Added image for Facebook Feature @KartingIsLife
My boy has been obsessed with cars and Lightning McQueen ever since we met him (adopted). As soon as he hit 48" we started going to K1. After about 8 weekends of fun and faster lap times, we decided to go all in on karting. I just bought him a Kid Kart from our local track (SpeedSportz in Houston).
I have never raced in my life. I am officially a Kart Dad. What are the essentials?
Welcome to the board, and karting in Texas. Will you be at SpeedSportz this weekend? They have a group on Facebook for the Pro Track racers, and this weekend at 2 pm, they are having a Kid Kart Clinic. It sounds like this would be a perfect thing for you to attend.
I’m in San Antonio, and we make the trip to SpeedSportz each month for my daughter to race.
As far as what the essentials are, the main important thing is to have fun and be safe. Alan is a great person to ask questions of, with the knowledge he has in karting.
Besides having fun and being safe, what essentials are you wanting to know?
Ask question. Ask more questions. Never be afraid of asking questions! Get on a lot of message boards and facebook groups.
I was in your same position 3 years ago. Remember that karting is supposed to be fun! Practice as much as you can. If your son likes youtube have him try to find older kids from your track that have youtube accounts. Have him watch them race to learn drive lines on the track.
Good luck! This has become a family sport for us. And we’ve made alot of friends at the track. Have fun! and ask question!
What a great place to start with Alan Rudolph running the show. When starting out don’t worry too much about the kart - it’s all about getting comfortable, gaining experience, learning track presence and improving basic skills. It’s easy to get caught up in the mechanical side but with a beginner concentrate on keeping things fun and celebrating the improvements.
It’s a great sport that you can do together for years but make sure to really savor and enjoy this time. Almost all of us wish we could experience those days again! 
This is such a great thing you made. This and similar things would be great stickied somewhere.
One could always start a getting started topic and we could start to put information there 
Naturally it will grow and become pretty verbose, at which point we can work on breaking it down/editing/summarizing.
Also, Eric has a book version of the PDF he posted above.
Eric, that was excellent! Thanks for all the feedback. I hope to get the boy out to track and in his kart for the first time this weekend. I can’t wait.
Great information - Thanks for sharing!
I couldn’t help myself and filmed of my boy’s first day in his kart. He goes from the basics of what the gas and brake are to zipping around the track.
It says video is unavailable.
I had it set as private. It should work now.
He’s looking good out there already!
Cute. I always get a kick watching the kid karts.
He definitely had fun and could hear him laughing through the helmet! He’s still fearless and hasn’t quite figured out that he can slow down using the brake. He thinks the brake is only for stopping so I got a kick out of watching him push the corners to the limit, spin out, and adjust the next time around.
Ryan,
Watching my son battle against another boy in his first races this year was a unique and amazing feeling.
On the one hand, you are acutely aware that it was your idea to have him do something imprudent (karting) while simultaneously being so proud of his/her bravery.
Conflicting, to say the least.
Anyways, good stuff coming when your boy starts racing.
Been at this for 7 years now, that feeling has not gone away. I am still all a bother during a race as he pushed his machine harder and harder.
My son just started Karting this past year (He is 9 so racing Cadet) but watching that video reminds me of his first weekend out. We focused on Fun and Improving lap time all year. The most fun was talking to him after the race, hearing his thoughts as he setup a pass! They think through more than I thought. Congrats on the new title “Kart Dad!”
Here a little vid I did to celebrate nicks first year racing. It’s 1 min long. My Dad heart does a few pitter-patters watching it.
There’s some proper send in that video +1