Karts and Playing Poker (with a Police Escort) on the Mountain Roads of Mexico
... 60s karting just hit different. The Tecate to Rumorosa (and back) Rally and Poker Run.
Once again I’ve made a terrible error. I’ve found myself looking through old karting magazines. Scott Elkes uploads them to the British Historic Kart Club Facebook Group, and I know exactly what’s going to happen next. It’s always the same routine, and it’s the worst thing you can do, because you will, without fail, stumble on a story that bewilders or outright bewitches you. It’s hard to wrap your head around just how different karting was in 1960s.
Imagine, for one moment, someone in 2025 saying:
“So, I want to do this rally. We’ll take some karts down to Mexico - most of us new to karting, by the way. The route goes from Tecate to Rumorosa and back, about 80 miles round trip, with beautiful winding roads through the hills. There’ll be some checkpoints along the way - at each one you pick up a sealed envelope with a playing card inside.
There’s no speed limit, but there is a prescribed time - whoever finishes closest to it wins. The cards? That’s the poker part: you get five cards total, so you can also win if you pull the best hand.
And don’t worry if you’re concerned about being on the road, we’ve got police escorts front and back, plus a motorcycle cop in the middle. Oh, and we’ve got a few kids racing with us too.”
You would “state never gonna happen mate”, you’d probably be right. Yet it happened. All of it, documented in the December 1960 issue of Kart magazine.
The promoter was a man named Jerry Bielke from West Covina, California. Speaking to Kart, he described how he’d secured full cooperation from the Mexican police and officials in Tecate. “With most of the kart activity confined to racing,” Bielke said, “we tried to work out something for the family. Only six of those competing had raced before - the rest had bought karts for milder enjoyment. I think this is one event where everyone can participate.”
It really was part endurance rally, part family picnic, part mad experiment. The route climbed 1,500 feet in altitude, so drivers had to fiddle with their carburettors to keep the engines sweet. Chains going was the main issue for most, yet, in the spirit of the thing, rival teams lent each other spare parts so everyone could carry on.
A police car, lights flashing, led the convoy, with another behind, and a motorcycle cop riding herd in the middle. Despite it not being a race, the Mexican police clocked some karts at 70 mph. The youngest entrant? Nine years old. Yes, NINE. A boy called Pug Gutridge from Descanso, California, if he’s still around today, you’d forgive people for thinking he was making it up when he says he raced karts on Mexican mountain roads under police escort before he’d finished primary school.
Out of 34 starters, 19 made it home. One driver, Ken Johnson, made it to Rumorosa on just one working engine after the other seized solid, arriving with two minutes to spare. Another young lad, 11-year-old Gary Howard, won the return leg because his time was closest to the prescribed target, not fastest, just closest. And then there was a separate winner for the poker hand, because of course there was: Ronald Casler, 15 years old, who drew an ace-high straight.
In the end, Tecate didn’t just host this rally - it also hosted street kart races, as karting spread like wildfire. It was a different world back then. The idea of karts rattling through the hills of Mexico at 70mph under Police escort seems like a different universe.
A terrible error, opening those old magazines, but you can’t help yourself, can you?
We like to think that present day motorsport is the best managed that can be achieved, but really, this example really does show how brilliant is was back then .