Between tours, Mike
Guido, "The World's Fastest Clown" created the
first community based go-kart driving/racing school
for the Police Athletic League (PAL). Continuing
his efforts to have a positive impact on the youth,
Guido designed the course to be a complete
prevention and education program. Funded by a grant
from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice,
the KART (Kids Advancing through Racing Technology)
program has become the number one prevention
program in the four county district.
The six-week (Tuesday
evenings and Sunday afternoons) program is a
hands-on educational/vocational course in the
racing kart/automotive field. Racing safety and
performance driving techniques are taught in the
classroom and then applied and practiced on the
race track. The students drive/race 7 hp PAL
Equalizer Champ Karts that offer the safety of a
full cage, 5-point racing harness, and arm
restraints. A relay race format is used with
mandatory timed pit stops allowing each of the five
member team to participate in each race; this
format also creates the necessity for team-work and
strategies. Each team is responsible for the
maintenance of their kart before, during, and after
each event. While this course uses go-karts and
racing as the tools to educate the youth, all of
the lessons and techniques are related directly to
safe car control and automotive maintenance for
daily street driving. The course is open to area
youths ages 11-17, from the beginner that wants to
learn, to the area racers that want to learn
more.
In addition to the
go-karting element of the course, students will
participate in a community service project to
encourage community involvement and ownership. The
project could vary from beach cleanups to
fundraisers. While the course will keep the
students busy for the six weeks, a PAL manager will
also meet with the youth and their family to see if
one of the other PAL programs could be beneficial
to them.
Future plans for the
KART school is to expand to other PALs throughout
the southeastern United States and create a racing
series named the PAL Racing Alliance. Guido has
created a complete turn-key driving/racing program
that can be duplicated for the other PALs. "When it
comes to expanding, my goal was to create a
complete package that would include everything from
the classroom test and handbook to the pylons,
helmets, and go-karts that will be, and remain,
equal for all of the PALs. The plan to keep all of
the karts identical is to make a driver verses
driver race, not to see which PAL has the most
money for the best equipment. I think we're there!"
states Guido.
For more information
on the KART school, contact Mike Guido at
mike@worldsfastestclown.com.
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