We wish to welcome our newest supporter.
SPARKS – Nevada Kart Sport is the latest sponsor to join our website. We appreciate the support from owner Rodney Rivera and want to welcome him to the site.
Nevada Kart Sport logo.
“I started the business in October of 2011,” he said. “We were on 4th Street at the site of MMS (Motor Machine Supply) and they were running a karting shop inside of that business. Moved over here in January 2014, as I had a high demand for racers wanting to store their karts and for me to maintain them and keep them here.”
Owner Rodney Rivera with a new kart for sale.
He added that storing karts allowed their owners to have more space in their garages as having a kart takes up a lot of room.
Asked about the response to this service he said, “The response has been great, I store about 25 karts for customers. I maintain them, make sure they’re good to go and drain the fluids if they are going to sit for a while or over winter. They give me about a week notice if they want to take it out for the weekend.”
Storage area at Nevada Kart Sport.
Having karts stored at the shop allowed another service for those drivers that might not have the space or time to service their machines.
“I also do an “arrive and drive,” with their equipment, he said. “I’ll take it all out there and they just show up, drive their kart however long they want to be out there and I just bring it back to the shop.”
When a person walks into the shop the first thing they see are several karts for sale including a Kid Kart for young drivers.
“Most of the karts here are consignment and I do have a new kart up front,” he said. “Guys looking to upgrade equipment or they’ve upgraded their equipment and want me to sell old stuff.”
The shop has a selection of karts for sale.
Rivera explained that he spends a lot of time on the phone as suppliers in the kart industry are scattered.
“It’s not as massive as the motocross industry,” he said. “It’s difficult, even the distributors here in the United States for these Italian manufactures don’t always have the parts.”
Another factor he explained is how quickly they chassis are evolving. A manufacturer must balance demand, development and improvement against how many units they might sell.
Those that can afford to produce more usually are the major brands that can afford to do a lot of testing.
Behind the showroom is the shop and storage area.
“I do everything that pertains to racing karts. I scale karts, can straighten karts, if they are crashed or bent, fix any part of it,” he said. “Motor tuning is about the extent of the motor stuff we do here. I’ve learned over the years that you’re either a kart shop or an engine shop.”
The shop area at Nevada Kart Sport.
Rivera explained he has relationships with several shops that specialize in working on motors. So the leaves all but the simplest tasks to those specialists, as setting up for motor work is expensive.
“I have a prep area where I do all the work on the karts then I have a storage area on the other side of the shop,” he said.
The showroom as well as the large shop and equally large storage area allows Rivera to keep things separate yet still have plenty of space to work on karts.
Asked about where the shop is placed in this area he said, “I am the only game in town. It’s a tough business and knowledge goes a long way. You have to do the labor part of it and the racing part of it.
“I’ve been doing this for over 25-years at the highest levels and at the local levels. When people, whether its parents or others, start to get serious they come see me.”
This experience and knowledge allows him to know what a person needs to go fast or faster. He also knows what a driver needs if they decide to compete in one of the professional kart series.
“I know everything it takes, I know what that driver needs to do to prepare for that,” he said.
Another service Nevada Kart Sport offers is track side support and not just for the shop’s customers.
The shop offers track side support at the races both locally and if necessary at other tracks.
“Track side support for pretty much everybody,” he said. “I carry an amount of universal parts but I can’t carry parts for every kart brand. There are so many brands of karts, unlike motocross where you have five brands of bikes.”
He added there are 80 different brands of karts out there and they all have different things like brakes, steering or other parts, which makes trackside service so difficult.
“That’s why I carry the top brands in karting, the most popular brands and I try to push those brands for people to buy those brands because I’m going to have those parts out at the track,” he said.
For the rest Rivera has universal parts that will fit on most karts. This allows him to help a driver that breaks down get back on the track.
Another area he deals in is giving guidance to people interesting in possibly starting racing.
“Most people come to me and they come in with that same question, ‘how do I get started?’ he said. “First thing I ask is their experience in any kind of racing, whether if its motocross, cars whatever it maybe. And then we go off of that.”
For the inexperienced he starts them in an entry-level 4-cycle type of class. This is the most cost effective way to start racing.
“You get a thousand dollar motor package and you can buy a thousand dollar rolling chassis so for two grand you can be out there competing and be competitive in that class,” he said. “There’s nothing else that you’re going to buy for two or three grand and be able to be competitive in racing.”
One reason is the motors several kart classes now use.
“We have Briggs and Stratton as part of the industry and they make an entry-level engine for anywhere from 8-year-old up to 70-year-old. It’s the same motor package for all these age groups but we just restrict it a little bit for the kids,” he said.
He added it’s a sealed motor so there is nothing to work on and if the oil is changed regularly it should last at least five to six years.
Now if a youngster expresses an interest in starting to race and their parents come to him, Rivera suggests a slightly different approach.
“If they don’t have any experience I’ll refer them to Need2Speed to see if the kid likes it. They’ll go there five, six, seven times, the kid falls in love with it, they’re back here saying we want to get serious about this.”
Need2Speed is an indoor kart facility here in Reno that allows an adult, teenager or child to experience karting in a controlled environment.
Then Rivera helps the parents get the child set up with the proper type of kart.
Once again we want to welcome Nevada Kart Sport and appreciate their support of this site. So if you need service or want to get into karting please give the shop your support.
Store front for Nevada Kart Sport.
For further information the shop is located at 1220 East Greg Street, #17, Sparks, Nevada 89431. Their phone number is; 775-219-4184.The shop’s website is; www.nevadakartsport.com.
