KARTING: Formula One, You've Got Company
28 September 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Karting Champion Knocking on the Door to the Big Time
HARRISBURG, N.C.-- Lay out your welcome mat Formula One, because one of World Karting Association's (WKA) American heroes is making his way up to your front doorsteps.
"WKA has been the proving ground for some of today's professional drivers," said Randy Kugler, president of the WKA. "Half of our racers want to eventually compete in Formula One and Phillip Giebler is one of them."
Now 21, Giebler had five national karting titles under his belt by the age of 17 when he decided to take on the WKA Constructor's Championship Series in 1997, a six-race crusade across North America. Out of 170 entries, he ended his journey with two wins and was honored as the highest finishing American at the North American Championship race in Charlotte, N.C. The Southern California native's performance earned him a trip to Japan and Brazil to race Formula A (considered to be the Formula One of karting).
"The Constructor's Series has been my best karting experience since I began my racing career," Giebler said. "It gave me the racing knowledge to succeed in international competition."
Karting is a stepping stone that has brought Formula One World Champions like Michael Schumacher (1994 and '95) and Mika Hakkinen (1998 and '99) to the top-level in racing. Giebler is looking to become the first American to get a seat in Formula One since Michael Andretti's departure in 1993.
In 1998, Giebler became the first American in 15 years to win the North American Formula A International Karting Championship and was offered the chance to race in the ELF/Formula La Filliere Campus Series, touring France, Portugal and China. The series showcases 26 of the world's finest up-and-coming drivers competing in open-wheel Renault powered Formula cars.
A year later, he made history by becoming the first American to win an ELF/Formula La Filliere Campus Series race and be a runner-up in the championships -- collecting three wins, seven podiums, five pole positions and 10 top-five finishes.
Giebler takes one step closer to Formula One -- in a Formula Three car against some of the best drivers from England, France, Germany and Italy. He stands second in points with two races left in the season.
"I want to set a new standard for young American drivers and prove that we can survive and thrive in every level of European racing," Giebler said in the September issue of National Kart News.
The World Karting Association is a member-owned corporation founded in 1971 to regulate and promote the family sport of competitive kart racing and provide a safe and fair environment for the fulfillment of racing dreams.
Text provided by Aubree Foust
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