McKenzie Racing
New member
It's nice to see that ingenuity iis alive and well in the world.
I ran across this site while trying to find some parts for one of our race karts and was thoroughly amazed by what I had run into.
A little background ,so you folks get an idea where I've been.
I,ve been around go karts since about 1964. We did the same things then that all of you are doing now. If Dad's chain saw or lawnmower sat too long it was fair game for an upgrade. Since I grew up on a farm it was only natural to be working on and around machinery.
During college( to pay for it ) I worked in a foundry. I figured it was sort of silly paying somebody to tell me what to do in college so I went on an apprenticeship program at the foundry. They still told me what to do, but paid me for it. They also taught me welding (oxy-acetylene, stick, TIG, and MIG),how to machine parts, hydraulics and pneumatics. We automated the plant and a third of us got booted.
A dozen or so of us went to General Motors. It's been a pretty good ride since then. I'm a Millwright there working where they make the Pontiac G6.
Along the way I got 6 kids. (They come from unemployment- don't let anyone tell you different.) We always seemed to have a go-kart around to let the kids have something to do. We built three or four for some thing to do.
When the last one was about 12, we asked him if he'd like to race them, to give him something to keep him out of trouble. Much to our surprise he got very, very good at it.
Jeff, our son has raced in about a dozen states at somewhere around twenty tracks. He's gotten70 or so feature wins, 5 local track championships at the East Lansing Kart Track, a Great Lakes Sprint Series championship, and has been sixth in the nation in the WKA Manufacturers Cup series.
We still race go-karts in East Lansing. It's a TAG 125. Good for around 105mph on a bigger track. We also run a Yamaha 100 Senior Sportsman kart. The State Police clocked it at the track at 82mph, but we think the gun was reading high. He also has two modified race cars (IMCA type) one dirt and one asphalt. Those engines run 400 to 575 horses. We assemble them ourselves under the direction of our machinist Bill Reichert who is a NHRA top alcohol rail driver.
It's been a hoot! Hope I can steer you folks away from some of the mistakes we've made along the way.
I ran across this site while trying to find some parts for one of our race karts and was thoroughly amazed by what I had run into.
A little background ,so you folks get an idea where I've been.
I,ve been around go karts since about 1964. We did the same things then that all of you are doing now. If Dad's chain saw or lawnmower sat too long it was fair game for an upgrade. Since I grew up on a farm it was only natural to be working on and around machinery.
During college( to pay for it ) I worked in a foundry. I figured it was sort of silly paying somebody to tell me what to do in college so I went on an apprenticeship program at the foundry. They still told me what to do, but paid me for it. They also taught me welding (oxy-acetylene, stick, TIG, and MIG),how to machine parts, hydraulics and pneumatics. We automated the plant and a third of us got booted.
A dozen or so of us went to General Motors. It's been a pretty good ride since then. I'm a Millwright there working where they make the Pontiac G6.
Along the way I got 6 kids. (They come from unemployment- don't let anyone tell you different.) We always seemed to have a go-kart around to let the kids have something to do. We built three or four for some thing to do.
When the last one was about 12, we asked him if he'd like to race them, to give him something to keep him out of trouble. Much to our surprise he got very, very good at it.
Jeff, our son has raced in about a dozen states at somewhere around twenty tracks. He's gotten70 or so feature wins, 5 local track championships at the East Lansing Kart Track, a Great Lakes Sprint Series championship, and has been sixth in the nation in the WKA Manufacturers Cup series.
We still race go-karts in East Lansing. It's a TAG 125. Good for around 105mph on a bigger track. We also run a Yamaha 100 Senior Sportsman kart. The State Police clocked it at the track at 82mph, but we think the gun was reading high. He also has two modified race cars (IMCA type) one dirt and one asphalt. Those engines run 400 to 575 horses. We assemble them ourselves under the direction of our machinist Bill Reichert who is a NHRA top alcohol rail driver.
It's been a hoot! Hope I can steer you folks away from some of the mistakes we've made along the way.
can you show pics of how big the kart is?