March 17th, 2011 
admin By: Larry Robb
"Idaho Life" Interview
It has been a year since Sting Ray competed in his first Rotax Mini Max race. It has also been 2 years ago this month, since his first Junior 1 Animal competition, which we started when he was seven.
Although we have learned buckets full of information I feel fairly inept when I anticipate the next race, especially when I am the head mechanic that weekend. I will always feel that Sting Ray could have done much better with a go-kart experienced dad at the helm of his program. (The dozens of coaches and knowledgeable people that have helped us were priceless.)
Our first kart showed up at our house in a box, nuts and bolts scattered around the bottom with unrecognizable kart parts in bubble wrap and newspaper clippings. I HAD NO CLUE how to put this thing together.
In spite of my lack of knowledge, Sting Ray would finish the year without being challenged much in any local race. We even went to Utah to try another track just to see if he was proficient against other kids in bigger numbers. He still won, but only by a couple feet, entirely due to a lack of power in his totally stock Comer 50 kid kart engine.
I was totally surprised when I found out that the “competition” had a modified engine, built by a guy that holds a couple Bonneville Salt Flats records. I would later discover that I had the kart set up totally wrong. Sting Ray just figured out how to drive it the way it was. I actually had the front wheels set as wide as the rear end. Camber, castor, toe-in, weight distribution, tire pressure, etc. were all terms I really knew nothing about.
Sting Ray 1st Nationals
Fast forward to Junior 1. We went to Tri Cities for our first Gold Cup IKF race. There we met Artie Carpenter and Jesse Brown. Jesse took Sting Ray under his wing. Jesse’s son, Tyler had won a National Championship in 2008, and as time went on we were able to glean some of what Jesse and his inner crowd were trying to teach us.
I think Sting Ray was close to last place in every heat in that race. It was miserable. The weather was windy and cold. Occasionally snowflakes flurried passed or into our hooded ski jackets and Sting Ray complained about frozen and numb fingers.
He hung in there against a field of older and more experienced kids. Sting Ray was in the first grade, while some of his competitors were sixth graders. It wasn’t until the last IKF race of the season, at Pat’s Acres in Portland that Sting Ray finally got an IKF win.
Today is a rainy day in March. Contemplating this weekend’s race at Infineon brings me back to the last 12 months of karting. I always think we had a mediocre year of results, and curiously went to mylaps.com to kind of recap how we did. Hopefully we can improve this year. The following is what I came up with. I am fairly certain of the accuracy, but guessing on some.
50 events
25 podiums
11 event wins
10 poles
3 track records
2 regional championships
1 national championship
We raced in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Arizona, Nevada, Indiana, Canada, and Italy. What an incredibly exciting and blessed year. Without 1 win, 1 podium, etc. it would have been awesome. I am hopeful God will continue to bless us with our racing endeavors. The people we have met, (so far) and the fun we have had. I have said that if I could sponsor 100 kids, I would do it.
This is an inspiring sport. Total family involvement is so important in a world of chaos and turmoil. Bring your families and friends to this sport if you can. And if you ask for help, I will give what little knowledge I can to help you get started on the right foot. Most of the people in the sport share my views.
As for Sting Ray, well, he’s 9 now. As for last year,,,, not bad for an 8 year old.
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