Danny Formal’s Push for a High-Stakes "Karting Race of Champions"
Can a single event bring the excitement and audience engagement karting needs to thrive?
When I say that karters can often be a bit dull, boring, and risk-averse, I must emphasise that I don’t mean all of them. Danny Formal is one of the exceptions. The current KZ Supernats champion is unafraid to air his opinions and stands out as a superb ambassador for karting. While he also competes in car racing, he seems to embody a unique passion for karting as a primary motorsport in a way that even many full-time karters do not. He’s is exactly the kind of character karting desperately needs.
In a recent interview with Kart Chaser, he once again expressed his deep love for the sport by advocating for a "Karting Race of Champions" event. This concept would serve as an end-of-year spectacle where all the champions from various karting series come together to compete for a significant prize pool. The heart of this idea lies in creating an event that is both a celebration and a display of the best in karting—a spectacle to engage fans and showcase the sport’s potential. Danny sees this potential clearly, and I share his frustration at knowing what karting could be yet not seeing this vision come to fruition.
At the core of Danny's proposal is the pursuit of true competition and high stakes. He understands that a professional event is meaningless without real jeopardy, as it is this element that elevates an event and compels fan engagement.
Danny’s vision is for a one-off annual event, bringing together champions from various major series like SKUSA, ROK, and various International championships for one weekend of high-stakes racing. However, the logistics of organising such an event are complex. Danny suggests using both the KZ and KA100 classes, yet this presents challenges. The KA100 is a spec series, which adds complications, as aligning various series under one set of rules would require negotiation and compromise. Additionally, the different championships may be reluctant to share their top talent and effectively dilute their own brands to promote their champions in a single event. Economically, this could be problematic. From a story-telling perspective, spec-racing isn’t great either. Manufacturer war is a key component to compelling racing.
There is also a deeper issue concerning the integrity of each championship. Jeopardy, or the sense of stakes, requires time to build. Fundamentally, Danny’s idea of creating an event that genuinely means something is valid. However, bringing all these drivers together for a one-off event could risk diminishing the individual value of the championships in which these racers compete throughout the year. Ideally, karting would benefit more from a structured championship where the best drivers consistently race each other all season long, creating a true narrative and rivalry for fans to follow.
In motorsport, you can either have multiple prestigious events, like the Grand Slams in tennis, or year-round championships that build momentum and investment over time. Fanbases need time to develop, and emotional connections take time to form. Danny’s idea, while logistically simpler, risks failing to attract enough sustained interest, especially if limited to current karting stars. One solution could be to invite high-profile drivers from other racing series, like IndyCar, to join and add visibility and perceived ‘prestige’. However, if non-karting figures participate they may be the ones drawing in additional spectators and sponsorship. If that’s the case, then seeing them all get beat by relatively unknown karters becomes an issue.
At the end of the segment Danny shares what it feels like to race in front of 15,000 people at the PRI event in Orlando and reflects on the atmosphere and excitement that such a crowd brings. This recalls an earlier era of karting, particularly at legendary events like those in Vevey in the 1960s, when karting could attract large audiences. Danny’s dream is to recreate that level of public enthusiasm, reminding us of karting’s potential to be a compelling spectator sport once again.
While I may differ in the way I’d execute the idea, fundamentally we share the same desire for jeopardy and the best racing the best. Let’s hope someone picks up with the idea, and runs with it.
Alan Dove