Tony Gualda, 9, is racking up accolades in go-kart racing, and
is looking to make a career out of it
HOLLISTER
Some fathers build their sons tree houses. Tony Gualda’s dad built him a caged go-kart with a five-horsepower flathead Briggs and Stratton engine.
Same difference, really.
“My dad took me to the races (when I was 6) and I liked it, so he built me a kart,” said Gualda, now 9, an incoming fourth-grader at Sunnyslope Elementary School in Hollister.
Gualda’s go-kart, which was built practically from scratch three years ago, may have been just the beginning, however. He has since moved on to bigger and better things as any youngster would – like a Briggs and Stratton World Formula 200cc winged go-kart – but his passion for racing hasn’t subsided one bit, as the excitement surrounding a brand new tree house would certainly decrease with time.
“I was told by various amounts of people, they felt he had the potential,” said Gualda’s father, Tony Sr. “Just his mannerisms and his driving style and how smooth he was behind the wheel, they were pretty astonished he had the concepts already.”
What is perhaps more astonishing is Gualda’s preferred career path. The 9-year-old with a lead foot has already racked up several accolades during his three-year journey – he is currently in first place for his 8- to 16-year-old age group in the open winged four-cycle division at the Tulare County Kart Club – and his favored future plans would involve the World of Outlaws sprint car series, and not necessarily the more popular NASCAR.
“If I got a chance (with NASCAR), I’d take it,” Gualda said. “But I really want to be a World of Outlaws driver.”
Read the full story in Friday’s edition of The Weekend Pinnacle.
