1960, karts at Kitimat

 From the June 9, 1960 Kitimat Northern Sentinel. 

 

1959 kart ad

 From the August 21, 1959 Tacoma News Tribune.

 

1959 karts

 From the October 19, 1959 Vancouver Province.

 

karts, Westwood, 1962

 Action shot and story from the April 19, 1962 Vancouver Sun.

karts, 1959

 From June 10, 1959 Vancouver Sun.

 

Shellburn kart track

 Late 1950s in North Burnaby.

Shellburn kart track

 From the Jim Greenwood collection. Jim flagging the karts off.

karts at Westwood, 1963

 On the big track. Items from the July 5 and July 8,1963 Vancouver Province.

1963 karts at Westwood

 Results from the Westwood kart races from the May 13, 1963 Vancouver Province.

karts and motorcycles at Westwood

 From the April 13th and 20th, 1964 Vancouver Province.

karts, Westwood, 1965

 From the April 10th and 12th, 1965 Vancouver Province.

more Westwood, 1961

 Ad for karts and motorcycles. Results for the karts. From the September 23 and 26, 1961 Vancouver Province.

1962 karts at Westwood

 Big race for the small karts on the big track at Westwood.

A look at motorsport in 1970

A couple pages sampling of what was on offer.

even more karts at Kamloops, 1961

Two final clippings from the Kamloops karts, 1961.

more karting news from Kamloops, 1961

The full opening day report for the karts at Kamloops.

karts at Kamloops, 1961

The new sport of kart racing came (kame?) to Kamloops in 1961. Phil Gaglardi was there to open the track.

a kart video

I posted this video a while back. The guy who put it together, John Denniston, was at the BC Historic Motor Races last weekend out at Mission. Figure I should post again with credit going to him.



Here's the description from the youtube link:

Go kart racing on the sprint track at Westwood Racing Circuit near Vancouver BC, at Thrashers Corner near Seattle, Washington and at the Puget Sound Go Kart Association's track south of Tacoma. As of 2011 only the Tacoma track is still in existence. The film was shot in 1978 and 1979 and shows drivers from the Westwood Karting Association competing in races sanctioned by the International Kart Federation. The film was used to promote karting and the Westwood Karting Association at trade shows. Drivers featured in the film include Ralph Oakes, Ruddy Chong, Glen Mackenzie, John Fey, David Lehmann, Luckie Kuosmanen, Kevin Nelson and Kerry Nelson. The film was shot on 16mm film with an Arri ST by John Denniston of Vancouver. Editing was done by Jana Fritsch of Montage Editing in Vancouver. Music is from Little Mountain Studios also in Vancouver. The voice over is former CBC announcer Gordon Hunt. Sound recording was by John Denniston which was mixed in an empty CBC studio by a man whose name I can't remember. The final mix was done by Alpha Cine in Vancouver. The copyright to this film belongs to John Denniston.

I recognize a couple names: Ralph Oakes was karting in the 1960s and I saw a story on him in senior magazine -- apparently he's still karting; and John Fey -- a U.S. karter who came up to Canada and when I helped a karter down in the U.S. 25 years ago John was still racing.

Ralph Oakes, karter

While sitting in the waiting room of my doctor's office I noticed the cover story on 65 year old karter Ralph Oakes. Recognized the name from the 1960s.

He's still racing and good for him. Maybe I should do something like that. Might keep me out of the doctor's office.

http://www.seniorlivingmag.com/articles/2012/08/no-fear-of-flying

a karting pot boiler -- Go Kart Go! (1964)

Wild short (53 minutes) movie. From the UK. Features Wilfrid Brambell who was also in A Hard Day's Night playing Paul's grandad ("he's very clean").

How bad could it be? Okay, it's a kids' movie. Pretty dire. But I'm easily amused.



It even played in Vancouver back in 1964.