Visitor’s OHV Outlaw Karts
The OHV Outlaw Karts were owned and driver by a handful of drivers who called themselves “Outlaws” when we thought that the OHV (Overhead Valve) Stock Animal engines that they were using were a bit too much horsepower for our — at the time — FH (Flathead) Shaved Head Stock engines. Here are some shots of them in action:
So more info? It’s a bit of a long story… but here it is.
2004-05 at Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Kart Speedway
Several drivers — Mark Miller, Mike Billion, Shane Miller, Neil Gosch, Eric Raponi, and a few others — raced with us at Galletta’s between 2004-05, but the “your motor has too much power” vs. “you’re too light” arguments were an almost weekly occurrence and almost led to a few fights (thankfully not — the second a go-kart race devolves into a fight, it is the second that it has gone way too far). The OHV drivers named themselves “The Outlaws” and stopped racing at our track, even though we asked them to keep racing, either with Flatheads or in their own OHV division.
2006-08 at Oswego (Speedway Dirt) Kartway
We then raced in a “Gas Stocker / 1-WD Yard Kart” division at Oswego Kartway from 2006-08. Between 2006 and 2008, we had a repeat of the same “your motor has too much power” vs. “you’re too light” arguments that we had in the prior two years at Galletta’s that almost led to a couple of fights breaking out on a few occasions. In 2006-07, it was Mark Miller, Mike Billion, Shane Miller, and Eric Raponi, but eventually, by 2008 it was just Raponi, Joe Hayden, and Dave Melfi.
Finally, during the middle of the 2008 season, after the OHVs were particularly “rocket-fueled” up, we split the class into a 2-in-1 class, where we would occasionally race at the same time, but have an OHV and a Flathead winner, before just going our way with two divisions. They stopped racing when our “Gas Stocker” Divisions were both barred from weekly competition at Oswego Speedway’s Kartway in the winter of 2009 over an inability to agree to rules and the track operator having a temper with us.
Of note, We always felt like most of the guys were passionate drivers, had no malice or ill will towards any of them, and rather enjoyed competing with them — but we just could not agree on motor rules. It wasn’t personal, it was just facts… in any racing class, you are usually divided by motor type and chassis type.
We did buy one of the below karts (the white and red #5, which is now the Galletta’s #74), but the others are parts unknown. One used to race at Galletta’s and then went OHV when he didn’t get a win in a Flathead (he never got one in an OHV either). Since we’re always interested in more karts (and drivers) at our track, if anybody knows where they are, bring them up to sell (or race).
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