Racing karts put business on a fast track
Darlene Pfister
Star Tribune
Monday, July 9, 2001
These aren't the bumpy karts of lazy summer evenings.
The European-style racing machines at ProKart Indoors in Burnsville are slick, fast and take full concentration to drive. When these high-performance engines whine
and the racing tires scream, even the meek can become aggressive competitors.
What better way for a sales staff to bond than to try to beat the heck out of one another?
The owners of ProKart have discovered a promising market in the corporate world. Already busy with walk-in traffic, they anticipate that half of next year's business
will come from corporate events such as team building, client entertainment and private parties.
The track, which lenders found too risky to underwrite, turned a profit for its owners in its first year. They're using those profits to open a second track in Blaine in
October. They hope to have four tracks open in two years.
When they opened the state's first high-performance karting track last summer, partners Brian Bernloehr, Bill Halls and Tim Sernett were so confident in their
eventual success that they cashed out personal assets and put their homes on the line to finance it.
They knew there was a market for high-performance karting; they just weren't exactly sure where -- or what -- it was.
They were confident that guys like them would love these machines. High-performance driving has long been a passion for all three friends: Bernloehr and Halls race
motorcycles, snowmobiles, cars and trucks; Sernett is a 15-year veteran of sprint car racing.
Like them, a typical walk-in customer is often a mid-30s male. On a rainy summer day, the track fills with idled construction and lawn service workers. It also wasn't a
surprise that the high-powered karts are popular with teenagers, (the minimum driving age is 13,) even if the $13.50 fee for an 8-minute run sets some limits. It made
sense to the owners, too, that the track would become a popular destination for couples on weekends, and that racing leagues would fill many weeknights.
The partners expected those customers. And from research they'd done in Europe, where kart racing is a mature business, they knew corporate opportunities were out
there, too. But the strength of the corporate interest surprised them, and it seemed to happen almost by accident.
Market happens
Within a few months of their opening in June 2000, walk-in customers who'd checked out the track for fun began returning with expense accounts and groups of
co-workers and customers. Dozens of them. Soon, groups were renting the track for hours at a time, two or three times each week -- at rates of $550 to $750 an hour .
"It just started happening," Sernett said. "It was like manna from heaven."
The owners soon began to actively promote their track to businesses. One of their most loyal corporate customers is Wirsbo, a manufacturer of radiant floor heating
and flexible plumbing. At least twice a month, Wirsbo, based in Apple Valley, brings 50 to 60 clients for a two-hour session at ProKart.
The clients, mostly men, come from all over the country to Wirsbo's Apple Valley headquarters to learn how to use their products, said John Barba, Wirsbo's training
manager. While they're in town, it's good business to show the customers a good time, too.
"We look for activities that will help us get to know another," Barba said. "ProKart has just been awesome."
Kart racing is something most of the clients have never done, Barba said. They love the competition, and it's a unique way to build a relationship in just a couple hours.
"In our business, like so many, it's all about relationships," he said. "Any barriers in training are gone after an afternoon spent racing. We've been men together."
Traveling 2 inches off the ground at 40 miles per hour feels like 160, Sernett said. For high-energy people who often spend hours in rush-hour traffic, the exhilaration
of driving fast and unfettered is a rush. And those who have tried it said it gets the competitive juices running, too.
"Wow! That's too much fun," said Rick Oftel, a technical product manager from the Toro Co., who'd finished second in his first kart race. "I've never been an
aggressive driver in my life, but the adrenalin just took over. All I was thinking out there was that I wanted to pass him."
Oftel was one of 40 sales, training and service professionals from Toro's commercial division who came to ProKart for part of their annual meeting. It was the group's
first visit, said Jim Heinze, Toro's commercial sales and training director.
"This was a blast," said Heinze, flushed and sweating after a 15-minute turn on the track. "I'm really pleased to find we have a lot of competitive, aggressive people on
my team."
Fast track
Bernloehr and Halls first talked of opening the business 15 years ago. Then they were "carefree bachelors who drank a lot of beer," Halls said. Bernloehr was busy
starting another business; he's president of Quality Contour, a manufacturing and machining company. For years, the idea remained in the background while all three
men married and began families.
As they became more established, the karting idea resurfaced as a serious opportunity. They researched the business in Europe, studied different types of karts, barrier
systems, software and, confident in their choices, made the leap.
Their initial success has surpassed their expectations. With a minimum of advertising, the business had revenue of $1 million its first year.
"We got lucky," Sernett said. "The decisions we made in the beginning were good ones."
-- Darlene Pfister is at dpfister@startribune.com .
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