The event was promoted by Dean Seavers ably assisted by Vince Hughes, Keith CoBen, Michel Edick and Tom Thorin. Unfortunately Tom was unable to be present at the venue due to health issues; he did however produce the pieces that make the kart show trophies special. The organising group was collectively known as the United Vintage Karters of America or UVKA for short, an administration with no dues, no committee meetings and where everyone is a president!
Over 100 karts attended the meeting; some ran on the track, others were just there for the kart show and a number of them just remained in truck beds they arrived in.
The festivities began for some folks attending the event on the Thursday evening at the headquarters of Terry Ives Industries in the nearby city of Granite Bay before the Friday morning event launch. Incidentally Ives Industries provided engine parts and assembled the McCulloch motor for the raffle kart.
Friday was specifically given over to open track time, meeting up with old friends and getting to know new folks. Many took advantage to see what was on offer on the display tables at the parts swap meet and to look over the first karts that had been displayed in a large marque specifically to house the kart show. That evening, at what was billed as ‘Munch and Mingle’, the Vintage Kart Club of America provided refreshments hosted by Karen CoBen in the attractive corporate hospitality area attached to the circuit where movies of the 1961 and 1966 International Karting Federation’s Nationals as well as Louie Figone’s home movies of west coast karting from the sixties decade were shown on a huge flat screen television.
Saturday saw the continuation of the kart show with more arrivals. Participants were encouraged to display their records of their restoration work and so demonstrate their presentation skills. One particular kart, a Pruett Lancer, owned and restored by Rennie Goldberg, was accompanied by a large folder detailing the work needed to make the kart better than new; it deservedly won an award. Other karts in the show were enhanced on their stands by the presence of major trophies that they had help their drivers win back in the day.
Such was the detailed organisation for the kart show that packages were made available containing five pages of guidelines that allowed entrants to determine which category their kart fitted best. Owners not requiring their kart to be formally assessed by the judges were still permitted to have their kart eligible for the People’s Choice award. Dick Florey and Mark Bray took on the demanding task of selecting the kart show winners in the sidewinder category; Vince Hughes and Dean Seavers assessed the rear engine karts, not an easy task for the four dedicated voulenteers.
Saturday lunch was provided free of charge to all by the generosity of Steve Terry a past president of the Vintage Kart Club of America. Vince Hughes ably assisted by Dean Kanocz and Tom Wilms worked their magic in the outdoor kitchen and the inline waiting was orderly controlled by a number of the ladies present and a black Labrador called Barney.
The swap meet at the reunion weekend was important to those folks on the ‘look-out’ for parts to finish an old kart restoration or vintage engine rebuild. There were many tables offering such wares. One interesting item displayed by Vince Hughes was a rare 1964 Go Power bench dynamometer for checking engine performance. The track action at the event was mixture of open sessions and low-key class fun runs which allowed spectators to get a flavour of what racing was like in the early days of the sport. Individual sessions were given over to the following groups. Historic Karts from 1956 to 1962 with period correct motors or a stock McCulloch MC49 (early 1960’s duals with period correct lower powered engines also ran in Historic);
Rear Engine Single Karts made after 1962;
American Reed Sidewinder Single and Dual Engine karts from mid sixties and onward;
Yamaha KT100 and Foreign Engine Sidewinder Single.
All the heats were of 5 laps duration and not flagged; the line-up on the dummy grid was at the driver’s discretion.
The meeting also featured Richard Kennedy and his incredible two wheel kart driving show billed as ‘This Side Up’. Richard gave numerous displays of his delicate feel for balancing a kart on just a single front and corresponding rear wheel while making laps of the circuit!
Perhaps the major attraction at the meeting was the raffle for a 1961 Bug Wasp powered by a McCulloch MC91 motor disguised as a MC6 model to mirror period correctness. Event promoter Dean Seavers oversaw the restoration by coordinating donations for the few parts needed he did not have in his own collection and solicited the powder coating and upholstery. Numerous companies and individuals within the karting industry also donated parts to help with the kart re-build with Michael Edick undertaking the required TIG welding at his shop. The raffle for the kart was limited to 500 ticket sales at $10 a ticket. The proceeds from the kart raffle were donated to the Fire Fighters Burn Institute as a gesture of appreciation of the perilous work undertaken by that brave group especially in the northern Californian region.
Seth Huntley, a young modern kart racer and a member of the staff at Donald Durbin’s All Star Karting who manage the Prairie City track, was the lucky winner of the kart. Seth is planning on running the kart at local vintage meets.
There was also a second raffle for kart parts and associated memorabilia such as T-shirts, vintage karting magazines/books, old kart parts and vintage motor parts. Tickets were priced at $1 each and buyers were able to place their tickets on specific items that they wanted to have. All the money from this raffle was earmarked for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
It was thoughful that event participant Michael Tobin whose father was a partner in the Emmick kart manufacturing business back in the day was able to cajole Ron Emmick and Vince Puleo, two regular winning karters on the IKF and WKA circuits during the 1980’s and 1990’s to turn up to lend their support to the event. Back then Ron and Vince were the guys running up front on karts made by Ron’s father and mother Gary and Linda Emmick, sadly both now deceased. The Emmick factory at a time was located in Sacramento within easy driving distance from Prairie City. Ernie Fischer was another personality who graced the scene. After Ernie retired from competitive karting he became a race director and would start races by standing in the middle of the track wearing what could only be described as a white Elvis jump suit with red and blue trimmings. Unfortunately at a race in the distant past Ernie was struck by a kart and suffered severe injuries to his left leg which as a result years later required amputation. Despite needing to use a wheel chair Ernie remains buoyant and enthusiastic about the past and is blessed with wonderful recall relating interesting karting anecdotes from days gone by.
The free souvenir programme produced for the meeting featured an IN MEMORIUM page honouring and remembering folks that enjoyed vintage karting and were no longer alive; 49 names were listed. The A5 size publication also featured a nice article about the raffle kart and listed the folks that helped with parts and other contributions. A large size poster which was an enlargement of the event programme cover for advertising the meeting was also available to purchase.
Incidentally there is an issue to be aware of should you ever attend an event at Prairie City kart circuit. A notice within the clean modern restrooms warns users to always close the external door to keep the critters out; the critters referred to are rattlesnakes!
Dean Seavers will no doubt have many requests to turn his event into an annual or bi-annual occasion because of the way the meeting was received. Everything about the ‘race’ was worthy of repeating. The writer is indebted to Max-Torque of Chicago, makers of kart clutches from the sports beginning to the present, for their generous travel sponsorship which made this report possible.
Over 100 karts attended the meeting; some ran on the track, others were just there for the kart show and a number of them just remained in truck beds they arrived in.
The festivities began for some folks attending the event on the Thursday evening at the headquarters of Terry Ives Industries in the nearby city of Granite Bay before the Friday morning event launch. Incidentally Ives Industries provided engine parts and assembled the McCulloch motor for the raffle kart.
Friday was specifically given over to open track time, meeting up with old friends and getting to know new folks. Many took advantage to see what was on offer on the display tables at the parts swap meet and to look over the first karts that had been displayed in a large marque specifically to house the kart show. That evening, at what was billed as ‘Munch and Mingle’, the Vintage Kart Club of America provided refreshments hosted by Karen CoBen in the attractive corporate hospitality area attached to the circuit where movies of the 1961 and 1966 International Karting Federation’s Nationals as well as Louie Figone’s home movies of west coast karting from the sixties decade were shown on a huge flat screen television.
Saturday saw the continuation of the kart show with more arrivals. Participants were encouraged to display their records of their restoration work and so demonstrate their presentation skills. One particular kart, a Pruett Lancer, owned and restored by Rennie Goldberg, was accompanied by a large folder detailing the work needed to make the kart better than new; it deservedly won an award. Other karts in the show were enhanced on their stands by the presence of major trophies that they had help their drivers win back in the day.
Such was the detailed organisation for the kart show that packages were made available containing five pages of guidelines that allowed entrants to determine which category their kart fitted best. Owners not requiring their kart to be formally assessed by the judges were still permitted to have their kart eligible for the People’s Choice award. Dick Florey and Mark Bray took on the demanding task of selecting the kart show winners in the sidewinder category; Vince Hughes and Dean Seavers assessed the rear engine karts, not an easy task for the four dedicated voulenteers.
Saturday lunch was provided free of charge to all by the generosity of Steve Terry a past president of the Vintage Kart Club of America. Vince Hughes ably assisted by Dean Kanocz and Tom Wilms worked their magic in the outdoor kitchen and the inline waiting was orderly controlled by a number of the ladies present and a black Labrador called Barney.
The swap meet at the reunion weekend was important to those folks on the ‘look-out’ for parts to finish an old kart restoration or vintage engine rebuild. There were many tables offering such wares. One interesting item displayed by Vince Hughes was a rare 1964 Go Power bench dynamometer for checking engine performance. The track action at the event was mixture of open sessions and low-key class fun runs which allowed spectators to get a flavour of what racing was like in the early days of the sport. Individual sessions were given over to the following groups. Historic Karts from 1956 to 1962 with period correct motors or a stock McCulloch MC49 (early 1960’s duals with period correct lower powered engines also ran in Historic);
Rear Engine Single Karts made after 1962;
American Reed Sidewinder Single and Dual Engine karts from mid sixties and onward;
Yamaha KT100 and Foreign Engine Sidewinder Single.
All the heats were of 5 laps duration and not flagged; the line-up on the dummy grid was at the driver’s discretion.
The meeting also featured Richard Kennedy and his incredible two wheel kart driving show billed as ‘This Side Up’. Richard gave numerous displays of his delicate feel for balancing a kart on just a single front and corresponding rear wheel while making laps of the circuit!
Perhaps the major attraction at the meeting was the raffle for a 1961 Bug Wasp powered by a McCulloch MC91 motor disguised as a MC6 model to mirror period correctness. Event promoter Dean Seavers oversaw the restoration by coordinating donations for the few parts needed he did not have in his own collection and solicited the powder coating and upholstery. Numerous companies and individuals within the karting industry also donated parts to help with the kart re-build with Michael Edick undertaking the required TIG welding at his shop. The raffle for the kart was limited to 500 ticket sales at $10 a ticket. The proceeds from the kart raffle were donated to the Fire Fighters Burn Institute as a gesture of appreciation of the perilous work undertaken by that brave group especially in the northern Californian region.
Seth Huntley, a young modern kart racer and a member of the staff at Donald Durbin’s All Star Karting who manage the Prairie City track, was the lucky winner of the kart. Seth is planning on running the kart at local vintage meets.
There was also a second raffle for kart parts and associated memorabilia such as T-shirts, vintage karting magazines/books, old kart parts and vintage motor parts. Tickets were priced at $1 each and buyers were able to place their tickets on specific items that they wanted to have. All the money from this raffle was earmarked for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
It was thoughful that event participant Michael Tobin whose father was a partner in the Emmick kart manufacturing business back in the day was able to cajole Ron Emmick and Vince Puleo, two regular winning karters on the IKF and WKA circuits during the 1980’s and 1990’s to turn up to lend their support to the event. Back then Ron and Vince were the guys running up front on karts made by Ron’s father and mother Gary and Linda Emmick, sadly both now deceased. The Emmick factory at a time was located in Sacramento within easy driving distance from Prairie City. Ernie Fischer was another personality who graced the scene. After Ernie retired from competitive karting he became a race director and would start races by standing in the middle of the track wearing what could only be described as a white Elvis jump suit with red and blue trimmings. Unfortunately at a race in the distant past Ernie was struck by a kart and suffered severe injuries to his left leg which as a result years later required amputation. Despite needing to use a wheel chair Ernie remains buoyant and enthusiastic about the past and is blessed with wonderful recall relating interesting karting anecdotes from days gone by.
The free souvenir programme produced for the meeting featured an IN MEMORIUM page honouring and remembering folks that enjoyed vintage karting and were no longer alive; 49 names were listed. The A5 size publication also featured a nice article about the raffle kart and listed the folks that helped with parts and other contributions. A large size poster which was an enlargement of the event programme cover for advertising the meeting was also available to purchase.
Incidentally there is an issue to be aware of should you ever attend an event at Prairie City kart circuit. A notice within the clean modern restrooms warns users to always close the external door to keep the critters out; the critters referred to are rattlesnakes!
Dean Seavers will no doubt have many requests to turn his event into an annual or bi-annual occasion because of the way the meeting was received. Everything about the ‘race’ was worthy of repeating. The writer is indebted to Max-Torque of Chicago, makers of kart clutches from the sports beginning to the present, for their generous travel sponsorship which made this report possible.
