TAC Central > Hobbies

Other forms of motoring fun

(1/10) > >>

5th T/A:
When I was 12 or 13 years old, I could mostly only dream of driving or riding something with an engine on it. This was usually only an anemic minibike, go Kart or 50cc moped. A guy who was dating my older sister had an uncle and cousin his same age, about 4 years older than me. His Uncle and cousin were big into fun vehicles including this Kart. They guy named Mark, broke up with my sister and he became like a big brother to me. I started hanging around with these "older" people, this was the start of me becoming a gear head.

This Kart was modified by my friend's uncle. He pulled off the Briggs and Straton engine, lengthened the frame and installed a Honda 305CC motorcycle engine. This Kart would reliably turn low 14 second quarter miles with his cousin driving it. I believe the engine was bored out, to what I don't recall. He tried different carbs and also running a mixture of Nitro in it, but I dont think it made much of a difference. I will never forget the first time I got to drive this thing; it was like a rocket compared to what I was used to. I never got to race it but was just thrilled to run this thing around a large parking lot.

My friend's cousin at US 30 drag strip in Indiana. This photo was taken off a slide projector screen with my phone, the quality is not great.
IMG_1538 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr


Another Photo at US 30. This Kart had a great hole shot. It would usually get a 50' jump off the line against a typical muscle car of the day. Towards the end of the quarter the cars would get pretty close, but the KArt racked up a lot of wins and the crowd got a kick out of it. The kart won a trophy every place we ran, because it was the Only Kart. So it always had a best in class!
IMG_1530 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

kentucky yeti:
Great story, and great memories!

FormTA:
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing! Looks like that would be a wild ride!

roadking77:
Holy Cow!! That thing looks like a death trap  :shock:  I cant imagine driving that down the track. I have heard so many people refer to a car that 'handles like a go cart' this one is true to the meaning, LOL. Nice Goat also.

I never had anything other than motorcycles, started riding in the 3rd grade. This is my 50th year!

We made quite a few coaster carts, out of plywood and 2 x 4's with old lawn mower wheels. Even tried bolting up the old Briggs and Stratton on a couple of them but other than setting it on the frame we couldnt figure out how to make it propel the cart! I guess we werent very good at engineering. I will add none of them were very successful. Usually wheels falling off after the first ride ect. Plus we didnt have any big hills to go down.

5th T/A:
I guess I might have lied when I said there were no other carts at the drag strip. Change that to no other Karts when we were at the strip. This is another phone picture off a projector screen. Sorry I am blocking the wild exhaust pipes.

Maybe a year or so later I saw this kart at a custom car show in Chicago. In my memory this was good for 10 second quarter miles. But when enlarged the picture I see he ran consistently in the mid 9's, with a best of 9.41 at over 140 MPH. I never saw this run, just taking him at his word. Notice the wheely bars and chute! I really don't remember much about our conversation, other than him saying the rear tires were same as used on a golf cart.

He did run at some of the same tracks, Union Grove, US30 and Rockford. With no roll bar or cage, I can't imagine this would be allowed on any track today. Think about it a Kart that is as fast as modern Dodge Demon.


IMG_1522 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page