Kart Racer

Last updated
Kart Racer
Kart Racer (movie poster).jpg
Directed by Stuart Gillard
Written byNicholas DiBella
Produced byLeif Bristow
Starring Randy Quaid
Will Rothhaar
Jennifer Wigmore
David Gallagher
Music by Jeff Danna
Production
companies
Knightscove Entertainment
Apollo Media [1]
Distributed by Alliance Atlantis
Release date
  • 16 May 2003 (2003-05-16)
Running time
94 min
CountriesCanada
Germany
LanguageEnglish

Kart Racer is a 2003 Canadian-German sports drama film directed by Stuart Gillard, and starring Will Rothhaar, David Gallagher and Randy Quaid. In the United States, it premiered on television on ABC Family in 2005.

Contents

The film centers on a boy named Watts "Lightbulb" Davies (Will Rothhaar) who likes to race go-karts. Unable to come up with enough funds to purchase his own kart, Watts convinces his father, Vic Davies (Randy Quaid) (a former kart racer himself), to help him build a cart and teach him how to drive. As he follows his dream, he then has to race against karting champion Scott McKenna and local bully Rodney Wells.

Footage of the racing simulator NASCAR Racing 2002 Season by Papyrus Design Group can be seen as they are playing it at the arcade.

Plot

Watts Davies (Will Rothhaar) is a 14-year-old kid who decides to take up go-kart racing, he finds a new pursuit and begins to reconnect with his father, Vic (Randy Quaid), whom he has been clashing with since the death of his mother. Watts has an intense rivalry with Rodney Wells (Joe Dinicol), his enemy and local bully. Rodney stops at nothing to make Watts look bad; and he and his crew are not above getting Watts arrested. A little later, after more trouble, Watts sadly watches as Rodney and his dad buys the kart that he had originally set his eyes upon.

In an effort to bond with Watts, Vic (who is a former racer himself) helps him build a kart together and begins to train him in the fine art of kart racing, in which Watts proves to be a natural. With Vic's help and training, and a newly built kart, Watts enters the race. Throughout the film as Vic teaches Watts how to compete, the young driver begins to fall for Dahlia (Amanda De Martinis), an attractive and rebellious local girl and a graffiti artist. The final race ends up being between Watts, Rodney and driver Scott McKenna. Rodney tries to take out Watts but ends up crashing with 2 laps to go. The final lap is between Watts and Scott, and in a photo finish, Watts edges Scott to take the checkered flag.

Cast

Accolades

The film won a Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival and was nominated for a DGC Craft Award by the Directors Guild of Canada. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Dixon</span> New Zealand racing driver (born 1980)

Scott Ronald Dixon is a New Zealand racing driver who races the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Dallara DW12-Honda car in the IndyCar Series. He is a six-time drivers' champion of the IndyCar Series, having claimed the title in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020 and he won the 2008 Indianapolis 500 with CGR. Dixon has three 24 Hours of Daytona victories, with CGR in 2006 and 2015 and in 2020 with Wayne Taylor Racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic Elford</span> British racing driver (1935–2022)

Victor Henry Elford was an English sports car racing, rallying, and Formula One driver. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968. He scored a total of 8 championship points.

The World Karting Association, or WKA, is the largest sanctioning body for kart racing in North America. The WKA was founded in 1971 and is located directly behind Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The WKA is believed to currently have approximately 5,000 members. Over 50,000 people have been WKA members since the organization's inception in 1971.

<i>Crash Nitro Kart</i> 2003 video game

Crash Nitro Kart is a 2003 kart racing game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance; versions for the N-Gage and mobile phones were released in 2004. It is the second racing game in the Crash Bandicoot series after Crash Team Racing and the first game in the series to feature full motion videos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Tagliani</span> Canadian racecar driver

Alexandre Tagliani, nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Canada Series, driving the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro for 22 Racing.

<i>Capeta</i> Japanese manga series

Capeta is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masahito Soda. The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for the shōnen category in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Hines</span> British racing driver (born 1982)

Luke Hines is a British racing driver. He is the son of former karting champion and Zip Kart founder/owner Martin Hines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney Childers</span> NASCAR crew chief

Rodney Scott Childers is an American professional stock car racing crew chief and former driver. He most notably worked for Stewart-Haas Racing as the crew chief of their No. 4 Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series driven by Josh Berry and previously driven by Kevin Harvick. Harvick and Childers won the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship together. In 2025, he has moved to work for Spire Motorsports as the crew chief for their No. 7 Chevy Camaro in the NASCAR Cup Series driven by Justin Haley

<i>Nicktoons Racing</i> 2000 video game

Nicktoons Racing is a Nickelodeon crossover racing video game. The game was first developed by Pipe Dream and released for the Game Boy Color, while versions for different platforms were released in subsequent years. Most versions were developed by Software Creations with the exception of the Game Boy Advance version, which was developed by Crawfish Interactive, and the arcade version, which was developed by Chicago Gaming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cale Gale</span> American racing driver and crew chief

Cale Kelly Gale is an American professional stock car racing driver and crew chief. He is named after other accomplished racer Cale Yarborough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Bloomquist</span> American racing driver (1963–2024)

Scott Dean Bloomquist was a nationally touring Dirt Super Late Model race car driver in the United States. Bloomquist was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He was inducted in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in its second class in 2002 and was the owner of Dirt Late Model chassis manufacturer Team Zero Race Cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josef Newgarden</span> American racing driver (born 1990)

Josef Nicolai Newgarden is an American racing driver who races the No. 2 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet in the IndyCar Series. He was the 2011 Indy Lights champion, and 2017 and 2019 IndyCar Series Champion. He won the 2023 and 2024 Indianapolis 500, and the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona, becoming the 16th driver to win both an Indy 500 and a 24 Hours of Daytona, as well as the first driver since Helio Castroneves to win the Indianapolis 500 two years in a row.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott McLaughlin</span> New Zealand racing driver (born 1993)

Scott Thomas McLaughlin is a New Zealand racing driver. He currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He previously raced in the Supercars Championship, in which he won the drivers' title in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Rettich</span> American racing driver

Scott Rettich was an American racing driver, and competed in such disciplines as the U.S. F2000 National Championship in the National class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Rayhall</span>

Sean Rayhall is a racing driver. He competed in the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Series, winning the championship in 2017. He has also previously raced in the GT Daytona class of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, in addition to stock cars and formula cars, where in the latter, he earned a test opportunity with Chip Ganassi Racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Álex Palou</span> Spanish racing driver (born 1997)

Álex Palou Montalbo is a Spanish racing driver who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2021, 2023, and 2024 championships, and winner in the $1 Million Challenge. He is the first Spanish racing driver to win a National Championship in American open-wheel racing history and also the first Spaniard to win in the GP3 Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arjun Maini</span> Indian racing driver

Arjun Maini is an Indian professional racing driver, currently competing in the DTM. He has previously also competed in FIA Formula 2 Championship with Trident Racing and Campos Racing. He was the winner of Force India's 'One in a Billion' driver hunt in 2011.

Bryce Napier is an American professional stock car racing driver. He has competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving for Rick Ware Racing, TJL Motorsports and Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sting Ray Robb</span> American racing driver (born 2001)

Sting Ray Robb is an American racing driver. He is due to compete in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. TBA Dallara-Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerett Brooks</span> American racing driver

Jerett Brooks is an American racing driver. He mainly competes in short course off-road racing such as TORC: The Off-Road Championship, Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, and Championship Off-Road.

References

  1. "Kart Racer". Apollo Media. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  2. "Kart Racer". Atlas International. Retrieved 2019-05-30.