That probably was my son on FB, just he’s not that new. He’s been my son for a long time. 
$1K-$2K a race… Ouch. I agree, definitely not grassroots like most of us.
I did pay $500 for an arrive and drive rally car one weekend, but for a kart race, wow.
I was actually referring to Ryan. Alan posted a new kid karter on his page.
Funny! Yes, that is my boy. I am the green spec in the background. Alan was having him run a straight line, brake, circle around and repeat.
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I wanted to give an update regarding my daughter and coaching. We spent an 8 hour day with Alan Rudolph at his academy the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. She did very well with his coaching, and dropped her time over 1.5 seconds from her first session to her last session on track. She really responded to Alan’s coaching, and the best thing that she got out of the coaching is more confidence in her braking. I am looking forward to seeing her use what she learned in a race and to see her continue to gain confidence.
If anyone is in Texas, or plans to come to Texas, Alan and is racing academy is definitely worth the money and experience.
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Thank You for the update, it was useful data to be had. Question, what is an 8 hr day of coaching costs, it seems like it would be very expensive. If not I would love to get my grand children into that training as well. We are in the Greater North West Seattle area and there is a training club at my local track, I would like to put the costs side by side and see or make sure I am getting what is competetive training at a fair price, everyone gets paid, I know this, I just would like to know how much it is in Texas.
Do what you can to get them coaching as early as possible, it keeps them from developing bad habits that need to be broken. The Alan Rudolph Racing Academy has their prices listed on their website (https://speedsportzracingpark.com/racing-academy), as they do offer several different types of courses. The full day that we did cost $799 for the entire day. Since Alan is probably the premier karting coach in the nation, I’d hope others were a little cheaper than that.
Thanks for this reference. I’m getting into karting and I may look into this.
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Reviving this a bit, but what are the normal rates for running with a team in like local/regional races, like in an arrive and drive? I know in the big national races they can easily over 1000 dollars, but was just curious how it would compare to the more local races. Does it depend on the team and level of competition they have?
Definitely varies. National teams typically charge similar rates even at smaller events because they provide the same level of service. And not all local or regional shops offer arrive and drives.
That said, a lot of single day club races I’ve seen 206 arrive and drives for $250-$300 including a floating mechanic (aka a helper if you get in a bind that just roams the tent).
Biggest factors in this are the cost of engine hours (for example, a tag motor that needs to be rebuilt every 5-10 hours averages out to $100-$200/hr in cost, and you put about an hour of run time per raceday), and chassis depreciation. Chassis are just like cars in that their biggest depreciation is in their first few weekends. If you are doing an arrive and drive on a 1-2 year old chassis, the team may be able to charge you less than if you were to rent a 0-3 weekend old chassis.
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As Xander said, it really depends on who you are tenting with, what services you are getting, and what level of a race it is. Typically a club race is less since it is only one day, a regional is a little more, and obviously a national is more.