Justin and I help out at our local club and I sent him this link. We are both digging in to grow our club, while maintaining a good family-friendly atmosphere. This thread is a great baseline to the overall topic of growing karting, so thanks @KartingIsLife.
Glad to see you join @GromDad 
Cool! I’m genuinely excited that it’s useful to someone.
Feel free to drop questions here, I’m sure I’ve learned a few things since 2018 and I’m always happy to help when someone is poised to execute on it.
@KartingIsLife Over the past couple of years, I have been immersing myself in the karting ecosystem as a parent to a young racer and an active participant in the local circuit, running 206 and KT 100 classes. My initial entry was as a car enthusiast with a fundamental mechanical background, which, despite some costly initial missteps, evolved into a rewarding journey thanks to the support from our local club members.
Being fortunate enough to have a reasonable budget, living near a track, and having a flexible schedule has significantly eased my onboarding into this sport.
Upon diving into karting, I joined our local club, which also manages the lease of our local track. This club, devoted to promoting karting, has been a remarkable platform despite the usual challenges non-profits face.
I am not the guy sitting at the end of the bar thinking he could run one,
but some sloppy research and analysis paired with lots of anecdotal “evidence” has led me to an unqualified conclusion/opinion that there are enormous opportunities for the sport and community to grow.
I guess I’m part of the newest cohort who wants to see the sport healthy.
High turnouts for races, lots of weekend lap turners, and engaged ancillary support like pit crews, families, volunteers etc…
I know this is a little old, but I figured I should pitch in.
When I first got into karting it was because at 14 or 15 I had the random dream of becoming a race car driver and I saw that the guys in Formula one started in Go karts. I first started in the K1 Speed league races and we also visited a local competition track that my dad found when it was hosting the regional championships.
We began talking to everyone at their tents and were immediately shocked at the price, at first, of the karts and everyone wanted to sell us their kart. (WE DIDNT KNOW THAT PEOPLE SOLD ENGINES SEPERATE FROM THE CHASSIS)
My dad then found on ebay an old CRG with a Rotax engine (BOTH SUPER OLD) for very cheap. When we first started using it, we realized the engine was not working properly and it spent more time in the garage than it did on track. While we were fixing it we realized that it would have been more cost effective to eat the lump sum of a new engine than it would have been to buy the old kart.
While doing the club races we met new people and one of them was with a team and they raced nationally/regionally. The guy helped us a lot and helped us get better free of charge, since we became decent friends and he was also teaching us a lot, I practiced with his son at our local track (he was a bit younger than me but he was so much faster because I didnt know how to drive.)
One day I went to practice with my dad and by surprise my friends team was practicing, I drove with them and they were soooo much faster on lower powered engines. Our friend the entire time was helping me improve by suggesting changes and asking for my feedback.
The owner even recommended me some changes when I was not on his team, mind you he was not coming to me to tell me these things but when I asked him a question he gave me an answer that helped even when he didnt have to!
We began talking we raced with them on my chassis once and decided that this is where I want to race because of the quality of the people! It was even better that they were close to our house.
We ended up buying a kart from a brand that they use as I got it for very cheap and we race with them since!