Quincy south park kart track - must see

[John LaRue]

After 20 years the Quincy South Park Kart Race is set for this weekend. Video from the last time this was run was almost non-existent. This is a shot of the track from a gator; I can't wait to see the videos posted from the karts. Safety barriers are much improved since when I ran there in the 90's. If you notice the chain link fence panels off the side there are some pretty significant drop offs (probably better than 50') just beyond. This was akin to the US Open - racers from all over the country made the annual trip. The City rolled out the red carpet for the racers. One of the highlights of the pro race would be the pre-race party. The local beer distributor would host t and auction off the pro drivers in a Calcutta. Back in the late 70's and into the 80's the PKA races would have a purse of between $5,000 - $10,000 per event - running only one class!

https://www.facebook.com/mark.schwig...956358023/?t=4

http://www.whig.com/20171214/return-...f-gus-traeder#

[Chuck Skowron]

I'm really looking forward to watching this event this weekend. The promoters have stated that about 240 entries have entered the event, and I'd imagine most of those are in the Briggs and Yamaha classes. But they also have some 80 and 125cc shifter entries and I can't imagine what it will be like just watching a 125 shifter roar between the hay bales, stone walls and curbs, nevermind actually drive one.

Only concern I have is that the landscape of karting has changed quite a bit since the last time karts raced at Quincy 20 years ago. And with that, driving standards and etiquette have degraded badly since then. I hope that doesn't cause an issue tomorrow and Sunday, because it's obvious there's little margin for banging each other around at this circuit.

Nevertheless, I hope for a safe and successful Quincy Grand Prix, and that this is a major fixture in U.S. karting for many years to come; like it used to be.

As an aside, long time pro racer and former Quincy winner Scott Pruett will be a guest at the event.

[Chris Robson]

Haddock, Pruett, Emmick, Dismore, Atkins... plus every other hotshoe from across the country showed up for this. Back then just being able to say you started a PKA race was something, let alone run at "Quincy" was quite an honor. I still have my twin carb, K30 that ran on some type of "fuel" we got from Haddock..."Pops" Haddock would only say Lynn ruined his "still" making it!...I also remember we had to put a little pump gas into it just to get something that would get the mixture to ignite!

Looks a lot smoother, wider and safer than when we ran, but, we were all a lot braver(stupider?!?) back then...

Good luck to anyone running this weekend and I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend.

[John LaRue]

I won the unlimited and open classes several times at the Park, it was as you say a big deal and in my mind on par with Runoffs and the major pro races I’ve run. The last time I went Haddock gave me a TT25 reed valve to run. It was a rocket but it rained and I think they either called the race or we didn’t have rains - too long ago! There were some stellar drivers from the day that ran there.

[Hardingfv32]

Love those curbs!

Brian

[John LaRue]

Great picture of the wrong entry into Turn 1. Some video on the link below.



https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=quincy%20grand%20prix

[Chris Livengood]

I had a lot buddies out there. Facebook is full of lots of good video of the event. I always loved street races. I never pulled of a win in one but I lead several times and podiumed several times. I ran Rock Island, Canfield, and Akron. Rock Island was with the ICA (direct drive) and the engine failures produced some fantastic and scary wrecks.

[John LaRue]

We ran direct drive on the 135's with a K30. They were a beast, but proved slower than a clutch set up in most instances as they couldn't carry the revs. I ran the clutch set up in the park; it was amazing how that thing would blow past 100 cc controled's and Yamahas - kinda like getting passed by a good FA in a FC. I got to run a couple of 100cc direct drive set ups that would turn up near 20,000 rpm but fortunately never had one seize. I love how they shut off and go silent under hard braking.

[Chris Livengood]

Yeah we smoked one of our ICA at Rock Island when in the draft it hit nearly 23,000. We ran them 20k or even 21k pretty reliably, but when you got into 22k they were ticking time bombs. In qualifying trim we would run a qualy motor and gear for low 22k, but that motor never ran after qualifications. The race trim motors had less compression and we tried to keep them in the low 21k's while in the draft and low 20k without it. All the good engine packages are gone now. The children couldn't figure out how to tune carburetors.

[John LaRue]

https://www.facebook.com/joeruch53/v...NY4pdA&fref=nf

I had not yet driven a FF when Jack Lindsay, the guy who got me into FF, went with me to this race. He figured the FF wouldn't keep my interest very long after watching the first practice session.

[Chuck Skowron]

https://www.facebook.com/joeruch53/v...NY4pdA&fref=nf

I had not yet driven a FF when Jack Lindsay, the guy who got me into FF, went with me to this race. He figured the FF wouldn't keep my interest very long after watching the first practice session.

I said previously that I couldn't imagine what it would be like running a 125 shifter on this course, and after watching Joe Ruch's video doing exactly that, I still can't comprehend what I just saw.

That was the most exciting on-board racing video I've seen in quite awhile, I don't think there will be another karting video from this season that could top that for thrills. A real taste of old-school style karting that wasn't decided until the very end, and that last hair-raising corner which seemed to be quite a handful just negotiating on its own.

Even better, how the two front runners, Ruch and Schiff, raced each other hard but clean. Definitely a great effort by everyone involved, from the racers and the organizers.