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Karting for a lifetime
#1
Growing up in the middle of Illinois wasn't all bad. In 1959 my brother rolled into the driveway with something sticking out of his trunk (yep that is how we would haul them back then). We had to go see what it was. He and a friend, Jack Simpson, had just gotten a Dart Kart dealership and just got the karts together. It was late fall and cold but off we went to a county blacktop road (not much traffic back then) We ran that dead axle Dart, powered by a Clinton A 400, up and down the road. During this time a couple of the other friends that had just gotten their karts showed up also. This was crazy!!!!!!! CRAZY WILD FUN ! We quickly found some paring lots to run in and got hooked. Then in Dec. of '59 it was lets go racing. 
  We went to Bates' Barn outside Peoria where they were racing indoors. I was entered into the Kids class (that's what they called it then). We had no idea what to do. We showed up on rib tread front tires and knobby rears, trying to drive on polished concrete. Yeah, you really can't do that. We had the smallest engine but I didn't finish last. The next week we had a Clinton E 65 and oh my gosh, race slicks. Now I was going faster than i could drive but who cares----Hang on!
  Spring came and I found my brother and friends building a sprint track in Germantown Hills on Ten Mile Creek Road. We had a great time there and at the other tracks around the area as kart tracks popped up everywhere. It was a great time. By then I had learned to drive (how can you help but learn if you have your own track and drive a million laps) l;and the winning was taking place everywhere. That last for 4 more years and then we moved to Wisconsin.
  I had been away from karting for about 6 years and did my Military time. I was back home and had started a Snowmobile,minibike,dirtbike shop. One of my salesman named Ray Soderberg worked for GEM. He said hey, they are racing every week in Madison (60 miles away). I quickly built a kart as best I could remember and got a Mac 91. Off we went. Crazy as it seems I timed in 3rd fast for the night but got ask "where the heck did you get that thing"? I soon built another kart after looking at everyone else's and then discovered Sugar River Raceway in Broadhead, Wi. So now I was racing sometimes 2 times a week and had just bought a new Black Hawk kart.  I continued all through the 70's and into the first of the 80's but soon found I needed a new engine as Yamaha's were taking over and needed a new kart and everything to go with it. I packed in  and quit.
  In 2007 I decided to build a dirt track at home for my Grandaughter and found a pretty nice kart. That soon became 6 new karts which I built so everyone had one. Well heck i told my son, Shawn, we might as well go racing so now go look at oval karts. Yep I built those. Everyone at the track laughed until we ran some laps. In 2012, which was Shawn's 2nd season, he won the track championship, on our home built kart. That doesn't often happen. 
  Backing up a bit to 2009 we found Vintage Karting. I ran our first event that year. The next year we were off and running. We've never looked back since then. We try to make as many events as we can on a limited budget and run the best equipment we can. You guessed it. I build as much myself to keep cost down. Kart builds, engine builds or whatever it takes. Today we have a very good race team called "Welte Racing". Vintage is where the fun is. The karts are fast, someone is not mad at you all the time, and you make great friends. Take a good look at Vintage Karting. Karting can really last a lifetime and teach one so much.
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#2
This would have been some of my trophies from 1962 with my new West Bend 610
[Image: 15107483_1179018312180202_7735933458749385036_n.jpg]
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