Karting

In High School, I spent a lot of time working on mini-bikes and go-carts. We would find old lawn mower engines, fix them up, them stick them in. I even took a small-engine shop class in High School and really tricked out the engines; putting in a high-lift cam, special exhaust, and porting out the intake and exhaust manifold. We would take them over to business complex parking lots under the airport (because we figured that the buildings were probably pretty soundproof) and race them around.

Speedring

Years later, Rex Dwyer got me going to Speedring. Another regular who loved to race was Mark Schmidt. We had a lot of fun there and even Suzanne and Stacie raced a little!

GoKart Racer

When Speedring closed down, Rex told me about a group of guys that met on Friday at GoKart Racer after the market closed. These guys are really good drivers, much better than I am. But I have the weight advantage, so sometimes I can keep up. Once, I even got the best time of the week!

Dromo 1

In Spring of 2006, we took a trip down to Newport and went to Dromo 1. This track was much more slippery than I was used to; even on the sweeping curves the wheels would slip. But Eric and Andy Purmort and I still had a blast!

Top Times

The guys I drive with at GoKart Racer - Matt, Rex and Chris - are all better drivers than I am. However if I get a good cart, I can sometimes do pretty well. For instance, in October of 2008, I was having a great day and I scored the second best time of the month, right behind Chris!

Top 100 Racers of the Month For October 2008 Track 1(Monza)

Date as of 10/31/2008

Rank	Racer	LapTime	R.P.M.	Date	City
1	Chris Depuy	28.943	3136	10/31/2008	Hillsborough
2	Max Dunn	29.064	2645	10/31/2008	San Jose
3	Matt Robison	29.351	2956	10/31/2008	San Francisco
4	Dan Lassen	29.581	3090	10/17/2008	Santa Rosa
5	Alex Ratcliffe	30.760	1467	10/14/2008	Berryville
6	Michael Cardozo	30.774	2078	10/17/2008	SANTA ROSA
7	Zach Younker	30.874	2229	10/04/2008	Sunnyvale
8	Chris Vannoy	31.018	1421	10/16/2008	Napa
9	Nick Binkley	31.131	1959	10/04/2008	santa clara

 

Chris Depuy is a great racer and also started an interesting company that provides business loans secured by credit card sales.