HCKC Early Chronology

1962 San Antonio Kart Club incorporated. Begins holding races at San Antonio Kartway.on S.W. MilitaryDrive

1964 Club relocates to the Country Road Kart Track on O'Connor Road.

1966 Club holds its first IKF road race at Zuehl Field, near Seguin

1967 Newsletter first named the Piston Sticker.

1969 Club holds street race in Port Lavaca.

1971 O'Connor Track widened and resurfaced

1972 Texas Karting Council organized. SAKC is charter member. Bracket classes
replace spec class for a local program

1973 First Picnic Race

1974 First Aqua Festival street race.

1984 First Pro (Money) race

1985 Zoning Board gives club 18 months to cease operations on O'Connor Road.
Committees formed to find land, design a track and raise funds.

1987 Final race at O'Connor Road track. Lease signed for New Braunfels location. Club changes its name to
Hill Country Kart Club. Clearing of land and track construction begins. Club holds TKC race in Victoria.

1988 New track completed. First race held.

Although its present track opened in 1988, the Hill Country Kart Club's roots can be traced back to the early days of karting in the late 1950's. When I entered my first kart race as a junior in 1961, the club was then operating under its original name, San Antonio Kart Club. The club was temporarily holding races at the Kart Park Raceway, on the corner of what is now Rittiman Road and I35. Kart Park Raceway was owned by C. H. January and was operated by him as a concession track on non-race days.

In 1962 the San Antonio Kart Club was incorporated and moved to its own track, San Antonio Kartway, on S. W. Military Drive. Racing continued there through 1963, when the club decided to forego expensive track repair in favor of moving to another track, the Country Road Kart Track, on O'Connor Road.

Today, it's hard to believe that when the club moved in 1964, O'Connor Road was a gravel road out in the country, hence the track's name. The club struck a deal with track owners, Jennings and Bruce Carlisle, to "rent" their concession track for races and offer a discount to members for use of track for practice. This arrangement worked very well until the Carlisle's shut their concession operation down and turned management of the track over to the club.

For the balance of the 1960's, throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's, the club pressed on. Although the original karting boom had long since passed, club membership and local race participation enjoyed ongoing periods of growth and decline. In 1971, the entire track was widened and resurfaced. The track had originally been built in 1960, and although the Carlisle's maintained that they knew nothing about track design, it seemed to have something for everyone. The high-speed 180 degree sweeper at the end of the straight was exciting, if not always safe. There was one naturally banked corner and an interesting corner coming on to the straight that included a rather large tree near its apex.

Even today, karters from all over the state that raced at O'Connor Road still claim it as one of their all-time favorite tracks.

It was also during this time that he club's activities extended well past just holding a local race program. By the mid-1960's, interest in enduro, or road, racing began to overshadow sprint racing in Texas. Following this trend, the club held a series of these events around the area for several years. Races were held at abandoned air airfields, including Zuehl, Clear Springs, San Marcos and Hondo. Another series was held at the old Austin Raceway Park.

Each year the club hosted at least one IKF regional sprint race at the track and even ventured off to put one on at the old Capital City Kartway, which was located near Round Rock. In 1972, the San Antonio Kart Club became a charter member of the Texas Karting Council, a group of Texas clubs originally organized to promote the recognition of sprint state champions through a series of IKF regional races each year. Members also participated in special events, such as the Fort Sam Houston hobby show, exhibition races at Pan American Speedway and, later, the Austin Aqua Festival.

By 1985, however, a lot had changed on O'Connor Road. The dusty gravel road from 20 years earlier had given way to a four-lane thoroughfare. Housing developments had sprung up throughout the area, and some houses had back yards adjacent to the track. One homeowner, disgruntled with the noise and determined to see the track go away, uncovered an oversight in the zoning of the track property. During annexation by the city of San Antonio in 1972, the property was zoned "residential" without the Carlisle's knowledge. Although he fought on his own to have the property "grand fathered," an obscure law dictated that Bruce Carlisle would have had only one year following annexation to register his "non-conforming" rights.

The San Antonio Zoning Board tried to be as generous as it could to the club and gave us 18 months to shut down and move. However, the homeowner was not satisfied with the outcome and filed suit with the city to have us leave immediately. Fortunately, her case never went to trial. A hearing was held, and the club was awarded use on a reduced schedule until the trial. What is not generally known is that racing could have continued after the original 18-month period, since the trial had not taken place. But, it did appear that the days on O'Connor Road were coming to an end, and it was time to move on.

As 1986 drew to a close, the club found itself totally unprepared to deal with its future. It had to find property and raise enough money to build a new track. Most of the membership could not fathom this ever happening and had long since dropped out of the club. What few members were left looked for opportunities, but became very frustrated with the process. Several possibilities came up, only to be later dropped for any number of reasons.

It was right in the middle of this low point in the club's history that a relatively new member, Randy Taylor, approached the club with a vision and a plan. As a contractor in New Braunfels, he understood what it would take to build a track and had many contacts to help us. He located the land, arranged meetings with the city council, got much of the materials donated, but, more importantly, energized the club members. Lifetime memberships were sold, loans arranged, pit spaces sold and endless work parties were held to defray labor costs.

A committee was formed to design the facility, and they spent countless hours studying what they liked and did not like about tracks they had seen around the country. The track design itself was based on an article that had appeared many years before on how to increase the number of available passing areas through the use of "hy-comp" corners. The plan was laid out on a parking lot and tested before the design was finalized. The track plan was drafted by lifetime member Jim Gray, who also headed up a crew of members to plot it out on the property once it had been cleared.

As construction continued, expenses kept mounting. Just prior to completion, long-time member Steve Tunnell came through with a short-term loan to finish the fencing and handle other expenses. In February, 1988, the newly named Hill Country Kart Club held its first race at our current track.

While much can also be written about the club since its move to New Braunfels, I thought that by sharing some of its earlier history current members would have a better understanding of the value of this club. I think that there can be no doubt that those of us who enjoy the club and its facilities today owe a debt of gratitude to a great many previous members who took the initiative and responsibility to sustain the club for nearly 40 years.