![]() ![]() Many racing drivers who became well known in the 1970s, '80s, and through the present - such as NASCAR's Jeff Gordon, 'Indy 500' drivers Al Unser, Jr. In the early days, races ran on large parking lots, with courses marked off for the day with stripes and rubber cones. Such races were sometimes held at regular paved race tracks but were usually run on specialized, short paved courses designed and built expressly for the karts. Racing of such karts by kids was soon organized - but racing classes for adults were created as well. Adults thought up the idea of installing more-powerful motors, and the racing "go-kart" was born. Such a kart, intended for driving on paved surfaces off the public roadways, had a light frame made of tubular steel, no "body" at all, a rudimentary open seat, and was equipped with a small gasoline engine mounted behind the driver and tiny tires. Meanwhile, marketers of leisure-time products had started producing small, motorized "karts" for pre-teens. But for would-be racers of limited means in the 1950s, even these midget race cars were out of financial reach. ![]() In the 1930s and late 1940s, various types of smaller open-wheeled race cars had been developed for certain classes of organized racing on oval tracks, including the "midget racers" - diminutive but full-fledged, single-seat, high-speed cars. A truly "grass roots" sport, organized "go-karting" arose in the late 1950s. ![]()
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