The Go Kart craze had its heyday in the 1960’s, becoming a sport. Of sorts. It was a kinda rise and fall of the sport; tracks were built all over the nation, but nothing was organized or systemized. No one really knows for sure why it faded into near oblivion. Poor regulation, poor construction, and scarcity of reliable parts were likely culprits.
But wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. In the 1950’s my Uncle Royce Veal, owned a machine shop. He read an article in Popular Mechanics about a fun little motorized cart a man built for his kids. Never one to back away from a mechanical challenge, he told his son, Wayland, and me. “We can do that!” That set him on task! With Wayland and me in tow, Uncle Royce set out on a fantastic odyssey.
On one of his scavenger missions to a Macon junk yard he found two Piper Cub airplane wheels, complete with good tires. Back in his shop in Goat Town, he laid out a plan, and cut one -inch angle iron to appropriate lengths. Angle iron framed the entire layout. He took the steering column of a Model A Ford from the scrap pile out back, shortened it to an appropriate length a child of 12 or so could manage. This would make a 3-1 steering ratio instead of a direct (and dangerous) steering turn. Using wizardry which only he could conjure up, he fashioned an adjustable tie rod. In the middle it had a turnbuckle for setting precise front wheel toe-in alignment
Front wheels were pneumatic wheelbarrow wheels. Spindles for the wheels were 3/4 X 6 inch machine bolts. Their heads were machined down to fit into cannibalized universal joints for paired turning. The grille was an old Ford truck grille altered-to-fit. Brakes were fashioned from scrap parts; the handle was from the emergency brake of said Model A Ford. The engine was a spare Briggs & Stratton 3-hp gasoline engine he had on hand. He took the seat from an old cultivator, and bolted it in place.
We never clocked the speed, but I am sure it was not over ten mph. But how fun!! It’s inauguration was in the Kaolin Festival, in Sandersville, GA. Wayland entered it, and drove the Kart the entire length of the parade—in much the fashion of Shriners’ little vehicles in parades these days.
There is something exciting about “a new thing.” Especially when it works well, fills a need, or is just good fun. A baby gets excited and coos warmly at a jiggly whirligig. Children thrill at the new rope swing, or running through the lawn sprinkler the first hot day o summer. More than that, deep down inside marvelous discovery tends to offer rejuvenation to the soul.
I think the freshness of an experience brings revitalization. How many times did Jesus, when wearied by the pressing crowds or the pernicious presumptions of the Pharisees, turn to time away for renewal? And when the opportunity for a visit with children came up, he hushed the naysayers and took time with the children.
Even in the Old Testament, “A new Thing” is heralded by the Prophet Isaiah;
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Of course a Go Kart is basically a toy. But new, unexpected things or events bring freshness into bold relief. It reminds me of the Wright boys tinkering with the idea of flight; in their little bicycle shop out back, they annoyed Bishop Wright. But that must wait for another story.