SPARKS (Nov.17) – Any shop in this area that services the go-kart community will face challenges, especially in the winter. It’s because they operate in a niche market connected to a seasonal sport.
Rodney stands in the showroom of his business, Nevada Kart Sport.
Nevada Kart Sport has the capacity to store karts during the winter. Here owner Rodney Rivera stands with some of the ones that are stored at his shop.
Right now Nevada Kart Sport is the only shop of this type in the area. And despite the season the owner, Rodney Rivera is committed to the survival of his business.
The shop is a dream come true for him.
“In 2011 I bought all Motor Machine Supply’s inventory, we moved in and started paying rent there,” he said. “It took us a while to get our client base picked up and going.”
To help grow the business the shop not only offered full service for most karts but they did something that has rarely happened in the past. They showed up at races with a trailer, parts and the ability to help almost any racer.
“And the big part of it was getting guys to bring in their karts to get serviced,” he said. “A lot of guys don’t want to do it but with the complex motors that are out there, they don’t know how. You’ve got to send your motor to a motor builder if you want it to last and work on race day.”
The shop works with professionals that can rebuild these motors. Once back they mount it onto the customer’s kart and checked the motor to make sure everything is ready to go.
One problem in servicing karts is that no two are exactly alike even though they look similar.
“It’s tough when you have so many different brands out there as everybody wants to be different and not a lot of parts are interchangeable. Simple things like axels, wheels yes but most of the stuff that gets broken in crashes aren’t,” he said.
With this in mind the shop has two types of karts. Rivera is a Tony Kart dealer while Cole Nelson builds Invader Karts so they try and steer their customers to either of these two brands.
After he started the business Rivera kept the shop at its original location on 4th Street in Reno.
One idea to help the business during the winter slow down was to offer storage to its customers. This required a larger shop so the business was moved to its present location at 1220 East Greg Street, #17 in Sparks.
“We started getting customers from Truckee and other places and these people didn’t have trailers but they wanted to race, basically like an ‘arrive and drive,’ arrangement,” he said. “So I needed a big enough place to put the karts on racks and store them.”
Under this arrangement the shop will bring the kart to the track if a customer called and let them know he or she wanted to either race or test at the track.
However things didn’t go as planned once the business moved.
“We got a certain core of guys but it never grew from that and I still have those guys,” he said. “It’s not that we charge so much as its only $50 a month.”
For that small fee the shop checks the kart and will even drain the fluids out of it if it’s not going to be used during the winter. Then once the customer wants to use it they’ll put the fluids back into the kart and check to make sure everything is ready to go.
“We build shelving that’s capable of easily having 25 to 30 karts without us being over crowded. Unfortunately only seven owners have chosen to store their karts at the shop so there is a lot of unused capacity.
During the racing season the shop is making its money by taking customer karts to the track or meeting customers where they park under the shop’s tent.
“We’re doing driver coaching, downloading for people, looking at all the date, being on the track watching, tuning the karts as well as giving them our knowledge and telling them, ‘this is what I need you to do, what I want you to try and feel for,'” he said.
Between Rivera and Nelson, who has earned 10 national championships, they have a wealth of experience and try to get everyone on the same page.
“That’s where we make our money, doing that kind of stuff,” Rivera said. “People want to go fast, they want to win, they want their kids to win and they’re willing to pay for it. Racing is up and down and about the half way point of the year, right around August and September, whether it was vacations or what ever some of the customers couldn’t make it.”
This has a financial impact, as the track support and customer assistance is a big money maker. However Rivera is competing against teams that are well established in the sport.
“You know we’re competing against teams that have been doing it for a long time and are successful,” he said. “So when a racer that has the money, means and wants to do this and are looking for a team they want to be part of they’re looking at the teams pedigree.”
Since the shop has only been around for a few years they don’t have a presence at national events. But their competitors, most of whom are located in California, do have national reputations.
“We haven’t been on the national circuit for the last 10-years doing this kind of stuff. I’ve done local and regional stuff, Cole did a lot of national stuff when he was younger but as far as the way karting is right, we haven’t been there,” he said.
He explained that the national scene is what people see in karting magazines. The regional and local events usually don’t make the front covers.
To compensate Rivera is marketing the shop as being more cost effective yet offering the same level of service as their competitors.
Since this is the first year he’s offered the kart storage Rivera plans on being more aggressive in promoting the service to his customers. And he’ll emphasize the shop is fully insured, alarmed and a secure place to store karts for the winter.
“If I could get people to store their karts, just for the winter, that would help out tremendously. It would be able to help me pay rent here even if I’m not going to the races and stuff like that.”
However things will still be very slow until racing resumes in February. So in the next few weeks Rivera will decide if he has to down size and maybe move the shop to a more affordable location.
He’s also considering ways of getting the business in front of the public.
Next year, he’d like to go halves with the Northern Nevada Kart Club and fund an appearance on the Plush Life show that appears on Channel 4. Both the shop and NNKC’s home track, Desert Park Raceway, would be included in the production.
Another idea he intends to explore is if he can set up a booth outside the Aces stadium on game days. He added that the local indoor kart track, Need2Speed, has actually gained customers that want to take the next step in kart racing.
But looking at this winter he said, “We’re very challenged.”
Despite this Rivera isn’t going to give up as he works on ways to help the business survive until racing resumes.
Asked if he’s optimistic about the future he said, “I have to be. It’s something I started, wanted to do and been wanting to do. You’re going to hit bumps in the road and that’s the way it is. So I’m learning where to get better, what not to do and what to do.”
He intends that Nevada Kart Sport will be around for many years to come.
For further information on the shop, karts for sale and the services offered please go to its website at, www.nevadakartsport.com.
