Peterson racing actually began in Duluth, MN in 1957, although I didn't know it at the time. I was fooling around with a Soap Box Derby kart. It didn't make any sense to me that it would only coast, so I asked my grandfather if I could have one of his old lawnmower engines. With his approval, I crudely mounted it on my wooden soap box frame and rigged a belt and pulley system to drive the rear wheel. We started putting around the neighborhood streets and alleys having a ball. A lot of the fun came from the fact that we didn't have any brakes, something that made sense at the time. This was made even more exciting by the fact that Duluth is built on the side of a very long and steep hill. You'd be surprised at how foot dragging can substitute for a brake when necessary. The other complication came from the fact that the police did not see our vehicle in quite the positive light that we did. My mother didn't like it either.

Click on photo to enlarge Jess Peterson crossing the finish line at Richland, WA, winning his second "Duffy" and achieving IKF expert status.

Shortly thereafter a real go-kart track opened in Duluth. Of course it had rentals, but there were a few guys screaming around it on neat looking karts with West-Bend engines. I immediately started saving and began pestering my dad relentlessly.

Eventually, we ordered a new kart (I can't even remember the name) with a West Bend. However, it came with a yellow McCulloch, then called an MC6. After a year or so, we graduated to a Dart Kart with the new MC7. It was very fast and very noisy.

Click on photo to enlarge Matt Peterson, with Invader's top chassis guy, Shawn Regula, at his "Yellow Plate" ceremony.

My dad and I raced it all over Minnesota between 1959 to 1964, even traveling to Rock Island, Ill to compete in the IKF regionals. I was 5th out of 38. At that time you had to be in the top 3 to go to the nationals in California. We accumulated a room full of trophies and memories that would not die. Thirty years later in Sparks, NV, my middle son Jess was digging in some old storage boxes. In he walked with an old go kart trophy asking what it was. Was it a go kart like the ones at Costco? No, far from it. He kept on me over the next few days with requests for further information. Looking up "go kart" in the phone book I was surprised to discover a local shop, whose proprietors informed me that there was a local track and that karting was alive and well. A trip to the Reno kart track convinced me that there was some serious racing going on here. It took me two weeks to show up with two cadet karts with comers for my younger two sons. The first year was tough, although Jess and Andrew managed to finish #1 and #2 in the No. Nevada Jr. I Class, mainly due to a lack of competition. Jess won the class again the next year, and Andrew won it the 3rd year, 1999. Matt was Jr. Sportsmen Champion in 1998 and Jr. Super Sportsmen Champion in 1999. The crowning achievement, of course, was when Jess won a Duffy at the IKF nationals in Jr. I 2-cycle at Santa Maria, CA.

Amazingly, the boys have continued to excel. At the 2001 IKF Nationals in Santa Maria, CA Jess won Screaming Eagles in Jr Super Sportsman and HPV 2. In 2002 we decided to try running 4 cycles to improve our smoothness. At the 2002 4 Cycle Nationals in Spokane, WA Jess won 3 Sceaming Eagles for fast time and 2 Duffy's. A third one escaped us when his carb broke with a straightaway lead. The 2002 2 Cycle Nationals in Marshalltown, Iowa were truly amazing for us. Jess won a Duffy in the Jr Super Sportsman class. But to everybody's delight Matt won both the Screaming Eagle and Duffy in Sr Sportsman, Sr Super Sportsman light and Sr Super Sportsman heavy. Everybody was happy for Matt as he had historically been second fiddle to his younger brother. What a thrill as I put yellow stickers on Matt's kart as he earned his IKF expert status.

The year 2003 was a real challenge for us. We now were faced with Jess moving up to the senior classes. We wanted to race just selected venues, some IKF Region 7 and Region 11 regionals. We did that with some success, mainly in the Sportsman classes. Our intent was to run a light schedule and concentrate on the IKF 2 Cycle Sprint Nationals at the Tri-City Kart Club in Richland, Washington. Our hope was to get my younger son Jess his IKF expert status and yellow plates. Again Jeff Nelson and Shawn Regula at Invader came through for us with a spectacular chassis design that emphasized rolling through the corners. And, as usual, Carl Woltjer provided us with Sportsman and Supercan engines that were just spectacular. The combination was very formidable as Jess won 3 Duffy's in Senior Sportsman, and both supercan classes. Matt and Jess became the third brother combination in IKF history to earn expert status.