The Bench Racers Journal

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 96

It took a good thirty minutes for us getting cleaned up. The amount of paint wasted mostly ended up on our hands and floor. We used up a lot of paint thinner to take care of the mess. Well mostly focused on our hands getting clean. I had first started washing off everything with some carbon tetracholoride, but that stuff is just way too strong smelling. It sure works well, but makes my head go all dizzy.

So not long after getting cleaned up we all piled in the Ranchero. We are now headed towards downtown and even crossed over the Trinity River. This is also the first time I have been to this side of the river and actually paying attention to it. A lot bigger than I had originally thought. I dont even remember any reason ever riding this far across Dallas before now. We ended up in what I always heard people referring to as Oak Cliff. But have no idea what is here or who lives over on this side of town

We took the Houston Bridge crossing over the Trinity River headed on the way to the track. Dad wanted to see how far the construction of the new interstate had taken it. He said this new super highway literally split Oak Cliff in two. There was this huge wide road. It is weird seeing the interstate, big as it was just stopped up ahead. That is far as construction had taken it so far.

The new highway just crossed over the river and stopped right at where the Dallas Zoo is. Dad told us the zoo had first opened back in 1888. Well that is what he remembers about it. He had been here many times over the years starting around our age.


Interstate 35 construction

After checking out what some day will connect the other major cities south of Dallas nearly in a straight line, the Ranchero was headed back on course to the track. We drove up Zang Blvd and turned up on Jefferson during our sight seeing.

As dad was driving, telling us when he used to take mom to one of the the movie theaters over here. He pointed out the Texas Theatre as we passed by. He also told us when it had first opened coming here to watch silent movies staring Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin when he was just a young tike.


Texas Theatre

We turned left, then left again finding ourselves crossing Beckley. It looks like Beckley is Hwy 77. This is a very old part of town. Dad said most of this side of town dates all the way back in the 1880's. Some of the homes are really big. There are full wrap around porches on a lot of the bigger homes. Wow there are even wrap around porches upstairs on some of them.

We went down the road a ways, turned back around, then drove up to the parking lot at the track. I was surprised to find out not too far down Beckley it was still just like wilderness. The only thing missing were cows grazing. But farther down the road there they were.

As we got out of the truck, I looked all around. It was nothing but fields and weeds this far out around everywhere. But the track was huge. It is awesome looking. Nothing at all like the small Fabens track. According to a flyer I picked up after asking around, the track is 1/4 mile long and has a 400 ft straightaway. This is one impressive looking track. I am sold. Where do I sign up?


South 77 Strip pic

Wow dad, this place is awesome. How come we have not been here before? It is not that far from home. I know we would have to leave a lot earlier to get here on time. But wow, this track looks cool.

This whole time Chris never said a word. His eyes were wide open and been focused on the track layout since we piled out of the truck. Hey Terry, do they have a junior class? Do you think they would let us race here? I have never seen such an awesome track before. Well for karts anyway. This place is so cool looking.

I dont know any more than you do right now, Chris. Lets go find out what classes race here tonight. Come on Steve. Hey Steve, whats wrong? Your mouth is hanging wide open.

Uh, wow, this place is just WOW. Do you think we could start racing out here instead of Fabens? This place is ..... well just like I said WOW. Lets go check everything out. Come on, whats holding you guys up?

After about an hour of roaming around, we came up on some karts I had heard about, but until now never seen. I mean I remember seeing the Hornet karts in ads. But these dont look like any of those models I remember reading about.

The Hornet karts I saw in ads were built by Mercury Machine in Waco. But they were just like most of the older models that had been changed over from dead axles. Two straight rails running back with conventional seat and steering hoop. I remember the seat looked like it might sit slightly more upright than a lot of the others. But that is just from checking out ads in the magazines.


Hornet kart ad

The karts here tonight are totally different. The frame rails were slightly angled up and back with a tub that dropped down below the main rails a good four inches. The upholstery was a plush black tuck and roll that looked very comfortable.

I immediately noticed how the rear frame rails were running over the axle. This is nothing like the earlier models. A design that is sort of like a lot of those karts from California. But all of them were really different when you set them side by side and compare up close to each other.

As I was staring down at the three karts, a very friendly gentleman introduced himself. I am Jack Peck. These are the new karts we just came out with in the last year. So far they have been very successful. My son will be racing in several classes tonight.

Hey Richard, come over here and meet some guys. I saw a much younger man, really about the same age as my brother in college. He had a big smile on his face and looked a lot like his dad.

Oh by the way, I didnt catch your name. This is my son, Richard. He will be racing tonight in several classes with the three karts you see here. This one he will be running in A-Standard, the other one there with a Mc 20 will be in A-Super, and the dual Mc10's will be running in B-Open.

I stood there sort of in awe, since my ears went deaf while studying over the se neat looking karts. Must have caught the same thing Steve had a while ago. I was speechless. Chris finally nudged me and brought me out of my trance.

His name is Terry, my name is Chris. This other speechless lugnut here is Steve. It is nice to meet you guys. These karts are really nice looking.

Jack went on to tell us some history. Well we got hammered at the GKCA Nationals last year in California, so back to the drawing board. We came up with this completely new design. So far I am really satisfied with the results. All three karts here are of the same S-85 model design.

While Chris was speaking for me and Steve, since we were still so enamored by these karts, my mind kept looking over at how simple the kart was. The frame was made of a lot larger tubing than all of the others out here.

Well the frame rails are bigger than any other kart I have actually seen in person. I am sure there are some models made from large tubing, just nothing comes to mind right now. I wonder how these handle?

The frame runs back flat until the steering upright. Then angles up to the seat hoop. It runs back to the axle parallel to the front section. Oh yea like I mentioned earlier the rails sit over the rear axle. I guess there are some other frames like this. But I have not seen any of them at Fabens yet. Well except for the Rupp and Go-Kart 800 models.

There is a big difference with these karts compared to the Go-Kart 800  I saw last spring when the factory drivers were making their way thru. Those frames are one inch diameter and had two bends close together making up the offset the frame. This Hornet S-85 has smaller angled bends farther apart that offsets up to the seat frame then bends back parallel to the front section.

The Go-Kart 800 has what might be two 60 degree bends close together offsetting the frame rails. The Hornet S-85 has two smaller bends more like like at 30 degrees, but much farther apart offsetting the frame rails.  

Without even making introductions, I was already asking questions. These karts look really awesome. Can I ask you something about the front end?

Oh I am sorry, my name is Terry Bentley. It is nice to meet you, uh, Mr Peck? Is that right? And you said your son here is Richard? I am horrible with names. It is a real pleasure to meet both of you. I really like your karts. They are awesome looking.

So these karts, you said are made in Waco? Is that the shop close to the airport?

Yes, my shop you are referring to is Mercury Tool and Machine. But we have just opened up a new company solely for the kart business. It is P-R Enterprises. This is strictly focused on the production of kart related products.

You said your name is Bentley? Are you one of Jims sons? Is he out here tonight? Yes sir, I am the third and youngest son. My dad is around here somewhere. I think we sort of ditched him after arriving at the track.

Well it is really nice to meet all of you guys tonight. You were asking about the front end of the kart? What is it you wanted to know?

Oh yea, the front end is what I have question about. I noticed you dont have much geometry in the spindles. It looks like there is a lot of caster, but no king pin inclination or camber. I was just curious about that. Oh yea, one more thing. I see these karts have only a 1/2 inch steering shaft. Is this something that is going to be changed?

There is a reason for asking tho. I got the chance to drive a Dart kart and it only had a 1/2 inch shaft. When Frank, the guy that owns it was driving, he twisted that thing up all over the place. It was almost not fixable at the track that day. Both of our karts, well mine and Steves have the 5/8 inch shaft. It is almost impossible to bend. Well from what I found out so far. Even after a major wreck that steering shaft was barely bent.

Another reason I am asking about the front end, is well, we both own Cates karts. They have a ton of king pin inclination and I dont think nearly as much caster. But the kart handles really well without binding in the tighter turns.

Well you do have a good eye for detail. After a lot of track testing, we found out with this particular frame design, and is so lightweight, that caster is all is needed to make the kart handle like we were working to achieve.

For the weight of the combined chassis and driver, all we needed was caster to make it drive fast thru the turns without binding up so much. Now if the kart was a lot heavier, then maybe add some king pin inclination for a better weight transfer to the rear wheels.

The three karts you see here are some of the very first ones we made last year after the Nats. These have been raced three to four times every week for almost a year to see how well they hold up. The current production models have already been converted over to the larger 5/8 inch diameter shaft to meet next years IKF regulations.

OK, that makes a lot of sense. I also noticed the frame rails run over the top of the axle. A lot different compared to your old frame design and a bunch of others like it. But you also use this large tubing. That I have not seen before.

Well after a lot of testing the 1 1/4 inch tubing with thinner wall works better compared to the more common one inch tubing frames. We tested both sizes and  decided the larger tube was definitely the way to go. At least it is working on our karts.

We ended up with a stronger and lighter frame made this way. There are some upgrades we are working on that might even make this a better handling chassis, but still mostly in the design stages. So far we are seeing some great potential. Unfortunately these changes would add considerable weight to the chassis.

This current kart design of the S-85 is our lightest frame right now. We hope to get that down another pound of two on our next model. But right now the frame is very solid and strong at 85 pounds for a race ready chassis in the single engine classes.

Since we have been testing this frame non stop for almost a year, there have only been a few minor improvements made. The overall design has proven more than satisfactory.

Over the next ten minutes Mr Jack Peck went into a complete rundown in every detail about the new Hornet S-85 kart and its beginnings. I was glued to every word listening to him intently and uninterrupted from Steve or Chris until his pitch was finished.