Last summer, Rohan Deshpande, junior, decided to join the Gateway Kartplex, and started racing go-karts competitively in Madison, Illinois.
“I’ve always been a big fan of motorsports and racing,” Deshpande said. “I’ve been watching stuff like Formula One and Endurance Racing, but I never really got the chance to dive into my passion as a racing driver.”
Ever since first go-karting in middle school, Deshpande said has been enchanted by the sport and the adrenaline rush he gets from it. He is part of the Gateway Kartplex along with his friends Sohum Tokekar, senior, and Aryan Singh, junior.
Deshpande said that the competitions are usually from six or seven in the morning to ten or eleven in the night. He said that there are different body weight classes, light, medium, and heavy. Deshpande, Tokekar, and Singh are all in the light class. The competitions are weekly on Wednesdays.
“Either winning or losing, it’s still really fun,” Deshpande said. “It’s a pretty unique thing, but it’s pretty rewarding.”
During the race, Deshpande said that based on the results of the first race, the grid, or the starting positions of everyone in the race, gets set for the following races. The tracks are closed for the winter, but when they open back up on Monday, March 3rd, he and his friends plan on racing again.
Deshpande’s mom, Ruteja Barve, said Deshpande has loved cars since he was a toddler, so much so that “car” was actually one of his first words.
“He could recognize different brands and makes from a young age,” Barve said.
Barve said risk and safety, when it comes to go-karting, is always on her mind, but the safety procedures and Deshpande’s passion for go-karting helped ease her fears.
Barve recommends other parents also allow their children to pursue their passions.
“Safety is always a concern, but bringing it up constantly to your child may hamper their performance,” Barve said. “Let your child do what [they] enjoy.”
Singh said he competed with Tokekar and Despande once in October of 2024, and he plans to continue racing with them in the future.
Singh said the most challenging part of go-karting is how experienced his competition is.
“These guys have been doing this for years,” Singh said. “There’s a lot of adults that know this track inside out, and they have some crazy lap times.”
Singh started racing because of his dad.
“He’s the one that first got me into cars when I was really little,” Singh said. “It’s just been my thing ever since.”
Tokekar has been racing since freshman year of high school, and he gets inspiration from Formula One.
“The F1 drivers, the way they get to where they are is through go-karting and leagues like this,” Tokekar said. “I was like, if I can get a chance to get into racing in general, then I’ll start doing that.”
Tokekar said many people misinterpret go-kart racing and don’t realize it’s a sport.
“It’s a competition, and you’re always not only battling other people, but you’re always battling yourself as well,” Tokekar said. “So it’s just like a lot of other sports in that way.”
Tokekar said it’s not only physically draining, but also mentally draining because you have to make a lot of decisions and compromises.
“It’s a lot like a chess game, but instead of playing with the pieces on the board, you’re playing with 500 pound cars,” Tokekar said.
Tokekar said he wants to continue to pursue racing in college through Formula SAE teams that make their own race cars and compete nationwide.
Tokekar said if people want to start racing, they should start at the Gateway Kartplex and start researching the sport.
“I’d say start watching F1, start understanding the theory, the physics behind it,” Tokekar said. “Other than that, just start. It’s not that hard.”
