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2009
Season
Race Index:
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  Welcome!
We are a Karting Club that invented and races extremely affordable 5hp,
Single Wheel Drive "Gas stocker" karts for a Points championship
every summer at Galletta's
Greenhouse Karting Speedway and a Gas Stocker division at Oswego
Speedway's Clay Kartway.
We also record weekly dirt karting classes in the Oswego area and make
them available on DVD! Join us racing by either building your own or
renting one of our team backup karts. Or just watch in person, or by
buying our DVDs. Please read on and learn more about our extremely affordable
brand of highly competitive racing!
THE 1990s at GALLETTA'S
BOX STOCK GAS KARTING SPEEDWAY:
The beginnings
of the modern-day Galletta's Go-Kart track - The mid-1990s:
Matt got his original #3 Go-Kart in 1990. It was a
used neon-green Manco yard kart. Oddly, one of Chris' lifelong friends,
David Scruton originally owned the kart and sold it to a small engine
shop, which took a good motor off of it, put a crappy motor on it,
and sold it for a profit. Had Dave and Matt knew, they could have
made each other a better deal. The old kart used to be driven around
the Galletta's Greenhouse property in a grand prix type track (often
with friend John Gibson in the passenger side seat), which also could
be shortened at will to an oval around the old "Crusher Coliseum"
football field.
A
year or two later, Chris getting a tank of a Thunder Island Kart,
which was named "Black Bart" #1, painted to resemble Chris'
childhood favorite driver Doug Heveron's early 1980s Supermodified.
Matt, Chris, and friends (including Jesse Vivlemore and cousin Brian
Galletta) used to race by taking turns and having elimination events.
However, the original #1 was too heavy to compete with the smaller
#3, so they stripped it and used the parts to build the first homemade
"Ogre Chassis", the Galletta's #2. Chris and Matt further
honed their racing prowess in their furious battles with karts of
equalized weight. The track was formed around the old "Chrusher
Coliseum Football Field" and the Fort Crusher treehouse, (which
later became the race tower in 2005). The track was later slightly
shortened to stop in front of the tower house, and slowly, but surely,
a track was born through hundreds of races and years of Matt's hard
work. Matt's neon green kart was re-painted to resemble Skip Matczak's
red #3 Supermodified after his favorite driver Doug Didero. Then,
after just a few years of Matt and Chris battling 1-on-1 (occasionally
with Jesse Vivlemore driving one) we got a third kart, the #4 - a
brand new Manco out of the box - and dragged Ogre into our early conflicts,
schooling him in the ways of the racing arts as well. Ogre would have
wanted his kart to resemble his high school buddy Eddie Bellinger
Jr.'s #02 Supermodified, but it looked better red and black. Getting
this third kart enabled the trio to officially begin a points standings
and hold races. No other local karter has raced more karting events
than Chris and Matt Stevens, apparently much to the chagrin of some
local karting dads, who seemingly don't like anybody stepping on their
shoes, proven by their childish attacks *(read below).
1996
&
1997 Seasons and the 1st & 2nd Annual Galletta's Go-Kart Klassics:
(Spelled
with a "K" because we race Karts, dummies!)
 
Here
are some grainy photos from our 1st ever Galletta's Kart Klassic,
the first with the Galletta's #4 (back then #23) driven by Chris,
and Ogre inherited Chris's #1 (before it was scrapped for being too
heavy; its parts salvaged to create a new, lighter kart, the Galletta's
#2). Matt won this inaugural points standings and Klassic Championship
race with Chris scoring a 2nd in each and Ogre a 3rd as well. He backed
up the performance again in 1997.
1998
Season & 3rd Annual Galletta's Karting Klassic:
Left:
Chris "Chrusher" Stevens (#2), Matt (#3) and Wes (#4) prepare
the karts for the 1998 80-lap Klassic. Back when we only had 3 karts!
Right: Before the race, Chrusher, in the Deuce, lets everyone know
that he is #1 (though he placed 2nd). Chris got his nickname in middle
and high school, as he wrote and illustrated a comic
book and comic strip "crushing" classmates, teachers,
and pretty much everyone he knew.
Ogre,
in the #4, smiled for the camera before RaYzor Castaldo delivers a
brutal WWE-style kick to the back of the skull! This pic was even
talked about on Ray's obnoxious internet radio talk show, HateTheRadio.
 
Look
at Matt's lead over Chris and Ogre! Chris is dejected after a grueling
80 laps, after another futile attempt to defeat his little brother
Matt for the 3rd straight Klassic and Points Championships in a row.
Matt is getting revenge for all of those childhood beatings that Chris
delivered upon him!
Matt wins! (What else is new... other than his long hair!
Haha!) Also, RaYzor looks on, looking rather womanly.
1999 Season & the 4th Annual Galletta's Kart Klassic:
Back when we only had 4 karts! Chris finally
beat Matt's streak and won the Klassic and Points Titles this year,
in the #2.
According to some, here are "The Galletta's
Boys!" Matt & Chris.
(Even though that's only our mother's maiden name, which Chris also
doubles as his pen name.)
Wesley James "TrOgre" Stevens... looking
as mean as ever! Well, at least his kart was clean back then!
One
of Chris' best buddies, a hair-bag named RaYzor, poses next to the
then-brand-new #1. (Poor Ray... not even my friends are safe from
the wrath of my humor, much less our go-kart buddies.)
The
#1 kart when it was first built and with a fresh paint job... Before
several rental drivers wrecked the thing into hell! This was the 2nd
Ogre Chassis in our fine collection. Early on, just a few friends
and relatives joined us, but with each new kart came more and more
guest drivers to fill them! Early on, Dan Boyce, Ray Castaldo, and
a few cousins drove it in a handful of races.
We
are searching for our points standing records to our 1996-1999 seasons,
as they exist, but are currently lost in storage somewhere. When we
find them, we'll process them digitally and put them up on the website.
However, starting with the 2000 season, we now have a complete
record of every points race held at John J. Galletta Memorial Racing
Yard Kart Speedway, and have them up on the web. And you'll be
amazed at how far they've come in just ten to twelve years! Observe
them! Onward to next
season, or read more below!
<-The
Early Years (A Comedy)
|
All-Time Points |
2000 Season
->
More
on what Galletta's Go-Kart Club was founded upon, what we are about:
Pictures
are from each Galletta's "Classic"/"Klassic" Championship
Race in the past few years:
  Looks
like fun, huh? Well, some people like to rain on our parade, most
notably people who attend the Oswego Kartway, a track that was created
after the owner's son and the current track operators came to the
Galletta's track (and didn't so so well at). A confused, elderly obese
man who races on other local tracks and calls himself "flyboymike5"
and "old guy" - who we have never met and he is a laughable
legend for coming in last place in every single go-kart race he has
ever entered - sometimes gets angry over the fact that he thinks that
we say that we invented go-kart racing and something about the fact
that our particular class (being 1-WD) turns better right than left.
He's as confused as he is a bad driver, as we never said we invented
karting itself, but rather a unique brand of highly affordable karting,
and - turning right, left, or straight - racing is racing. And another
local kart team owner, a prissy retired stock car driver who calls
himself "tap" - with too much expendable income (probably
from worker's compensation as his neck is a mess) who spends thousands
of dollars and man-hours on his kids racing methanol karts and proudly
marching his kids from track to track like a rich snob pageant mom
- has also repeatedly mocked our brand of racing,
  calling
us "yard
karts," "Gaylettas yard sale" and mocking our horsepower
output. These two particular assclowns, in fact, have never met us
(Galletta-type Karting founders Matt and Chris) nor have the guts
or courtesy to ever introduce themselves to us, but never miss a chance
to mock us publically or privately. Then, a third joke, who happens
to be a failed driver on our own track (and is renowned locally for
cheating for his son, yelling and swearing at kids, and skimming worker's
compensation - yet is seen daily working better than most healthy,
honest hard-working people) built a track in back of - and FUNDED
by - the
  Oswego
Speedway, and invited us there only to embarrass us by forcing us
to race karts with bigger motors that he and his friends built for
them (which failed, as we beat them most of the time, including all
championship races and money shows), and once we requested our own
class, not only screwed Matt out of a win, but then kicked our unique
class out, AND publically mocked us while doing so, and keeps trying
to steal our regular drivers. All this after we brought 5-15 karts
(and paying drivers) there weekly, made complete race DVDs for, and
created a professional logo - which they used for a year and never
paid for. Nice people huh? Well, if the three of these halfwits -
which I like to call The Three Stooges of Oswego Kartway - stopped
flapping their gums and stopped trashing and mocking people - perhaps
they'd both learn a thing or two for once in their lives. To help
explain what we mean, we must examine what a go-kart is.
Because James A. Losurdo, Phil Marsden, and Mike Humphrey just don't
get it.
  A
go-kart is a small vehicle meant for either recreational fun driving
or for racing. They are usually simple, a small basic metal frame
(or chassis), four wheels, and powered by a small engine. Usually,
the biggest separation between a go-kart is what type of motor you
have on the kart, how much work has been put into the motor, and what
purpose is it built for - if it a frame built for backyard,
lot, or nature trail driving (higher to the ground), or racing (built
lower to the ground). Suspension varies from none, cheap, and expensive.
Traditional, backyard go-karts, sometimes called yard karts or dune
buggies, are built higher off the ground, have treads, and typically
come with 5-8hp gasoline-powered motors. They usually can cost anywhere
between $40-$1,000, depending on how new it is and how large it is.
Racing karts
are typically built lower to the ground, wider tires with less tread
(often slicks), and have worked-over motors that run off methanol
and can be anywhere between 10-20 horsepower. They typically go for
anywhere between $700-$7,000, and for a truly competitive one, you're
looking at the higher end of that scale. Then, you have amusement
park-type karts, which are somewhat between the two extremes, but
speeds kept extremely slow for safety purposes. Plus, in addition
to being 5-10 times cheaper than a racing kart, we can also drive
10-100 times longer off the same-sized tank of fuel, which makes for
longer races! Man, those are some very big things that those methanol
racing boys like to overlook, and call us yard karts. Nice.
  Well,
Galletta's Karting Club started as something in-between the three
major extremes. Nobody at Galletta's ever desired to have a yard kart
after the first one. Although they are affordable, they lose their
fun after only a few hours of play, you cannot race them (they aren't
built for it and fall apart), and this is why there are millions of
the things rusting to death in backyards and garages all over the
world. Next, nobody at Galletta's wanted to purchase a racing kart
which can cost thousands of dollars to buy, field in a race in "professional"
speedways (that you must travel long distances to and pay a lot to
get in weekly), and maintain, let alone even compete for wins with.
Galletta's fills this no-man's land. We invented a class of extremely
affordable racing go-karts, which have traits from all three major
forms of karting. They are built for racing, can be raced on any track
(backyard or professional raceway), are VERY fast, but there is a
cap on what kinds of parts you can use (which keeps speeds fast, but
closely monitored and safer than the methanol motors). They are faster
and more durable than a yard kart, more durable and cheaper than a
racing kart. Plus, since we have around a doze of our own, we rent
them out to friends, family, and strangers - but only for a small
gas and parts donation. Then, since we built our own track, we don't
have to put up with inane WKA-only type rules, nor rich, elitist snobs
trying to buy and politically smooth talk their ways into bigger brands
of racing, and especially we can avoid crazed kart track operators
that are paranoid, power-mad, and make terrible, rash, anger-led judgments
on a regular basis. We made our own racing frames (probably $12-30
of metal, plus durable but affordable go-kart parts), designed our
own motor rules (gas-only, stock gas carbs, limited race cams), and
do our own points standings, website, and race DVDs. None of us spends
more than $200-700 on a go-kart, yet all of us race extremely close
and competitively, have a points championship, DVDs of nearly every
race we've been in dating back for years, and HAVE AFFORDABLE FUN!
That's what racing is, and how we plan to keep it. No matter what
the Three Stooges of Oswego Kartway say about us. Now, sorry for the
rant, but why not go on to see the rest of Galletta's Karting history,
season by season:
<-The
Early Years (A Comedy)
|
All-Time Points |
2000 Season
->
The
Galletta's Go-Karting Club was founded by brothers Matt and Chris
Stevens in the early 1990s
when they modified yard karts for racing purposes. They are the inventors
of "clockwise 5hp flathead gas stocker kart" racing, and
have a 13-kart race team that includes several backup karts available
to be rented and raced at both Galletta's and Oswego Speedway all
summer. Invented with specifically "gas stock 5hp motor"
rules so that a person doesn't have to spend thousands of dollars
to race in extremely competitive racing events, the class grows in
talent and competition every single year. Join us by building your
own kart for around $200-500, or rent one of our team karts on two
tracks all Summer & Fall in Oswego, NY!
The Oswego Gas Stocker
Kart Club races at Galletta's
Greenhouse Kartway
& Oswego Speedway Kartway.
Due to
the fact that the karts are so affordable and the oldest veterans
have been racing for nearly two decades, it is one of the most difficult
karting divisions to win at, but yet you can be instantly competitive
for just a couple hundred dollars IF you're a good driver. You can't
outspend your opponent due to our gas-powered stock-only rule, so
you must out-race them and out-setup them. In fact, nobody has ever
defeated Matt & Chris in the open challenge: race a stock 5hp
flathead and stop them from scoring 1st & 2nd in a points season.
Though hundreds of people have tried in hundreds of races since the
early 1990s, Chris and Matt have scored 1 & 2 every year. But
it's not just them you have to race. Our regular drivers are all talented
and experienced. You can prove your skills against the winningest
karters in the local area AND you won't even have to spend a lot of
money to get started! We
dare you to try! Make your own or rent one of our racing team karts.
Sound like fun? Read on, explore the website, and join us!
More
Galletta's Go-Karting flips, crashes and tight racing carting highlights
on:
YouTube
And the complete and high quality races found on this site and YouTube
can be purchased in our Galletta's
Go-Kart DVD store!
Comments, questions, and additional info with Galletta's Kart
Club drivers and officials can be found on our
new message boards. ->
Click
Here for Facts, Questions & Answers.
Click
here for Basic rules, regulations, and prices.
Our karting club's home track is located in back of:
Galletta's Greenhouses
60 County Route 20
Oswego, NY 13126-6512
(315) 343-0879 or (315) 343-4281
Need directions?
Here they are!
Please
visit Galletta's Speedway racer/co-founder/co-owner Chris "Crusher
Comics" Stevens's other websites that include my cartoons,
comic books, children's book, and family greenhouse:
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Galletta's Greenhouse & Karting Team
60 County Route 20
Oswego, NY, USA
13126-6512
Telephone:
(315) 343-0879
or
(315) 343-4281
(Ask for
Matt or Chris only!)
Directions
Galletta's
on:
YouTube
2008
DVD store
2007
DVD store
2006
DVD store
Racer
and website designer Chris ChrusherComix's other websites:
Chris' Graphic Novel:
Chris' Comic Book:
Chris' Comic Strip:
Chris' Children's Book:
Our
Greenhouse:
Galletta's
& Oswego Stock Karting Clubs
Melissa G's
Scissors N' Fur
Galletta's Go-Karts
on
Photobucket
Other
racing websites:
Oswego Speedway
Where we've attended countless races and
race dirt go-karts in the Summer:
VOTE
FOR CHRIS' SITE:
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Super
Mario Kart Xtreme game