I was born with a disease.

Actually I think it was a genetic flaw that causes you to take physical risks or desire to go fast. It has been identified as the Andretti gene, after Italian-American racing legend Mario Andretti. His son Michael and Grandson Marco all have this gene. They drive fast, win races and can make a car dance on the head of a pin.

Unfortunately my Andretti gene is a little faulty. In my case I only THINK I can do those things. It leaves me with a lifelong desire to be a race car driver while lacking the skills to actually accomplish it.

First noticed by my family, when I would take a large shipping box and make a car out of it. I would watch Andretti Sr, Foyt, Unser and Rutherford compete in the Indy 500 on TV. There I sat with a pie pan steering wheel wearing a hockey helmet pulled up to the Philco taking the corners with all the sound effects and body roll self generated. My affliction took on some rather dangerous tendencies later in life as we lived at the top of a VERY big hill and soapbox derby, bicycles and skateboards could sometimes reach sub orbital speeds, always resulting in extreme cases of sudden de-acceleration syndrome. I learned at a very young age that speed does not kill, but the sudden unexpected stop just might.

During my adult life my affliction has manifested itself in a career path that gives me great proximity to those who can do what I only aspire to and access to enough vehicles to keep me working towards becoming a racer. I have had great opportunities to expand my racing abilities through high performance driving schools like Texas Driving Experience and others and through another lifelong obsession very fast motorcycles.

Unfortunately for most amateur racers, the costs of going fast can add up very quickly. Everything related to racing seems to have a premium price tag, so when my friend Michael Johnson called and asked if I wanted to go shifter kart racing with him you know the answer was going to be yes.

Michael is one of those born with the full Andretti gene, he is a natural athlete and an exceptionally skilled race car driver. Michael and I were first introduced in 2003 by Dallas jeweler, and racer, Dennis Boulle. I was in the process of starting Texas Driver Magazine and Michael was trying to find a way to get sponsorship to go professional. Over the years we have become very good friends and I spent some time as “dude on the couch” at his place, then later we lived together after he graduated from UNT. So I know him well and have watched as he headed off to race in an open wheel “Formula” series in New Zealand and head off to England to teach at one of the most prestigious high performance driving schools in the world “Palmer Sport”.

Needless to say Michael has skills.

We headed up to the North Texas Karting track north of Denton. The track is tucked between rail tracks, a drag strip, an auto salvage business and someplace near, a gun range. In the back of his pickup truck was a 125cc Arrow shifter kart capable of 125 MPH.

A “shifter” has a sequential transmission like a motorcycle, which you activate by pushing a metal selector forward for first and then pull towards you for up shifts. This sounds remarkably simple but things happen very quickly when you are an inch off the ground traveling over 80 MPH.

The kart is just smaller than what you may have driven at Speed Zone or the fair; it has no bumpers or padding of any type. The only suspension travel is in the flex of the ten-inch slick tires and it sounds like a very angry beehive being hit with a gas powered weed whacker.

You don’t really sit in a shifter cart, you wear it. Just the act of getting behind the wheel is rather gymnastic and can’t be done with any sense of vanity. Odds are that I outweighed the kart. It seems to be more a group of lightweight metal parts that happen to fly in formation rather than a complete vehicle but when you gather all those parts together it squirts down the road with the kind of acceleration that is just this side of an Indy car.

After warming up the engine and walking the track one thing was obvious, I can identify how to go fast even if it is beyond my abilities to achieve. Michael, on the other hand is a very good teacher. He started me out in fourth gear with a hardy push and told me to not worry about shifting yet, “I want you to get to know the track first.”

This was the same approach used at the Texas Driving Experience at Texas Motor Speedway where, by chance, Michael was my instructor behind the wheel of a Z06 Corvette. In that situation he was able to sit next to me and show me where to brake, turn in and what to look for as a visual cue for the next corner. In the kart I was alone with the engine under one armpit and radiator under the other.

As the day rolled out Michael had me go progressively faster in ten lap increments giving me the chance to “Download” in between and him the chance to point out where I needed to improve.

Then he allowed me to shift. Everything started happening very, very quickly.

The two stroke engine has a “Power Band,” a point on the 14000-rpm range around 7 or 8 thousand revolutions per minute where it develops considerable acceleration. Suddenly things started happening fast. Instead of quickly making my way between corners, downshifting and stomping the accelerator resulted in a rush off the apex that pushed my head back, riding the bubble of acceleration up through the gears. The racetrack I had tried to work out the kinks of suddenly became a much shorter and tighter place. Keeping up with what gear I was in and still trying to hit my braking points almost resulted in a major oops when one of my back tires caught just a hair off track and I suddenly found myself on a cart with a mind of its own.

After a few laps my confidence started to grow so I came in. Michael then took off in the cart and my newfound confidence in my “abilities” evaporated as I watched his skilled mastery of the track and cart. It was then I remembered that Michael has won National Grand Champion status 5 times and was part of the US team in the Shifter Kart world championships in the Canary Islands. He was also a runner up to Scott Speed in the Red Bull Driver development program that helped Speed race in Formula 1.

So you can get an idea of how this is done both successfully and unsuccessfully, below you’ll find videos of both Michael and myself out on the track.

A kart like Michaels can be put on the road for a couple of thousand dollars, but like any form of racing it is always more expensive maintaining and keeping up with tires and fuel. But for getting that rush of racing in a stripped down minimalist format that is pure and unadulterated, there is nothing like it. It is also the most economical way you can go out and find out if you too have the Andretti gene.

One thing Michael is working on right now is putting together teaching and a race day paddock rental service that will help people embrace the race. Instead of having to invest the money in your own kart, you will be able to rent one from him along with track support and coaching instruction to find out if it is for you.

For me I am going back. My age now dictates I will never be a professional racer but for a way to work out my own issues I can’t think of a better legal way to be able to do this on a budget that does not have multiple digits.