Kid Karting
Airdate
:
2/20/2006
There are more than 50,000 children between the ages of five and fifteen who race souped-up go-karts competitively, many with the hopes of one day being a NASCAR driver. The competition among boys is intense and expensive, with families often spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep their child racers on the track. Their investment often pays off handsomely as the top racers are often recruited by pro racing teams before they're old enough to even have a driver's license.
INSIDE EDITION caught up with some of these families at this year's Formula Kart Racing Winter Tour, in Homestead, Florida where 100 kids competed, driving 150-pound karts at speeds approaching 80 mph.
"I love it a lot. I dedicate all my time and weekends to karting," says 12 year-old Jarvis Gennari. Jarvis, who travels with his own pit crew, is home schooled so he can devote more time to karting, about 20 hours a week.
Six-year-old Houston native Kennedy Carter's mom helps him tie his shoes, but he already drives his own $3,000 racing kart at speeds of up to 40 mph.
Gordie Lazare, father of an eight-year-old kart racer, insists the sport is safe, even though his son was involved in a crash, leaving him with a scrape severe enough to require stitches.
"[I think] it's a great sport and we should honestly get more kids involved in it," Lazare tells Inside Edition.
Our camera captured several accidents, including one young racer being carried off the track on a stretcher. The report also shows other racetracks where accidents involving young boys occurred. In the footage, the karts climb over the heads of other drivers, speed off the track, collide with stalled drivers, or completely flip over, just as they do on professional racetracks.
Little Caleb Maxwell is an example of how a karting accident can end tragically. In his second race in 2003, Caleb, who weighed a mere 60lbs, had his chest crushed by the weight of his kart when it flipped over and landed on top of him.
"Caleb was eight when he started racing, and he was nine when he died," said Caleb's mother, Leslie Shields of San Antonio.
Shields was determined to make karting safer after her son's death by helping to make chest protectors mandatory for these young drivers. She believes if her son had been wearing one of these protectors he would still be alive today.
