Fast Company — Shorewood A Hotbed of Go-Kart Racers

Most Saturdays, the Clark, Fierke, Moran and Taylor families make a 25-mile trip to Norway (the Illinois town, not the Scandinavian country) for a day of go-kart races.

The families are all from but really didn't know each other before their children immersed themselves in the motorsport. And they all came to go-karting in different, somewhat random ways.

But now the sport has become a way of life for all of them. And not an inexpensive one.

"It really comes down to how much money you have in your back pockets," said Adam Taylor, a North Carolina product who raced late model stock cars before moving to Illinois.

At 23, Taylor is the oldest of the group and the type of go-karts he races can reach speeds af about 90 mph, although they usually run about 75.

"Yes, it can be very expensive," echoed Courtney Clark, 15 and the only female racer in the Shorewood contingent.

But Clark and her family offset some of the costs by being lucky enough to have a sponsor, Jato Express Trucking.

"We're very appreciative," Clark said.

The owner of Jato Express, Shorewood resident Tom Lyons, doubles as Clark's crew chief and has some experience in the world of motorsports himself, as he once raced sprint cars.

The Shorewood racers — Taylor, Clark, brothers Jeremy and Josh Fierke, 11 and 13, and Kurt Moran, 15, race at JET Karting. Jet Karting also rents go-karts for recreational racing, which is how Moran and his father, Mike Moran, stumbled into the sport.

"Just Googled and went to rent them," Mike Moran said.