Local Karting: Motorsports at the Grass Roots

This weekend, I had the pleasure of doing some arrive and drive karting in Englishtown, NJ.  In addition to the city-slicker dilettantes such as myself, there were a whole host of serious amateur racers, including a lot of kids and teen drivers.  In Europe, karting is a more well-publicized sport for youngsters to get started in, but it was nice to see that this obscure activity is alive and well Stateside as well. While it seems on the surface like a somewhat dangerous activity for children to participate in, I couldn't help but think it compares favorably against the head-cracking skateparks we let our kids hang out in unsupervised (with no helmets on), or today's increasingly intense football and hockey squads that leave kids with concussions and torn ACLs at the age of 14.  Here, adult supervision was everywhere, and an ambulance was present as well. Plus there was a lot of family bonding going on which was nice to see, with fathers, sons, daughters, and mothers too working on the karts together.  The setting sun, and smoke from the motors made for some atmospheric photographic conditions. Click HERE for the full gallery.