This article appeared in the Fall 2010 American Muscle Kart, Volume 3 Number 3. It explains that UAS was not set up to be a stepping stone for young racers wishing to aspire to a professional racing career. Instead it is intended for experienced racers who just want to race.

UAS...Not Someone Else's Little League

by Mark Bergfelt, UAS Executive Director

Some of the goals of the UAS; 1. The UAS's primary function is to provide and maintain a rule set that is conducive to the promotion and survival of the open class of speedway kart racing. 2. Its other primary function is to serve as a scheduling and communication medium.  3.  It was set up to represent what is in the best interest of the racers when dealing with track promoters.  4. It provides a neutral government for open class kart racing that has resulted in an infrastructure for a variety of independent business opportunities.

The UAS is different, it's supposed to be, and sometimes is greatly misunderstood.  It's a representative government by and for open class racers for the purpose of protecting and promoting, ingenuity, camaraderie and sportsmanship with-in the sport of speedway kart racing.  A necessary tool for doing that is a standard, universally agreed upon set of rules that are supported by the racers they affect.

A primary purpose of the UAS is to provide a schedule of events that makes sense to its members.  Getting a limited number of open class racers all to the same events at the same time always was and still is the number one reason for creating the UAS in the first place.
As a racing sanctioning body, it has no profit motive for itself.  The UAS provides a neutral infrastructure that allows outside profit making entities to be created and grow.  In essence it has created and is developing a market for its events as well as products and services for a unique group of racers and fans.  The effort to attempt to create a fan base and run the events as a show geared toward that end is unique with-in the karting industry and is badly needed to grow the sport.

Many of the UAS rules were written as they have been to shield the volunteer administrators from potential legal issues.  Within that rule set, it is requested, that promoters use these rules for the UAS events they host. Ultimately the promoters have the power to overrule them if they deem that necessary.  That policy exists for legal purposes; the track has liability insurance for running their events and using their facility, the UAS does not.  Those administrators who choose to take an active role as a race day race director or track official need to check with the individual promoters to make sure that their insurance covers them.   The rules have been proven to provide a quality show for racers and spectators alike and in that light, if the promoters make too many unnecessary alterations administrators should schedule future events elsewhere.

The UAS rules were also written in such a way that the racers interest came first. They contain an important clause that prevents karting businesses from influencing the UAS rules.  Unfortunately it has also discouraged those same business entities from sponsoring our activities since they can’t guarantee themselves business by tilting the rules in their own favor.

The only, extremely limited, UAS income comes from a very modest membership fee and those funds are mostly used for awards and some for clerical costs. There is no profit. As it stands right now, as an official business entity, the Unlimited All-Stars is part of Bergfelt Racing Enterprises, LLC.  That parent company has very few limited assets, and rents its building and equipment.  As the UAS continues to grow, it will most likely develop into a separate corporation or LLC. 

UAS represents racer's interests.  The regional administrator is their representative in dealings with promoters and the UAS National Office.
The Unlimited All-Stars is NOT intended to be a stepping stone to other forms of motorsports.  It is intended to be a destination.  Many UAS racers are veterans of many years of motorsports experience and much of that is outside of karting.  The UAS is a place where old timers that got burnt out from the amount of time and money it took to participate can go to compete at a relatively low cost of time and money and other resources.  Although it is primarily for those people that does not mean that new comers are not welcome.  They are indeed welcome, and needed, but they need to know that the UAS was primarily designed to keep the challenge alive for seasoned veterans.  The UAS has been very successful at doing that.  No other karting organization does that so well.

All UAS drivers must be at least 18. The Unlimited All-Stars on-track activity is for adults. Personally I think the minimum age should be 21 but I know that would not be supported by the majority of participants and administrators.  It has been observed over the years that much of the unnecessary negative drama that occurs at kart race tracks is not escalated by drivers but by the parents of junior drivers.  Unfortunately that is still the case for drivers 18 and over but it is less of an issue the older the drivers get.  The majority of veteran racers get involved in the UAS to avoid that kind of drama.

As stated earlier, the UAS does not have a profit motive but its existence allows the opportunity for other entities to profit.  The UAS is the show that promoters can make money from selling tickets to fans; shame on them for not fully taking advantage of that.  Kart engine builders, chassis builders and other component manufacturers can benefit from UAS racer sales, but few have taken advantage of the promotional opportunities the UAS provides. Tracks can profit greatly from promoting UAS shows to the general public.  A few ads placed in local newspapers a few weeks prior to a UAS event could pay off big dividends.  Since the UAS gets attention it is a great marketing tool for all kinds of products but unfortunately very few take advantage of it.   Although the UAS is not set up to make money itself, it certainly is a catalyst that allows many private ventures to profit.  It is a benevolent neutral government entity that exists for the benefit of others but unfortunately too many don't recognize that and try to think of it as something it was never intended to be.