WKA Concludes A Month Of Celebrating

Over the past several weeks, seven national awards banquets have been held, over 1,500 people have attended and celebrated, seven drivers joined the Triple Crown Club, three individuals have been inducted into the prestigious WKA Karting Hall of Fame, and over $400,000 in awards and merchandise have been awarded.

The first round of banquets started off January 26-27 during KartFest 2007 at the Hickory (NC) Metro Convention Center where the participants of the Briggs & Stratton Speedway Dirt Series, Rage Karts Speedway Pavement Series and Horstman Gold Cup Series were honored. It was here that Michael Taylor and Patrick Ingui were inducted into the WKA Triple Crown Club. Sixty-four class champions were recognized along with their fellow competitors. We moved on to Savannah, GA on February 3, 2007 and honored the Dunlop Tire National Road Racing Series. Thirty-seven classes were recognized with the champions and top ten finishers alike. Special Awards recipients were also recognized. Next stop was the following weekend in Kansas City, MO for the combined Heartland Series banquets. It was here that we honored the 40 top drivers and participants in the Bully Clutches Heartland Dirt and Winning Karts – n – Parts Heartland Speedway Pavement series. Three more individuals became the newest members to the WKA Triple Crown Club; Jake Blackhurst, Brett Moffit and Casey Skyberg. Final stop was February 23rd & 24th for the George Kugler Manufacturer’s Cup East and West Coast Series banquets. Friday night in California saw twelve classes of drivers in the West Coast Series recognized and young-gun Raquel “Rocky” Martinez inducted into the Triple Crown Club. While Saturday night in Chicago, IL, Brandon Adkins’ evening shined with his induction into the elite Triple Crown Club. In addition, eighteen total classes of drivers were recognized. Just like in many other national organizations, each season, WKA recognizes individuals for their contributions to the sport karting. These are our Hall of Fame inductees. This year, the HOF committee selected three individuals to be inducted; Robin Bradshaw, Randy Fulks, and Kyle Adkins. Salisbury, NC resident Robin Bradshaw has been a fixture in the 4-cycle karting program with WKA for many years. As a former kart racer, long-time employee of Competition Karting, Inc. as well as former chairman of the WKA 4-cycle tech committee, Robin’s love for karting is enormous. Robin was inducted into the HOF on Saturday, January 27th in the presence of his family and friends at the Rage Karts Speedway Pavement Series banquet. Randy Fulks, Springfield, IL resident, was the second inductee into the WKA Hall of Fame. Randy and enduro kart road racing are synonymous of one another. When you think of enduro racing, his name always comes to mind. As a kart racer of the past 40+ years, Randy has earned 39 Daytona International Speedway victories, topping the charts above and beyond any other driver in history. An accomplishment very few can boast. His devotion to karting and his skill is matched by very few. Randy was inducted at the Dunlop Tire National Road Racing Series banquet in Georgia. Uniquely, his father, Reggie, who is also a Hall of Fame member, was on stage and presented the award to Randy just as any proud father would. Kyle Adkins of Port Washington, OH was inducted this past weekend at the George Kugler Manufacturer’s Cup Series Nationals at 103rd Street Sports Complex in Jacksonville, FL. Kyle is the father to Brandon Adkins, 2006 Triple Crown honoree, and also recipient of the Mechanic of the Year award in both 2005 and 2006 for the Manufacturer’s Cup Series. Congratulations to our Hall of Fame inductees! Your devotion to karting is unmatched. In addition to the class awards, each series surprised individuals with special awards recognizing individual achievements in the series. Click here to view the complete list of Special Award recipients by series. And thus concludes a month of celebrating the accomplishments of the WKA 2006 National Season. Congratulations to all and best of luck in 2007.