On a normal day at the track, there might be 40 go-karts. Last weekend, at the Santa Maria Karting Association track, there were more than 300.
It was the International Karting Federation Grand Nationals, held at the Santa Maria track for the third time, and the smell of gasoline and burnt rubber filled the air.
From July 31 to Aug. 3, racers from across the country gathered at the track to test their skills against the best at this championship race. Most of them had been there for at least a week in advance, practicing on the track and fine-tuning the mechanics on their karts.
A week may seem like a long time, but this was a big race—and it was a big deal when officials chose Santa Maria as this year’s host.
Club members found out their group was chosen last fall, said club president Phil Rochester, and they’d been preparing ever since. All the hard work paid off.
“It went fantastic,” Rochester said. “Yeah, we had a great weekend. Officials told us it was one of the best Grand Nationals they’d had in years.”
Fewer than 10 local members took part in the race—but that’s okay, Rochester said. He explained that most of the members of the Karting Association are in it for fun.
Among the local racing representatives was 9-year-old Chance Skaufel, who got hooked on the sport a few years ago when his dad and he went to an open house at the track.
Chance and his dad, club secretary Kirk Skaufel, explained that the club is nonprofit, and so is the sport. No one makes money off of karting, Kirk said, even if they do win races. A competitive kart starts at around $6,000, though cheaper karts are available in the low thousands for drivers just looking to have fun.
The small vehicles reach speeds of up to 75 mph on the straight-aways and have an average speed of 50 mph, Kirk said. With those numbers in mind, the Karting Association has something else to brag about when it comes to this year’s event.
“That was another thing that was great,” Rochester said. “We had no transportable injuries.”
They called an ambulance for one kid, he said, but that racer ended up turning down the ride to the hospital and raced again instead. Drivers take the Grand Nationals very seriously.
Entry fees from this race brought in about $20,000 to $30,000 in revenue for the Santa Maria Karting Association, but Rochester said that the club would most likely break even or perhaps make a few bucks off of the event.
They first have to recoup their costs from improvements they made to the track to get it ready for the event. They re-did the asphalt in the pit area and made general improvements to the facilities.
Preparations were tricky though, Skaufel said, because the club didn’t want to put too much money into their airport-adjacent track—just in case.
“We know we’re on thin ice with the airport, so we made improvements as cheaply as we could,” Rochester said.
The planned construction and expansion at the Santa Maria Airport would have an impact on the Karting Association. Their track is located right at the end of the runways on the south side of the airport.
The Karting Association is currently in negotiations with a couple of entities—including the airport—regarding a new location for the track. They’ll move, Rochester said, but one thing the club isn’t willing to do is leave Santa Maria. The club is recognized as one of the oldest in the United States, Rochester said.
“The Santa Maria Karting club isn’t going anywhere,” he maintained. “We’ve been in Santa Maria for 49 years.”
Sports Editor Sarah E. Thien hasn’t been anywhere for 49 years. Contact her at sthien@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 7-14, 2008.