I usually don’t reply in forum’s however here is my two cents worth. I started karting this spring. Never even knew it existed and have been loving it. All of us have been benefiting from rules that have been written by membership organizations to cover all of the classes that we race in. When the going gets tough, I see people grabbing their “Rule Book” in order to find the infraction, yet in the same breath, don’t want to spend the money to join the organization that wrote the rules in the first place. As a new comer, joining SKUSA was my first step. I have a license, and have been racing all summer. The biggest let-down I had was travelling to the US Amateur Championships. After being “tech’d” 6-10 different times here, I thought I was prepared, but to find out, the rules we were following at home didn’t apply to anywhere else. So much for the time and money spent getting the kart up to specs and training to race. My point is, there are rules that work for all of our karts: SKUSA for shifters, TAG USA for the TAG class, and either IKF or WKA for the rest. All we have to do is decide to follow them. Our Karts will carry more value because the meet the national specs, all drivers will be able to get a set of rules, and some consistency will be in place without having to reinvent the wheel. If drivers want to travel and experience other venues, their karts will be ready, and not have to change it to race.
I’m not a fan of having to join several organizations just to race, however there is value in doing so. I look forward to next year and running again at all the tracks, whatever the organization decides and whatever the rules will be. Thanks,
Jim Keesling
84D, Senior TAG and Shifter
Dog House Racing
Team McLube