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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