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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 2nd Annual Oswego Speedway Dirt Classic
at Oswego Kartway on September 4th, 2008 --
Where YET AGAIN, Galletta's Karting Club PROVES to be the best karters in Oswego. Bar. None.
The 2-DVD set is around 4 hours & 25 minutes and contains Time Trials for all divisions, WKA Medium B-Main, WKA Junior 1, WKA Junior 2, Quarter-Midgets, WKA Medium, SWD Galletta's Gas Stockers, WKA Heavy, Open, OHV Gas Outlaws, and WKA Champ kart Classics. All in high-quality 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen video, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Surround Sound, and two camera angles of nearly all of the action. As bonus material, the disc also contains a race-by-race recap of the 2008 Galletta's Karting Club season (so far) between 5/8/2008 through 8/21/2008. Below is the menu of the DVD contents. DVD set is $10 in person, $13 by mail.
The Galletta's Kart Club 2008 Volume #15 & 16 2-DVD Set - THE 2008 OSWEGO KARTWAY CLASSIC:
The 2-DVD set to this event is around 4 hours & 25 minutes and contains Time Trials for all divisions, WKA Medium B-Main, WKA Junior 1, WKA Junior 2, Quarter-Midgets, WKA Medium, SWD Gas Stockers, WKA Heavy, Open, OHV Gas Outlaws, and WKA Champ kart Classics. 16:9 Anamorphic widescreen video, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Surround, and two camera angles of all of the action. Plus, a bonus recap of the 2008 Galletta's Karting Club season leading up to the Classic between 5/8/2008 through 8/21/2008. DVD set is $10 in person, $13 by mail. Price $10.
Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at Oswego Kartway THE 2ND ANNUAL OSWEGO SPEEDWAY DIRT CLASSIC Single-Wheel-Drive Gas Stocker Flathead Kart (AKA "Galletta's") Division:
On THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th, 2008, the Galletta's Karting Club participated inTHE OSWEGO KARTWAY'S 2nd ANNUAL DIRT TRACK CLASSIC at THE OSWEGO SPEEDWAY. Though the karts kicked off Classic Weekend's racing action originally scheduled for AUGUST 28th, 2008, it was the rain that took center stage after the conclusion of the time trials. Although Dick Dann won the 3-day Classic Weekend pass with his fastest gas-powered kart time of the night, the rest of the show was postponed and held on 9/4/2008, and it saw the inventors of Single-Wheel-Drive Gas Stocker racing; Wes, Matt, and Chris Stevenssweep the top three spots in the Gas Stocker Classic for the 2nd year in a row (but not without some controversy on the final lap).
The Classic was started via the order of our time-trials held on August 28th, 2008. However, two that qualified could not make it due to work (Buddy Cottom and Gary Miller Sr.), so our field was two shorter than it would have been. Fastest-time that night went to Dick Dann, who - much to the surprise of all the other drivers in the class - debuted a Raptor Carburetor, which was not previously approved by the Galletta's Karting Club rules committee (all other carbs are Briggs box stock 90s style fixed carburetors).
This YouTube clip is a low-resolution rundown of the Gas Stocker Feature (The DVD has the complete races from every division in high quality audio and video).
Early leader Dick Dann (Dann #86) was pressured by the undisputed World-Class king (and 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 Defending Points Champion) of the Gas Stocker Karts, Matt Stevens (Galletta's #33) for four laps before Dick spun in turn 4 due to the loose track. Matt then led until lap 17, where his brother Chris Stevens (Galletta's #8) caught him in lapped traffic and made the pass. He was followed through the hole by Wes Stevens (Galletta's #4). Chris led until Matt was able to pick off both he and Wes. On a late restart, Chris attempted to pass Matt but went too high, and Wes passed him. Matt slowly pulled away and led unchallenged until the events of the final lap....
This YouTube video shows our confusing Gas Stocker finale from two camera angles. On the white flag lap, a corner-man throws the yellow, probably because the dry and dusty track conditions made the white flag look yellow. Leader of the event, and defending 2007 Oswego Gas Mixed-Motor Track Champion and 2008 Oswego Kartway Gas Stocker Points Leader Matt Stevens had a large lead, but when seeing the yellow, slowed up. 2nd-place runner Wesley Stevens and 3rd-place runner Chris Stevens also saw it and slowed. However, the checkered flag waved, and Wes Stevens then put his hand down and gunned it across the finish line, passing Matt by a bumper at the stripe. Matt, who did not see a checker, and had no idea that the checker could be thrown during a caution, was confused, and then utterly speechless and devastated when the track announced that Wes Stevens, who led zero laps, was declared the winner. By the time everybody figured out what happened, Wes was having his picture taken and the WKA Heavy class was fired up and ready to roll. Matt expressed his disappointment on this Oswego Kartway message board thread here, which led to a few nice comments and a few nasty ones. In the end, however, Wes, Matt, and Chris still all swept the top-3 spots in the Oswego Kartway Gas Stocker Kart (formerly "Racing Yard Kart") division Classic for the first two years, and Wes gave the 1st-place trophy to Matt (though he rejected it on principle), so in the end, it really doesn't matter.
Final Order of Finish for the 2nd Annual
2008 Oswego Kartway "Gas Stocker" Kart Classic:
Pos.
Name (Kart Piloted)
Laps Completed
* Tie 1
Wes "Ogre" Stevens
(Galletta's #4)
45
* Tie 1
Matt Stevens
(Galletta's #33)
45
3
Chris Stevens
(Galletta's #8)
45
4
Russ Hockey
(Hockey #00)
45
5
Chris Stockham
(Galletta's #9)
45
6
Melissa Gabel
(Galletta's #80)
44
7
Larry Phillips
(Phillips #04)
44
8
Mike Phinney
(Galletta's #6)
43
9
Shadoe Russell
(Galletta's #2)
43
10
Kaleb Anderson
(Galletta's #1)
30
11
Dick Dann
(Dann #86)
20
12
Buddy Cottom **
(Galletta's #7)
0
13
Gary Miller Sr. **
(Miller #24)
0
14
No Available Driver (Galletta's #0)
0
15
No Available Driver (Galletta's #3)
0
16
No Available Driver (Galletta's #5)
0
* = Matt Stevens was leading by a large margin on the final lap and saw a yellow flag from a corner-man going into the final corner and slowed. He was never passed under green, and only passed under a simultaneous yellow/checker at the finish line by his dad Wes Stevens, who was announced the winner on the track and presented the trophy and Victory Lane picture. The top three or four karters all saw the yellow (which wound up being a false one, as no wrecks or spins occurred) and slowed, making the finish anti-climatic. For this special circumstance, the Galletta's Points system will count it as a tie, splitting the points and the win equally between Matt & Wes.
** = Buddy Cottom & Gary Miller both missed the show due to work. Since they paid and qualified their karts on the previous Thursday, they are still awarded points and placement (with earned starting order as finishing order).
* = Win: The 2008 Oswego Kartway Gas Stocker Classic ended under caution on the final lap, and has a controversial finale. Matt Stevens was leading by a large margin and saw a yellow flag. He never passed under green, and only passed under a simultaneous yellow-checker by Wes Stevens, who was announced the winner on the track. For this special circumstance, the Galletta's Points system will count it as a tie, splitting the points and the win equally between Matt and Wes, although the track officially named Wes Stevens as the winner. Notes on motors: The gas 6.5hp motors (who dubbed themselves "Outlaws") raced with 5hp motors for part of the season until neither motor side could agree on rules. Every week would be an argument over "those guys have way more horsepower than us" vs. "those guys are way lighter than us." No middle ground could be reached, not even racing a 2-in-1 race with two winners and two points systems in one race, as they voted us out of the 2-in-1 race system because of an alleged and mysterious "controversy" and "whining." Their points are counted in only the races where both 5hp & 6.5hp motors raced in the same race, but excludes one race where Matt raced a 5hp against all 6.5hps and won. They also have their own points separate and not listed here... oops, nope, never mind, Oscar threw it away between blown motors and crashes. ;)
Additional pictures from the 2008 Oswego Kartway Classic!:
And Kevin Doty has additional snapshots of all of the winners (and some of the karts) on his website here.
1/2009 UPDATE - OUR DIVISION BANNED FROM OSWEGO KARTWAY FOR NO LOGICAL OR RATIONAL REASON: However, this event appears to be the final race for the Galletta's Karting Club at Oswego Kartway. The reason is that the track operator "Jimmay" James Losurdobanned our 1-WD Gas Stocker class from competition at the Oswego Kartway because he personally does not like us. Odd and irrational, considering that we have (1) an established and highly affordable class(2) which has fully supported the track bringing 6-15 karts (with paying customers) per week ever since it's inception [in 2006], (3) gave free promotion and countless ideas to, (4) produced weekly DVDs of their events for two years, (5) created uncompensated and unpaid logos and banners for [that were used on the website, on all of the victory stickers, and above shown trophies for a full year], (6) never verbally or physically fought at, (7) never had one severe crash or injury at, and (8) raced at despite the track operator's irrational refusal to acknowledge our simple point scoring and motor rule set.The ban is yet to be answered neither logically, fairly, calmly, nor rationally by the track operator, who replaced us with a fledgling clone class named "Pro Stock" , which is again a strange contradiction because we were stock 5.0-hp clone motors from 1995-2008 (with only allowed mod: shaved heads from 2005-08) until Jimmy forced us to heavily modify them to race against bigger motors (6.5-hp OHV with Animal take-out parts) on his track in the last two seasons. The man, in our humble opinion, is a double-minded, self-contradictory, hot-headed, temper-tantrum prone, and easily-angered person, thus making him an incompetent track operator. In our opinion, the track would likely be a much larger success if not for him holding it back with his irrational anger, illogical rules, rash judgments, and belligerently barking at and kicking out everybody to whom he has even a minor disagreement with. Don't believe us? Look where he called us many angry & childish names while booting us. You can read about his rants and discuss the situation in this large message board thread here. He did not act like a professional track operator should. All comments, debate points, and opinions on all sides are welcome, and will not be deleted. We believe in freedom of speech & debate. The Galletta's Kart club will race on our own backyard speedway track and all local tracks that allow us our simple rule set and points system formula in the following seasons. We will not be back at Oswego until the track operator has been replaced by a more level-headed and reasonable person, which would not be very difficult considering the facts. Thank you for your support, and see you at Galletta's and any other track other than the Oswego Kartway. The whole story is found here. Now back to the rest of our 2008 season at Galletta's:
Name (& Karts Piloted)
All Motors are 5hp Gas Stockers. 6.5hp "Outlaws" are removed, wins given to highest-scoring 5hp. Regulars have clickable driver profiles.
Galletta's is a backyard karting track that does not charge anybody to watch or race (though we ask for clay donations). If you want to rent a fast Galletta's 5hp Gas Stocker Kart on Oswego's dirt karting tracks, then inquire! There's always at least one or more karts open and waiting to be raced! Bring your own 5hp gas stocker kart or rent one of ours and join us! We usually run 8-12 kart races weekly, but we'd love to have more on both tracks that we race at, so we ask for more people joining us. Experienced drivers or beginners? It doesn't matter, you can race! Interested? Call us up! Plus, everybody is getting tuned up for the Oswego Speedway Classic weekend at Oswego Kartway. Did you ever think that you could be racing at the famed Speedway on Classic weekend? You can, and for VERY affordably. Rent one of our karts for $20 a week (averaging around 100-130 laps of action on two different Oswego tracks), or we'll help you buy or create your own for just a few hundred dollars. Call us up or email us and find out more details.
Want to join us? We invite drivers (either people to rent our karts and/or with their own 5hp karts) to join us and race at Oswego and Galletta's. We have our own motor class at Oswego now, but still need regular drivers to fill the karts. If anybody is interested in filling a kart on Thursdays at Oswego ($5 to rent for 10 lap heats and at least a 25 lap feature plus Oswego track entrance fees) or Sundays at Galletta's ($20 for a 10 lap heat and at least 45-lap feature), just contact us. At Galletta's, it is free to bring your own kart (though we accept $3-5 clay donations). NEW SPECIAL DEAL: If you rent a Galletta's racing kart for $20 at Galletta's on a weekend race (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday), then you can also drive it at Oswego the same week (a Thursday or Friday) for free (just help us load up or truck the kart)! Why allow someone to race our karts for free at Oswego? Because we are seeking new drivers on BOTH tracks after a transitional period of some retiring veteran drivers, some drivers jumping to different (more expensive) divisions, and lack of new developing rookies, and Oswego already has a entrance fee to consider anyway. We want more drivers, and we'll cover your gas if you race with us at Galletta's on Sundays. You will not ever get the opportunity to sit in a racing vehicle of any type and be given a competitive car for a more affordable price than a Galletta's 5hp race. Go ahead and try your own for anything less. Now the season recaps...
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:
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