SUNDRE — A local racer’s fledgling career shifted into a higher gear over the past season despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carter Gibson, who in 2019 was named the Calgary Kart Racing Club’s Most Improved Junior Driver, is ranked not only among the best in his club, but also the entire country.
“He completed the whole season this year — this is the first year that he actually did every single race,” said dad Don Gibson.
In 2018, Carter’s inaugural year racing, the teenager competed in six events. In 2019, he completed seven races, Don said.
“This year, he did all 13, plus some extra bonus races in Edmonton,” the proud father said.
“That way, you can really tell where you stand amongst all of the other racers. If you miss even one race or two, it’s the potential for a lot of points.”
Carter ended up placing third at his club’s championship, marginally beat by the second place driver, who along with the first place racer boast far more experience, said Don, adding his son, “held his own this year.”
Although the Strathmore-based club’s annual, year-end banquet and trophy presentation night was put on hold due to the pandemic, the rest of the season arguably could not have unfolded more agreeably under the difficult circumstances of navigating a global health crisis.
“We were really lucky,” said Don.
“We didn’t miss one race this year because of it (the pandemic).”
Although Carter started his season a bit later than usual, the pandemic protocols did not prevent him from participating in more races than he has any other year since starting, he said, adding the club's leaders and membership took the health guidelines seriously.
“Everybody was very cooperative and adamant about having their masks on when they couldn’t physically distance,” he said.
“We didn’t want to get shut down. We were really hoping too, that all of Calgary — all of Alberta, for that matter — went by the rules so that we wouldn’t be the ones that would suffer because of some other people making mistakes and not going by the restrictions.”
Although the club was restricted in terms of how many people could attend events, he said those limits were never exceeded.
“We did our part,” he said.
“It worked out really well. (Carter) was able to get every single race in — surprised a lot of people actually, this year.”
Another notch added to Carter’s proverbial belt over the past season was ending up ranked in his category 10th in Canada as well as 92nd out of some 2,800 drivers across North America in the Briggs and Stratton standings.
“They keep track constantly of all the racers in all of North America,” said Don.
Two other fellow racers from Carter’s club also made the top-100 ranking in North America. But only 14 from Canada made the list, with the rest coming from the U.S., he said.
“In the U.S., a lot of those guys have a lot more experience, because they can almost race year-round.”
Carter’s club generally runs from May until October, which is already sometimes pushing it, with September often being the end of their season, he said.
“He gets a half a season compared to guys in the States that get to run year-round.”
Not one to let hurdles slow him down, Carter spends as much time training at his club’s track in Strathmore as possible.
“He’s put in more seat time I think than almost any other driver down there,” said Don.
“We basically live at the track, almost.”
Driving out with their RV to camp on the grounds to reduce the fairly lengthy commute of driving back and forth from Sundre, he said, “We spend a lot of time down there…even if there’s not a race, we’ll go down there on the weekend anyway and practise and just have some fun.”
Carter said he remains at least as enthusiastic about racing as the day he discovered his need for speed.
“If anything, I’m more,” said the 15 year old.
Since last being interviewed after he was named his club’s most improved junior driver, Carter said his kart was replaced with a substantial upgrade.
Previously racing a four stroke kart, he just this past season started driving a shifter kart.
“The shifter’s got a lot more power — it’s way faster, and a lot harder to control,” he said.
However, the challenge is something he welcomed.
“I like it a lot more than my older kart!”
But the shifter kart requires more strength to control than his old four stroke, so he plans to keep in shape throughout the course of the winter.
“The four stroke was just a gas pedal and brake, and that’s it. And then the shifter is six gears and a clutch,” he explained.
While there was a bit of a learning curve, past experience riding dirt bikes helped a little, he said.
Asked whether stalling was ever an issue, Carter said he was able to adapt to the new controls pretty quickly.
“It wasn’t bad, because you don’t use the clutch in between gears. You only use it just starting off from a dead stop.”
The Grade 10 student at Sundre High School -- who is now studying remotely from home as a result of the provincial government’s recently announced enhanced measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 -- said he’s pleased with the progress he’s made since first getting behind the wheel, and expressed no intention of slowing down any time soon.
“It’s been a big step since the last year.”
