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EYE ON THE INDUSTRY 09-01-00
Lest we forget.
Opinion by Darrell Sitarz, Editor

June 6,1944 was an important day in world history - It was D Day in Europe which marked the turning point in World War II. This year, 56 years later, I watched intently the ceremonies of the opening of the D Day Museum in New Orleans. One of the first things that crossed my mind as I watched and listen to the stories of courage and dedication, was the fact the there is no museum marking one of the most important sports in the world today - karting! This again cross my mind last week, when I received the sad news of the passing of another “pioneer” of the sport, Ormel Duke.

With his passing, his legacy, his memories, his stories of the sport passed away as well, leaving another hole in the saga of the world’s most popular motorsport. This year marks the 44th anniversary of karting, yet we have lost many of the pioneers and much of the history of the sport to time. Art Ingles is gone, Gil Horstman is gone, Bob McCulloch is gone, as are many others who have had a bearing on the sport, an American-born sport that is now amazingly organized in over 100 countries around the world.

Every year, pieces of karting’s history are lost to time. Each time an old go kart is tossed into the garbage because no one knows its value, another piece of history is gone forever. Every time old karting magazines are toss out, there goes more history into a landfill. It is very sad and it needs to be stopped now!

Before the history of the sport is lost forever, I would like to see the movers and shakers of karting - all of karting, both past and present, get together and form a karting museum corporation with a professional board of directors and begin the task of saving the history of our sport.

Yes, this will be a huge undertaking, likely a multi-million dollar effort. But, given the fact that karting today is a multi-billion dollar business here in the USA and several times that internationally, my guess is that money should not be our greatest concern. I think the greatest concern would be having the right people on the board, professional people who can organize a project of this nature and see it through to fruition.

The first question I am always asked is where would the museum be? My answer to that is it is not important right now. The important things is to get organized and start the ball rolling. The second question is why is it important to save and remember the past? We’ll this one is easy to answer as well. If I wasn’t for the people who began the sport, who gave their time and effort, we would not have the sport we have today! It’s as simple as that. We need to remember the past to go forward with today and into the future.

You know there are attics, basements, garages and shops filled with historical karting items and memorabilia. It’s high time that we dig all this out and organize it into a showcase for the sport and for future generations. They need to understand how this simple, little American-born motorsport that has spanned the globe and has become the world-wide phenomenon it is today!

Darrell Sitarz

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