The early days of DIY go karts.

[GregMartin]

Ander
Have you sent this info to www.vintagekart.com so they can update/correct there records?

 

[anderkart]

Ander
Have you sent this info to www.vintagekart.com so they can update/correct there records?

Yeah, I posted this thread there:--> http://www.vintagekarts.com/forum/view_topic.php?id=2835&forum_id=2&jump_to=12932#p12932

They say the term "Go Kart" wasn't used until 1956 in California, and my bro had a "kiddy car" or a home built "contraption". They also say real go karts have 2-cycle engines.

Whaaat-ever... they said it on the interweb, so it must be true right

They look like go karts to me, and that's all that matters as far as I'm concerned.

 

[GregMartin]

They suck man
"2-cycle" "Kiddy car" WHAT

 

[Orange Krate]

Thanks whoever bumped this! I had missed some updates.

 

[Blazkowiez]

That was a great read, thanks for sharing that. I wonder what they consider many of the production karts we ride today?

 

[anderkart]

They suck man
"2-cycle" "Kiddy car" WHAT

Yeah Lol, right?

Thanks whoever bumped this! I had missed some updates.

My bro is still trying to get some of the old 8mm movies he knows his old buds had, they'd be cool for one of your kart films huh

That was a great read, thanks for sharing that. I wonder what they consider many of the production karts we ride today?

Cool.
I'd tell ya, but our forum rules dont alow posting those 4-letter words...

 

[Orange Krate]

Yes! I've got a flashback scene it'd be perfect for!

 

[gixxerkart]

Very cool indeed. Sticky anyone?

 

[Kelly Wood]

Love it all, a great read. Thanks!

Keeping the true tradition alive,

Kelly Wood - kartrods.com

 

[beansdaddy78]

i found these motors in a 69 popular mechanics mag. i wish the prices were still the same.

also i have this mini bike here in the second pic, couldnt find anything about it online, but opened this mag and there she is

oh the mag. is old and smells like puke

 

[beansdaddy78]

also have a writeup called "a family guide to minibikes" i guess i need to break out my scanner, thes pics dont show well with my cell phone camera

 

[AMMFAB]

my father in law use to race karts out at manzi back in the day (nows its a crane storage yard)..... dont know how far back but i imagine back in the 70's at the latest..... jack andrews was his name. wonder if any of u guys knew him. another funny thing..... i just ported a clone head a few weeks back and it was for a guy named mike.... he's gotta be in his 40's. anyways i went out to a house in rainbow valley to deliver the head to him. he was at his buddies house and that guy had to be around 60 years old and he had a dirt track setup in his back yard. and they were telling me they use to go out to manzi back in the day also and they are still doing it today.... u know they love it when they are still doing it decades later. ill see if i can get there names.... they are all really cool guys.


mike

 

[souperman000]

anyways i went out to a house in rainbow valley to deliver the head to him. he was at his buddies house and that guy had to be around 60 years old and he had a dirt track setup in his back yard. and they were telling me they use to go out to manzi back in the day also and they are still doing it today.... u know they love it when they are still doing it decades later. ill see if i can get there names.... they are all really cool guys.


mike

It wasn't anderkart was it??

wouldn't that be a coincidence...

 

[AMMFAB]

It wasn't anderkart was it??

wouldn't that be a coincidence...

be real funny if it was but rainbow valley is about 20 miles to the southwest of phx and his location says phx.


mike

 

[anderkart]

Love it all, a great read. Thanks!

Keeping the true tradition alive,

Kelly Wood - kartrods.com

Yer welcome Kelly!

my father in law use to race karts out at manzi back in the day (nows its a crane storage yard)..... dont know how far back but i imagine back in the 70's at the latest..... jack andrews was his name. wonder if any of u guys knew him. another funny thing..... i just ported a clone head a few weeks back and it was for a guy named mike.... he's gotta be in his 40's. anyways i went out to a house in rainbow valley to deliver the head to him. he was at his buddies house and that guy had to be around 60 years old and he had a dirt track setup in his back yard. and they were telling me they use to go out to manzi back in the day also and they are still doing it today.... u know they love it when they are still doing it decades later. ill see if i can get there names.... they are all really cool guys.


mike

I raced street-stocks at Manzy back in the late 70's/80's/90's but dont remember jack andrews, what class did he race?

Was the 40y/o guy At Rainbow valley named Mike Roush, and the older dude named Terry Belcher by any chance?
If so, I raced at that same Rainbow valley kart track for serveral years.

If thats not their names, I prolly know-em anyway because there's a couple other pretty nice backyard ovalkart tracks out in that same area. Just tell-em I'm that 6'-6" tall dude in the black & orange #11 kart, with the Tecumseh Star motor that used to kick everyone's butt at Belchers track

You can check out my race videos in this thread: http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6364&page=3 and see if it looks like the track you visited. Those vids were shot at Terry Belchers track, I'm kart #11.

Terry Belcher was the best Late model Stack car driver at Manzy for like 2 or 3 decades. They called him 'Mr. Excitement because he always rode the high-groove and crossed it up way more than anyone! That dudes a freakin wildman, his kids a pretty famous racer too.

It wasn't anderkart was it??

wouldn't that be a coincidence...

Yeah it totally would, but nope not me

 

[AMMFAB]

im not sure what class jack raced in... i just asked my wife tonight and she said he raced before and after she was born so mid to late 70's to mid late 80's. ill see if i can find some pics.

the mike im referring to is a parts driver for arrowhead honda who takes parts to the same machine shop i use. well he got the kid that works at the machine shop into the gokart thing and he told them about me (head porting). thats how i met up with these guys a few weeks ago. ill find out their names tomorrow. i met mike out there at the track and 30 mins later then next thing i know i squeezed into his kart and was doing laps..... its alot more fun then it looks i can honestly say that.

now we were in the back yard of an older guys property...... but the track use to be in the front yard of his neighbors property they told me and when looking at google maps it confirms it. they were telling me that the neighbor guy was a really good roundy round car driver back in that day..... i wanna say it is terry but im not sure. hes got a nice little shop in his back yard and has an orange 3 wheeled golf cart he drives around. he jumped in another kart and schooled me by the way. its about 1/4 mile west of tuthill on Arlington rd if that sounds familiar. as for the vids in the link.... that track looks smaller then the one i was at. but if its the old track in his front yard then it does look to be about the right size compared to the new track in the back yard that they race on now.

sorry to get off track but its kinda cool IMO.


mike

 

[AMMFAB]

ah the internet is great.... it was terry that schooled me and his neighbors house is where the track is now. good time lol.......

mike

 

[anderkart]

Cool!

Yeah that pic is Terry Belcher, and his track I raced at Is on Arlington.

I havent talked/raced with those guys in the last few months, but I know the county was giving Terry a lot of crap about operating a racetrack at his house. His neighbors were also complaining about the noise/dust/traffic because we've had like over 200 people show up there at his place for races before...

I'm not surprised they've built a new track further away from the road, I''ll have to go check that new track out soon

You can ask Terry about me, tell him my names names Eric and I'm that big tall dude that raced with those bad-a$$ Tecumseh Star motors.

I've recently sold my best oval-racekart (and engines) to a total pro kart-racer/buddy of mine. He weighs nearly a hundred-lbs less than me, plus he's like 20-years younger and a much better driver than I ever was, even in my prime. I'm retired from driving now, I'll just be his crew chief and we'll be racing at that new track very soon...

So you better warn those guys they got some stiff competition coming, and they'll prolly be needing a lot more than just built clone engines with milled/ported heads to keep up

 

[machinist@large]

So you better warn those guys they got some stiff competition coming, and they'll prolly be needing a lot more than just a clone engine with a milled/ported head to keep up

More retired/ semi retired people doing their level headed best to get all the fun banned before I can get around to trying it.......And they yell at younger people like ME as if I were the one sowing all the hatred and discontent.

(You do realize this was all tongue in cheek, right?)

 

[anderkart]

Yep, I hear yee

I'm 53 now and starting to turn into one of those crotchety old farts like that myself...
But I also still remember what It was like to be young and I'm trying to fight it off!

Get OFF my lawn you young hooligans! Whoops sorry, that just slipped out...