Pro-Kart in Burnsville!!!

[Steve@Tasca]

So yesterday my dad and I took my son to Pro-Kart so he could go through their licensing course for a Karting license that allows him to drive before he's 15 and it was great.
For $50.00 he got some basic instruction and then six sessions on the track starting out playing folow the leader with the instructor and advancing to being let loose to go as hard as they could. These sessions averaged about 13 laps.
Kids ranging from about 9 to 15 were out there and Jakes times were about midpack but he was passing other kids like crazy and most of them were only seperated by a couple tenths of a second and he had a blast.

My dad and I had been there before but watching Jake out there and seeing him do so well was fantastic!

Along with his license he also gets a one year membership (discounted races) and a free race the weekend of his birthday.

So after the school all three of us did an eight minute race (20 laps) along with some other guys that showed up after the school was done including a couple guys that looked like they spent a lot of time there.

Jake was still in a kids Kart (5.5hp vs 6.5) with a shorter wheelbase but he did well, didn't spin out once and didn't have any issues with the older drivers. My dad and I had fun as well, I was only passed by one guy but I think it was more because I was getting tired and who do you suppose had the fastest lap by about a full second?

Yup, my 65 year old father smoked the entire field including the local hotshoes. I guess his vintage racing experience really makes a difference.
He was only a few tenths off the instructors time and that guy runs there all the time, way to go dad!

[ElectricAl]

Sounds like a blast!

... and the "old man" smoked 'em all!
Respect your elders, there's no substitute for experience!

[HilloNative]

Thats sounds like a lot of fun. Congrats Steve for you kid doing great, it must be awesome to have the support from you dad and grandpa.

[PBZX3]

Pro-Kart is a blast. I used to take my kids out there. My middle boy was the best of my three kids. When he was 15/16, he weighed like 120 lbs. so those 6.5hp karts were perfect for him. This one time he had several laps that were within 1/10th of a second of the track record. Lite weight a fast kart and pretty good skills make for fast laps.

Here's the best part. He was driving karts before he had ever driven a car. The 1st time he gets in the van to start learning, he's backing out of the diveway, gets to the street where he should be turning and he keeps backing straight. I tell him to stop and ask him why he wasn't turning. He says he was. I look at the wheel and it's turned like a quarter turn. I tell him You have to turn the wheel more than a quarter turn to make it actually turn. He says "Oh. I didn't know. I thought all cars turned like a go-cart." I thought it was pretty funny.