A recent article on CKN told the story of another karting track closing in Ontario. The Demaras Auto Racing Team has never been to Lombardy Karting, and will never get the chance.
The worst thing about this track closing is that it was a fun club. Not driven by big-dollar teams with their 18 wheelers. Just a place where a young karter can learn about racecraft, without being pushed to win at all costs.
Gord Costello, who opened the Ottawa-based Lombardy Karting Association about a decade afo, issued a press release. There’s some dire words about the future of karting in Ontario:
A decision has been made to shut down Lombardy Karting, it is no longer financially feasible with such low numbers over the past few years along with the lack of help to promote the sport and run the events. The sport has changed and it is no longer a family sport, the regional series are killing karting and drawing the numbers from club racing with minimal interest now in a club level mom and pop operations.
Costello laments the passing of “a good thing” but also warns of the direction the sport of karting is heading.
Competition changes people and they no longer see the fun in any sport. It’s all about their kid and how are they gonna get them to win all the time at any cost and then forget why they do this. I raced for fun because I knew I was never gonna make a living at it and when we built Lombardy it was to put the fun back into the sport, it worked for a while but now you all see how it ended.
Has karting become too cut-throat? Too competitive? Have many lost sight of the fact that racing is just a game we enjoy playing, and instead, have become too focused on results?
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