Kyle Martin - My Trackmagic Story

I first started driving a Trackmagic for George Banke who was a new dealer in Texas at that time.  George Banke was an exhaust pipe builder who had a famous past according to people in my family.  He was the king of pipes for motocross in the 70’s which my dad and uncles were a large part of.  We typically raced on long road courses here in Texas as it was the popular choice of karting here.  They had a Pro class with large grids, and I won like 3 or 4 in a row with each paying over a thousand bucks each time.  Dad let me keep that money!  Soon the class was ruined because people got tired of their entry fee money going to us young guys like Trevor McAllister and me.  I had tried a WKA sprint national on a Tony Kart in Marshalltown Iowa but really struggled and wasn’t so sure about sprint racing.  I believe it was the next event in Norway, IL where I used the Trackmagic and qualified 2nd to Valiente which out qualified the factory Trackmagic.  Anyway, it was at this race where I officially met George Barros, Jason LaPoint, and Ryan Phau.  Bill Talley was helping wrench for me.  

Bill and I followed them back to California from Illinois where we got jobs at Trackmagic.  So, I believe I started in 98’ and worked at Trackmagic for a little over a year.  I struggled my first season on the team with mechanical problems probably due to myself not being used to having to work on my own stuff.  Each factory driver at Trackmagic was in charge of their own equipment and prepared for races 5 days a week, but I was an employee who was being taught to build rollers for customers.  I spent less time on my stuff and didn’t know what I was doing so this hurt my first season.  I then moved to working in the office helping sell karts which suited me much better but still had a real job.  One of my Dad’s requirements in going there was I had to hold a real job and not just be a racing driver.  

I left to go home after a year or so because I had become home sick but continued to be the Factory 125 driver until maybe 2004.?  I had numerous 125 teammates during those years such as Memo Gidley, Jason LaPoint, Bobby Wilson, Oliver Rowen, Alan Rudolf, Ben Petter, Jake Pearson, and Gary Fucking Carlton.  My teammates weren’t always the fastest Trackmagics I had to race against though.  TMac (Trevor McAlllister), Ron White, Gary Glanger, and Phil Carlson all hauled ass on Trackmagics in the premier category.  We had a lot of fun racing all those years!  Quite a few pole positions and some big wins but never could seal the deal on that National Championship.  Damn close a couple of different times with terrible luck bringing us down.  

Rob Howden designated me the Shifter Kart Illustrated driver of the year in 2000 and the poster still hangs behind me every day in my office.  

I made some of my best friends racing for Trackmagic.  I was in Jason, Oliver, and Ryan Phau’s weddings and they were in mine.  I will always admire George Barros—He was my roommate and my crew chief and I felt we made a great team.  Still good buddies with one of my favorite mechanics Big Rich Bacchi who really made racing fun.  I think it was 6 years on the team with a lot of different faces and I enjoyed them all.  You have to remember at the races that everyone in that paddock has similar hobbies and interests so they must be pretty damn cool!  It makes me happy that Fausto believed in me and I thank him for that.  He was a super cool human.  Cool but crazy!! 

From 4 bearings to 3, 40 mm’s to 50’s, Demon’s, Diablo’s, FTR’s, I ripped em all!