to hope that the class stays fun, competitive and relevant. If it doesn’t, you end up running 4 different types of engines in 3 years.

At the end of the day you may be frustrated and broke but you’ll be hooked and counting the seconds until you get back to the track.

 

[Kirt Burcroff]

Price dropped to $1800.

[Kirt Burcroff]

Brad – Thanks for the advice. We’re on YLCs in the Jrs so I may be pretty close. I’ll see how we fare on that long straight.

[Kirt Burcroff]

Brad – What neighborhood are you in with the X30 gearing-wise. We’re running the full course next weekend. I was thinking I would start at 11-78 and go from there.

[Kirt Burcroff]

They’re not making the series very easy for the NY, NJ, PA, CT racers.

[Kirt Burcroff]

On FB someone mentioned that it was about track fees. I’m not sure if that’s true. Hopefully they find something in the northeast for the TBD race.

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