1979 Jacksonville Pro Race

Round two of the 1979 PKA series held at the 103rd Street Kart Track in Jacksonville, FL.

[@michaelmartinez1345]

Awesome footage!!! It is hard to believe that this took place 40 years ago!!! Wow.... Several names that were competing here , became legendary in various forms of racing, Lake Speed, Lynn Haddock, Ron Emmick.... Thank you for presenting this!!!

[@KrustyKlown]

Lake Speed is stil racing karts today .. I've raced with him.. he runs circles around most of us, passing on lines that nobody else can.

[@jbratt]

Cool video! This the year I started racing. Ended up racing with most of these guys.

[@SGB9]

I raced this series, but didn't go to Jacksonville, did Quincy and Medford. My first season as a pro, I drove for Rich Burton's Magnum Karts. Haddock drove a Magnum here. At the first race in Quincy got caught in a first lap accident in the heats breaking 6 ribs. Still qualified for the main but had to pull out of the first main due to the broken ribs. Skip Bailey PS. I just noticed the PKA logo is shown, I designed the logo and did the first years program.

[@LetsGoKart]

Thanks for this.

[@randydubin7118]

ESPN's very first Auto Racing broadcast.

[@tomhunterjr3762]

This was my first Pro Race in Karting..Incredible racing..

[@michaelmartinez1345]

Wow, it is amazing to think that this is their first racing broadcast... Very cool footage here...

[@dennisyoung4631]

I’d bet Combee was here - Combee Electric. Had the engines in the office. Big Ol’ B-Bombs!

[@user-do9xu5in7x]

Hi, How did you get this footage from espn? I raced in the Junior 1 and 2 class at this event and would love to get the video.

[@woldinegallini3161]

AWESOME

[@user-vz8bu6uu1e]

the great McCulloch engines unreal power for 12 lbs

[@johnsmith-oh2xo]

These are not McCulloch engines are they aren't they Yamaha kt100 or Rotax engines....

[@michaeltubbs272]

Scott Pruitt rocks

[@badgumby9544]

Still the same today as it was back then. Best cheater wins.

[@jbratt]

Bad Gumby 100cc engines open to modifications and open fuel. The fewer the rules the harder it is to cheat. With the simplicity of karts in an open class cheating mechanically is virtually eliminated.

[@badgumby9544]

@@jbratt That's somewhat true for the open classes. But believe me all those guys up front found ways around the rules. I used to work for Comet Kart Sales and also worked for Emmick Karts. Three most important things to go fast - Engine, Fuel and Tires. Yea, kart setup and driving were very important, but those first three items is where the top national guys concentrated all their efforts.

[@jbratt]

@@badgumby9544 I did win the Open Heavy class at Daytona in '85 and. the IKF Grand Nationals at Willow Springs the same year. The classes were huge then. The stock classes were where the cheats were.