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GPK Closing


Exodus

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This is a bummer. I'm guessing the covid shutdowns were too much for them? I wonder how they were doing pre pandemic?

 

Should we all buy a cart and have cr cart races???

 

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That place was on a hard decline and shady ownership. Do I want gas indoor karting, yes! Aaron and his staff were racers and that's what made the place great in the beginning. The two brothers that own it with the third that they brought in manage it, after a wrongful firing of Aaron, coupled with the poor location feeds to the demise. Management was terrible. They brought the third brother in to be a GM, he retired from the military, the other brothers (the money) gave him a job. The Gm would stop in 1-2 times a week and not do much. The marketing staff worked hard and were fighting uphill to try and get promotions approved by the brothers to bring in business. The first marketing lady was awesome with deals and the place was hopping. She had enough and left. Chris came in to marketing after, and was a solid dude making things happen too, but the damage was done. They went through 2-4 building managers before I stopped following. The cost didn't balance out when the track was run like shit. Unnecessarily long waiting because they could not keep the flow of getting on and off the track. A racing enthusiast would only leave there pissed off, while the average joe was there for high speed bumpers cars.

 

They did Aaron wrong and the place was never the same.

I have 3 xmas parties I did there, 1 car show/meet I organized and 100+ races in their system. I wanted to like this place.

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It's unfortunate but I started taking my business to Buckeye for a lot of the reasons Joe mentioned. Eventually I got to liking the electric karts and not having to hang out in a cold warehouse.

 

Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if Buckeye is on the verge of shutting down as well.

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It's unfortunate but I started taking my business to Buckeye for a lot of the reasons Joe mentioned. Eventually I got to liking the electric karts and not having to hang out in a cold warehouse.

 

Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if Buckeye is on the verge of shutting down as well.

 

Well, lets get over to Buckeye before that happens. I am sad I missed GPK because I was thinking about going there just last week.

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My Dad has like 5 shifter karts at this point and was talking about down sizing........buy something actually fun to drive at Circleville! It's waaaaaaayyyyyy cheaper to run your own kart there then pay the prices for indoor karting at half the speed.

 

Yes, I'm aware that Circleville is all there is, and for the dollars spent it's impossible to beat at this time for full size car fun. Karts really shine on that track though.

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Yes, I'm aware that Circleville is all there is,

 

There are 3 tracks within 90 min of columbus:

Circleville

Adkins - *has outdoor rentals**

Wilmington

 

there are 3 more tracks if you're willing to travel ~2 hours:

G&J

Freemont

New Castle - **has outdoor rentals** ...and is one of top kart tracks in the nation

 

Lots more karting opportunities than just Circleville. I will say, Circleville is more of a drivers track than just about any of them but the degrading surface and the totally degraded facilities make it a turn off to even current kart owners. You basically get sandblasted from the surface coming up these days if you are out there with anyone else.

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I know it's a longer drive for most of you but Full Throttle in Northern Cinci is pretty badass for karting. I used to go to GP fairly often before moving to Dayton and Full Throttle has more grip (I think they use softer compound tires). The level of effort required vs GP indoor is noticeable and if I don't use the foam seat insert I'll end up with bruised ribs every time. They have two tracks they run simultaneously and let us run motorcycles (50cc) on Sunday mornings during the winter.
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Can haul a kart in a pickup bed, or, tow behind (almost) anything on a cheap 4x8 HF folding trailer. Set FTD at your favorite autocross w/ease. Run the local kart tracks on open test days for ~$20. Race at Mid-Ohio, Nelson Ledges, Pitt Race w/Dart Kart club. Full set of new tires $200.

 

Older shifters are sub $3K all day long - some (easily) rebuild-able can be had sub $1K. Incredible bang for the buck. Every time I get serious about selling out my stock...I look at the numbers and it's hard to not like them a lot!

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