NYS Indoor Kart Racing Championship

"The most intense oval racing imaginable" is how drivers describe indoor kart racing. Imagine taking ordinary racing and squeezing it down to a track that's just 100 feet in diameter. Like making maple syrup, the more you condense it down, the more intense it is, and that's how indoor racing works. You get fierce wheel-to-wheel action in 6 second laps. With 12 karts on the track, just to watch it is a challenge. The karts pull 1.4 lateral G's in the corners, and because the track is inside a building, it's all turns. There are no straights on which the drivers can momentarily relax. From green to checkered it's full throttle, with occasional taps on the brakes to stay off the guy in front of you. It's the most challenging racing in karts.

Gates open to the public from 5 to 9 PM Friday and 12 noon to late afternoon on Saturday. Come on out to watch the action, and bring the kids. This is very much a family affair.

The previous race, last December, drew over 130 entries in 24 classes. Between the heats, consolation races, and A and B main events, there are approximately 70 races packed into six hours of non-stop action. Unlike other forms of racing you may have seen, there are no long delays between races. One group exits the track, and the next comes on. The noise never dies down, and the action on the track never stops.

The secret to indoor racing is in the track. It's a heated rubber track, with a grip so strong you can't walk across it unless your shoes are tied extra-tight. Sticky sticky sticky. The secret to the track is a smooth concrete surface. Surprisingly, the smoother the concrete, the better. Infrared heaters shine down on the concrete, heating it to 120 degrees or so. Then a layer of adhesive goes down. The adhesive of choice is Coke syrup, straight from the fountain! Then karts with extra-soft rubber tires go out and zip around the track. After half an hour or so, there is a thick layer of rubber adhered to the top of the Coke syrup. Voila, an indoor kart track.

Throw in some grandstands, pits, and a crowd of a thousand or so people, and you've got yourself an indoor kart race!

The karts raced in this event are owned by the competitors. There are no rental karts available on the day of the event. Karts typically must conform to AKRA/World Karting Association regulations plus additional regulations specific to this event (see the Tech section on this website and the Entry Form for details).