Concord, North Carolina - The Automobile Competition Committee for the United States (ACCUS) has just notified World Karting Association President Rick Dresang that the WKA has been awarded a matching financial grant. The purpose of this grant is to develop and deliver a comprehensive training and certification program for WKA members involved in track, event, and series management. The grant will come from the FIA Motor Safety Development Fund. The focus areas of the FIA Fund are Officials Safety Training, Young Driver Safety, and Facility Improvement.

According to President Dresang, “WKA’s proposal to the FIA expanded on these areas to address several additional issues common to our Master Tracks and Divisional Series. The training will help WKA implement its mission to provide safe, fair, consistent, fun and affordable racing for its members and strengthen its Master Tracks and Divisional Racing Series. It is the events held at our Master Tracks and in our Divisional Racing Series that provide the foundation of the WKA and the majority of the Association’s racing activities.”

Managing the program is WKA’s Technical Director and Vice President, Dan Stowell. Stowell reports that the training will be professionally developed during 2010 and delivered at trade shows beginning with the 2010 PRI show in December 2010. The first step in the program will be to contact race officials at WKA’s Master Tracks and Divisional Series during January. The officials will be asked for their suggestions for specific areas to include in the training. They will also be asked to submit their own “best practices” to be included in the program.

During the second year of the program, the materials originally developed for the seminars will also be used for online Internet-based training. Delivering the training through the Internet will allow WKA members the opportunity to be trained and certified without having to travel to the trade shows where the seminars will continue to be held.

As part of the training program, the Safety Foundation, Inc. (SFI) will develop a certification program for the seminar participants. SFI has already been working with the WKA for the past four years to certify 2-Cycle and 4-cycle technical inspectors. Having certified race officials will improve the quality events held as part of WKA’s Divisional and Regional Series and at WKA’s Master Tracks. It will also help improve the business operations of the clubs, tracks and promoters that sponsor and conduct these events.

It is important to recognize that WKA’s proposal was one of dozens submitted by racing organizations around the world, and it is the only U.S.-based karting organization to receive an FIA grant. President Dresang concluded that, “WKA has been planning for race official training for two years, and the FIA grant provides much of the funding necessary to do the quality job that the WKA Board of Trustees has requested.”

More info is available at: www.worldkarting.com