TRACKS: Irwindale Karting test session very promising
6 May 2000
Irwindale, Calif. May 5 - - Twenty-eight speedy shifter Karts took advantage of an open invitation from Irwindale Speedway management to take part in the track's first-ever Karting practice session yesterday on a twisting temporary infield road course that also incorporated the lower turn one section of the main ½-mile track. Using old racing tires and traffic cones, Nick DeFazio, 16, a champion Karter and the son of track GM, Bob DeFazio laid out a fast and challenging 9 -turn course that measured out at just a hair over half a mile around. "This course is great, it has everything," one enthusiastic racer said, "There's a downhill straight were we could get into sixth gear, a tight hairpin turn, and some very technical transitions … I love this track!" "Hey, mark it off and let's just run the races here, this is great!," said another. That keenness for the layout was echoed many times over throughout the four hour on-track practice session. This morning the San Gabriel Valley Tribune carried news of the test session as a front page story (with two large color photos) leading off with: "They haven't built it yet, but they're already coming …" "This circuit only one possibility from a whole range of configurations that could be easily installed here using the infield of the main track, but our real goal is a free-standing permanent Karting facility on the northeast corner of the campus," explained Bob DeFazio. "This evening was meant to be almost as much a social occasion as a racing one, first and foremost we wanted the Karters to see that we wanted them to be a part of Irwindale Speedway. We think that the word will go out from here." As the sun set and the stadium's super Musco lighting system took over it was easy for any observer to imagine that they were watching a night time Formula 1 race from the highest seat in the grandstands or on a small screen TV. The 125cc motorcycle-engined Karts with their 6-speed gearboxes and four-wheel disc brakes are so quick, so maneuverable and so colorful that it only takes a few seconds of race watching to become completely mesmerized by their speed and beauty. It truly was a grand night for the sport of Karting that had begun right here in the San Gabriel Valley over 40 years ago. On hand for the occasion was special guest of honor Duffy Livingstone, one of the acknowledged "fathers" of the Karting sport. Livingstone is credited not only with building the first proprietary Karts (under the name "Go-Kart" which was a trade name but has since become a generic term for the sport in general), but who also built the world's first Kart racing facility (Go-Kart Raceway) in Irwindale at the corner of what is now Irwindale Avenue and the 210 Freeway. Now retired and living in Oregon, Livingstone had serendipitously picked this particular week to visit his daughter in southern California. "Duffy called our PR guy, Doug Stokes, who's an old friend of his, and said that he'd like to visit the track when he was in town this week," DeFazio noted. "He didn't know a thing about our plans to test the track for Karting. We all took it as some sort of sign, a good omen, that we were on the right track with this project. We asked him to join us yesterday afternoon to sort 'bless' our first effort toward bringing the sport he created back to its birthplace … It was an emotional afternoon for some of the people that had been around Karting for a long time. He loved the track and the idea of a new Karting venue here. It was really an honor for us to have Duffy Livingstone visit Irwindale." Irwindale Speedway, which will hold 36 major NASCAR and USAC Saturday night racing events during the 2000 season, has announced that it is very seriously considering the construction of a permanent Karting facility on the property as well as a 1/8-Mile NHRA Street Legal and Junior Dragster Drag Strip. "Last night's test was a step in the right direction," said DeFazio. "We were more than pleased with the Karter's reaction to what we were offering, everyone was very positive about the idea, we think that it was a good experience for everyone involved, one that we can really build on for the future."