Galletta's Karting Club

The 2023 Season at Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Kartway in Review

Our 27th Annual Summer-thru-Fall Racing Season had good very drivers and very good races. However, our attendance was lousy. After an initial delay due to lack of a track work vehicle (our old ones finally rusted to death, so AJ and Steve Larkin had to bail us out by helping with their 4-wheeler, so BIG thanks to them!) we were finally ready to race almost every single weekend from July through October… yet only SIX out of a possible TWENTY weekends that we had enough drivers to hold an event! The weather was honestly good for nearly all of them, too.

We remember back in the mid-20oo’s — particularly 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 Seasons — when we had every weekend packed with 10-17 drivers on track a week, and even raced on two tracks weekly for three of those years. Where have all the racers gone? This isn’t even a scenario like some tracks where you have to spend thousands of dollars to field a race car… we have arrive-and-drive karts that are capable of winning any given week (and each kart has a long history of wins, especially when Matt decides to prove it and randomly hops in one and pilots them into victory lane).

We are, however, grateful for the talented cast of characters who ran with us this season, which includes several names that many local race fans will recognize from Oswego Speedway and more. Out of eleven feature races, we had seven drivers winning in seven different karts and only TWO drivers who won more than one, which shows how close the karts are. But don’t take my word for it… Here is the week-by-week review: 

’23 Race #1 | 2023/07/16 – AJ Larkin & Matt Stevens Win Twin-25s for our 28th Season Opener! [+YouTube]

Sunday, July 16th, 2023, Oswego, NY – The 27th Year of Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Karting has commenced, and our 1st race saw a 1st time winner! Anthony “AJ” Larkin — who races in the Small Black Supermodified division at Oswego Speedway (amongst other tracks) took the 1st of two 25-lap features in the Galletta’s Greenhouse Racing #5 kart holding off a hard-charging Matt Stevens. And in the 2nd feature, that same Matt Stevens was not to be denied, as he blasted into the lead and pulled away for an easy win in the R&C OswegoSushi.com / Galletta’s Greenhouse Racing #74. Videos & More Info here.

’23 Race #2 | 2023/07/23 – Andrew Hook & Chris Stevens win the Biker Gang Twin-25s! [+YouTube]

Sunday, July 23rd, 2023,  Oswego, N.Y. — Four winners for four features thus far in 2023! In the 1st feature, Andrew Hook led from start to finish from the pole position in the Galletta’s #0, while Chris Stevens piloted the Galletta’s #4 kart past a handful of karts to at first storm off (and then hold off his ever-persistent brother Matt as the track condition developed bumps) to win the 2nd of the Twin-25s! They join AJ Larkin and Matt Stevens in victory lane thus far this season. Videos & Points! 

’23 Race #3 | 2023/7/30 – Twin-25s won by Nic Olivares & David Hartpence [+YouTube]

Sunday, July 30th, 2023, OSWEGO, NY – Nic Olivares led from green to checker in the 1st feature, while David Hartpence Jr. passed a kart to win the 2nd Feature of the night. Once again, the racing was excellent, and two newcomers raced well for their 1st time on the track… but for a few years now we have struggled to maintain high driver counts, particularly veteran drivers. Where are you guys??? Videos & More info here.

’23 Race #4 | 2023/08/06 – Big Crash During Late Nite Twin-20’s; Matt Stevens Sweeps! [+YouTube]

Sunday, August 6th, 2023; OSWEGO, NY, USA – Matt Stevens dusted off his Galletta’s Greenhouse Racing #33 kart and took both 20-Lap feature wins on Sunday. The race was again sparsely populated (regular drivers wanted!), but most notable for the return of the All-Time Visiting points Leader, Adam “AJ” Lytle… who wished to have one last race in before he had surgery that may end his karting career for good (we hope not, pray his surgery is a success and wish him well). More info here.

’23 Race #5 | 2023/10/14 – Mid-October “Buddy the Galletta’s Patrol Cat Memorial” Twin 20 Tune-Ups won by Devon Tonkin & Chris Stevens [+YouTube]

Saturday, 10/14/2023 – In the first race held since “Buddy The Galletta’s Greenhouse Patrol Kitty” passed away, we had some pretty good racing, helped by some big track guest drivers such as SBS driver AJ Larkin, Supermodified driver Tyler Thompson, and a couple more with all sorts of local racing experience joining us for some short but sweet 20-lappers (only 25 each with cautions)! Devon Tonkin won the 1st 20-Lapper in the Galletta’s Racing #93 (but sadly left before the Victory Pics were taken), and Chris Stevens won the 2nd in the Galletta’s/R&C Sushi Racing #4. The only bad thing about these is with so few laps, we don’t earn as many points as usual, but beggars can’t be choosers — our race attendance has been struggling on and off for years and we are grateful we had enough people to finally run some! More info here.

’23 Race #6 | 2023/10/28 – The 26th Running of the Galletta’s Greenhouse Go-Karts Klassic – 100-Laps! [+YouTube]

Saturday, October 28th, 2023 – Town of Oswego, N.Y. – For the 1st time since 2020, we accomplished another Seasonal point Finale Klassic! This year, due to excessive repair time and disintegrating track conditions, the race was a 70-lap… oops, no, a 100-lap Shootout — that included some big track guest drivers such as Tyler Thompson, Logan Crisafulli, Tony DeStevens, and more — a little shorter than our ideal 200, but we got it in! More info and race videos here.

2023 Klassic and Track Champion — Christopher Galletta Stevens

Chris Stevens swept the 2023 Point Standings and Klassic Championships. Again, he is the only man who has ever beaten Matt at both. However, Chris always thanks his little brother who maintains all of the karts at the track, including his own, meaning he never loses, as whatever kart wins is also set up and maintained by him. Three of the top four drivers finished all 103 Klassic laps (counting green and cautions) laps and in 1-2-3 — Chris, Matt Stevens, and Andrew Hook, except AJ Larkin, who was available almost every weekend until the Klassic and sadly missed it. Here are the…

2023 Galletta’s Greenhouse Speedway Finalized Point Standings – Sponsored by R & C Sushi Bar LLC

Finalized totals tallied between 7/16/2023 – 10/28/2023:

The All-Time Galletta’s Kart Club Point Standings (As of 2000-2023)

After each season, we update the All-Time points and wins between 2000-2023. This is tallying every Point Scored Galletta’s Karting Club event that has been raced between 2000-2023 at Galletta’s Greenhouse Backyard Kartway, and also our “Gas 1-WD Clockwise Race-Modified Yard Kart” division at Oswego Speedway’s Dirt Kartway between 2006-2008 (including each track by themselves). We have seasons between 1996-1999 where we lost our points records (just old-fashioned pen on paper back then), and a few off-season “rookie races” that also were not counted (lost names), but if we find them in a storage box somewhere, we’ll add them in as well. Here they are after the 2023 Klassic’s completion:

2023 Race Video Playlist

Every race to the 2023 Racing Season in the back of Galletta’s Greenhouse in the Town of Oswego, NY, USA. Every video we make all season gets uploaded there as soon as they are processed and uploaded to our YouTube Playlists (free to watch), and not all are available publicly, some are only available via this playlist and embedded in the website. If I have time, I narrate and upload another version as well. Often we also do a live webcam stream on YouTube or Facebook, so keep up to date via this website, our YouTube channel, and our Facebook page:

Not every racing club or track puts all of their complete race videos up for free, so please like and subscribe to help us as thanks for doing so!

Thank you for viewing and we hope you all come again (and especially race with us) in 2024!!!

Sincerely,
Chris Stevens
Racer, Website & Video Editor, Scorekeeper, Historian, and Promoter for Galletta’s Greenhouse Karting Club