Last year, Denton youngster Hannah Williams showed off her go-kart skills by winning titles at the KART Nationals for her age group in Tulsa, Okla. A year later, now 9 years old, she has moved up a class.

DRC/Gary Payne

Jakob Williams, 7, placed first in the Kid Kart Restriced, Kid Kart Super and Kid Kart Super Sumo races at the recent KART Nationals in Garnett, Kan. His sister Hannah, 9, also races.

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Her younger brother Jakob, a 7-year-old, readily stepped up into Hannah’s old class at this year’s KART Nationals in Garnett, Kan. Jakob placed first in three different classes — Kid Kart Restricted (restricted intake), Kid Kart Super and Kid Kart Super Sumo (10 additional pounds added for a total weight of 160).

The future second-grader got into racing as a result of his sister’s participation. At first, Jakob was hesitant, not enjoying the loud sounds of the motor. Instead he turned to baseball. However when his sister moved up a class and his parents were about to sell her old kart, he decided he wanted it.

He told his mother, Lisa Williams, that he wanted to “play” with the kart. Lisa told him that he would either need to race or they would sell it.

“I want to be like Jeff Gordon,” Jakob said as to why he decided to start racing.

At first, Hannah was not happy with Jakob getting into karting.

“I was a little jealous because it used to be just my sport,” Hannah said.

However, she has since warmed up to Jakob’s participation. While they don’t race against each other due to being in different classes, they usually attend the same events, traveling throughout the Midwest and Texas.

In the Kansas race, Jakob averaged speeds of 36 miles per hour and reached a top speed of 40. He recently learned the concept of drafting, which has helped him improve his passing, which he finds the hardest thing to do on the track.

With go-karts being open wheel, contact of any kind between the karts is prohibited. Penalties and disqualification can result.

“Bad things happen when open wheels lock. … This is not NASCAR. If you want to pass, you have to pass clean,” said their father, Chris Williams.

Both Chris and Lisa emphasized how karting takes safety very seriously. Drivers have to wear helmets, gloves and abrasion suits. Hannah once flipped upside down and was hit by two other drivers. She suffered no injuries and raced later in the day to a second place finish. Her helmet involved in the incident is now a memento, adorned with signatures of professional racecar drivers.

Chris talked about the progression of his family’s participation. Starting at the local level with the North Texas Karting Club, they just raced in Denton. Wanting to challenge their children, they now travel about once a month for regional and national races while racing about twice a month locally.

Sometimes the family gets into a stretch of racing every week for two months straight.

“For us, it’s very much turned into a lifestyle. There’s a lot of traveling,” Chris said. “They both have aspirations of driving professionally someday.”

Traveling on the karting circuit requires Chris and Lisa to cover expenses using the same techniques as professional organizations. Hannah and Jakob are part of a three-driver team. Three primary sponsors, Skinz-Wraps, Prototype:IT, and Brand Mechanix, along with several other companies, help with everything from racing equipment, to the trailer, to the team’s Web site, hurricanekartteam.
com.

Another aspect similar to the pros is that go-karting requires setup and testing. In Jakob’s class, the key is getting the most out of the motor, while in Hannah’s class, the chassis and handling are critical.

“There’s a lot of setup differences with rear width, front width, tire pressure, weight and where you put the ballast weight,” Chris said. “I like that kind of stuff. For me, that’s part of the challenge to make the karts run well.”

Hannah then added: “But sometimes you get a little mad.”

Chris laughed: “Sometimes I do.”

While Jakob and Hannah desire to become the next Jeff Gordon and Danica Patrick, and karting has a business side to it, Lisa finds the best aspect of karting is that it brings the family together.

“With baseball, you might spend a couple hours with each other,” Lisa said. “We spend nearly the entire weekend together as a family – from Friday to Sunday. It’s very family oriented.”

TREVOR WILLIAMS can be reached at 940-566-6874. His e-mail address is twilliams@dentonrc.com.