The Internet is a helluva tool.

I discovered vintage karting accidentally on the internet five years ago when I was then about twelve years old. I don’t why exactly it pulled at me the way it did (maybe it was all the chrome), but I was absolutely hooked from the get go. I loved studying vintage engines and kart frames, looking up the old race footage, learning about the history of the sport, and discovering the stories of the men and women who created it in the 1960’s and 70’s—many of whom went on to race successfully in Indy, Nascar, and Formula One.

I’ve always been enamored with anything and everything mechanical, and I knew without a doubt for as long as I can remember that I wanted to be an automotive engineer. And there’s something about these early racing karts that I find deeply compelling: they were simple, elegant, purpose-built, unadorned, and fast as hell. Despite their primitiveness, they were actually very innovative. Indeed, everything you see today in modern race karting can be directly traced to the backyard inventions and pioneering spirit of brave open-wheel karters from the sport’s infancy.

Today, that vintage spirit is thriving through the VKA (Vintage Karting Association) and other vintage racing leagues around the world. Importantly, some of the most serious racers in the VKA today are actually legends of the sport—still in great health both physically and mentally, who are traveling to races around the country despite many of them being in their late sixties through early eighties chronologically (certainly not mentally or physically!) Once they put on their leathers and their race helmets and hit the track—you’d have no clue whatsoever that you aren’t watching a 20 year old. Truly inspirational.

These amazing vintage karters were kind enough to meet me at races and events, to take me under their wing, to share their wisdom, tips, tricks, and stories, and most of all—to fully advocate for my untethered participation in the sport, despite being 50 to 70 years younger, and (initially) knowing exactly nothing.

I’m incredibly fortunate to have learned so much from them. My fondest hope is that through Ludovico Racing, I can honor the sense of joy, enthusiasm, engineering expertise, eye for quality, and honorable competitiveness that they’ve taught me to look for and appreciate—in all aspects of life both on and off the track. The entire world of go-kart racing, past and present, owes these original founders of the sport our sincerest and deepest debt of gratitude.