So I’m looking to start a career in Motorsports and hear that Karting is the place to start. I life in a small town (Casper, WY) and there’s no Karting near me. So I took to the internet and found UMC in Utah though I’m opening to visiting other tracks. It’s a 7 hour drive but I’m pretty determined. Thing is I want meet people and you know do some networking I guess. Thing is I don’t really know what the culture is like at places like these. Especially with the COVID think. So how do I get into a community like this? I’m also just new to Karting in general so any tips at all would be appreciated.
I googled a bit and it seems there might be some dirt oval racing in WY.
There are a couple sprint tracks, it seems as well. Are you close to neighboring states? 7 hours is a haul.
Nothing has happened at the dirt oval in like 5 years plus it’s all just red neck beat up cars. It’s super weird there they don’t even allow non American cars there, which sucked when I wanted to race my BMW. Or at least they won’t if they’d ever do anything with it.
Anyway long drives are just a thing you have to deal with if you want to do anything non oil field related with your life here. And I want to one day join a team and enter some real competition you know. Sorry if I sound like a crazy stary eyed young person. It’s just I’ve been stuck here so long and there is NOTHING.
It did seem as if a number of the racks are closed. Colorado for sure has kart racing. If karts are impossible, Is there a similar thing that you could do in sprint cars if there’s a non-crazy version? Folks gotta start somewhere… Here’s a quarter midget:
Okay no offense but I really don’t think you’re getting the picture of what it’s like out here. I know you’re just trying to help but traveling long distances is just a part of anything you want to do when you live out here. So I want to go pro someday to be completely honest and blunt. If you know a place in Denver that would be a good place to start and meet people for that that would be a big help. Also what’s it like at a place like that? Can you just go up and talk to people? Are there like meet ups or something.
Can’t speak to community in your area. But, generally, in karting, folks are pretty helpful. There’s no formal networks that I know of, outside of forums, local Facebook groups etc.
Basically find a series. Call series and let them know you are new and looking to get started.
Here’s a Colorado specific resource. Perhaps someone at that forum has some ideas.
Okay thank you. Sorry for being blunt. It’s just I’ve been trying to get into motorsports forever and have had the door slammed in my face more then a few times. That and sometimes people just won’t listen.
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Sorry can’t be more help. Not familiar with Wyoming. Good luck in your search.
I don’t know what to suggest - Casper is really in the middle of nowhere. Stopped there many times to refuel on the way to Havre, Montana. There was a track south of Laramie, but I’m pretty sure that’s no more (and still a LONG drive from you). I was actually looking at it a couple of years ago since I was thinking about moving to the Centennial area.
If you could get some friends to buy some like karts (used is fine), someone may be willing to let you use a big parking lot to set up an AutoX style temporary track. Better than nothing. The Casper Events Center lots look like they would work great, or the National Historic Trails drive next door actually looks like a karting track… 
Firstly Casper has a population of around 58000, that’s hardly a small town 
! Give us a little more info Chase, like how old are you? Are you tied to Casper?
The way I see it if you’re serious about building a career in Motorsport you have two options
- Move. Move to a motor sports hub area where you’ll have the opportunity to expose yourself to teams.
- Bring Motorsport to Casper. It’s a big city looking at google. 58000 population of which half are aged 18-44. That’s a decent enough market to tap. Excluding the land ballpark $300k to set up a half decent kart track to FIA standard according to some research I did last year, including a fleet of rental karts, timing system, workshop and clubhouse. Build a business plan and canvas some of that oil business for investment, or go straight to the banks. Seek out a landowner that might be interested to lease you the land or partner with you. You’ll need around 720k sq ft (16.5 acres ish) for a track around 0.75 miles long. Looking on land of America $45k ish for 40 acres nr Casper. Cheap as chips - seriously if I were you I’d head down that road, a little more research into average disposable incomes is needed, but with such a demographic there’s a great business to be had.
Might sound ambitious, but then you sound ambitious.
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There a tracks around Denver, which is on the I-25 corridor, or you could get adventurous & road trip over to Grand Junction Soeedway.
Regardless of talent/determination, be sure to bring money if you want to make a career out of racing. As the saying goes, if you want to make a small fortune in racing, start with a big one. It’s just the way it is.
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