“The second year, our event grew a good deal. In attendance were 10 pros, 40 amateurs, and a core group of dedicated sponsors, led by Alegra Motorsports, Bert Smith Porsche, and Reeves Import Motorcars. Once again, everyone had a fun-filled day while raising about $13,400 for All Children’s. We were thrilled!

In 2014, Patrick Long graciously lent his name to the event and created the Patrick Long Pro-Am Kart Race. He also dramatically stepped up his involvement and became an integral part of not only the race itself, but all of the planning and work that went into its success, and it showed. The 14 Pros who participated included 12 drivers who had just driven the 12 Hours of Sebring, a legend of the sport, a top motorsport TV personality and the eventual 2014 Continental Tire series champion. In addition to Patrick Long, they were Sebastian Bourdais, Colin Braun, Jan Heylen Katherine Legge,Tommy Kendall Bryan Sellers, Tristian Vautier, Jim Norman, Trent Hindman, Norbert Seidler, Jon Bennett, Martin Plowman, and Patrick Lindsey. With their involvement and the fantastic support of the local PCA community, we dramatically grew the event. Patron Spirits, Dale Pelfrey Racing and Rally Gas Stations joined Alegra, Bert Smith, and Reeves to help net $50,000 and become the largest third party fundraiser for All Children’s Hospital.

2015 brought increased sponsorships by Patron and Rally, as well as new sponsors Cardio Access, and Porsche North America. Additionally, Andersen RacePark became a major sponsor, instead of just the location of the race. Pro drivers Andy Lally, Spencer Pumpelly, Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Shane Lewis, and Elliot Skeer joined the returning Pros. When the dust settled at the end of the day, $65,000 was raised for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

For 2016, CSI Construction Services and Parathyroid joined as sponsors. Pros Mark Wilkins, Daniel Morad, and Ethan Low joined us as the new timing conflict with the IMSA Breakfast with the Champions prevented some of our loyal Pros, who were Sebring winners, from participating. Despite the mad scramble to balance 14 teams with Pros, we had another successful event. We raised more than $65,300, putting our five year total over the $200,000 mark, with more than $180,000 in just the last three years.

2017 brought big changes, as well as big growth when we became part of the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg week rather than the day after the 12 Hours of Sebring. We could not overcome the conflict with the IMSA breakfast event, so we chose to tie to IndyCar and The Road to Indy as well as the Pirelli World Challenge Series. Andersen RacePark stepped up in a big way, partnering with Kart 4 Kids, Inc. as event organizers, and bringing Rob Howden, the voice of The Road to Indy, as race announcer. Sebastian Bourdais joined Patrick Long as featured Pros. IndyCar Pros Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Spencer Pigot, and Ed Jones as well as James French, Nate Stacey, and RC Enerson helped us for the first time. Dario Franchitti was in the auction crowd, quietly bidding to help the cause. In the end, $81,000 was presented to All Children’s, and our cumulative total stood at $281,100.

In 2018 we did what had been unthinkable just a couple of years before, and with the help of The Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg, and the City of St Pete, we moved the race to Turn 1 of the Grand Prix course. We expanded to 16 fully sponsored teams while adding Takuma Sato, Lawson Aschenbach, Shea Holbrook, Parker Chase, Kyle Masson, Zach Veach, Jordan King, Gabby Chaves, Ryan Hunter Reay, Helio Castroneves, and Marco Andretti to the Pro ranks.

Cardio Access stepped up their sponsorship level, and were joined by team sponsors: IndyCar, Firestone, Honda Racing, Tequila Patron, KHs&S Contractors, AmCap Insurance, The Dikman Company, Reeves Import Motorcars, Bert Smith Porsche, Crown Automotive, and Alegra Motorsports. Looking around the paddock, it was incredibly gratifying to realize that not only did we have many IndyCar and IMSA champions, LeMans, Daytona, and Sebring winners, but also five Indy 500 winners all helping to dramatically increase our donation to All Children’s by over 60% to $130,000.The cumulative total now stood at $411,100.

2019’s race was again at Turn 1 of the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg. We had become quite adept at unloading 3600 feet of barricades, setting up a temporary course and pits on Tuesday, then tearing down, reloading, and clearing the track Wednesday night right after the event. James Hinchcliff, Colton Herta, Patricio O Ward, Ben Hanley, Matheus Leist, Santino Ferrucci, Felix Rosenqvist, Kyle Kaiser, and Kory Enders stepped in as Pros, with announcer extraordinaire, Rob Howden, doing his usual fantastic job. Too late to join the race, Simon Pagenaud slipped in to help with the memorabilia auction, which has become a big part of the event.

SB Tactical, Pinstripe Marketing, Downs Food Group, Tornello Nurseries, Vasser & Sullivan, and Dayle Coyne joined as Team Sponsors.

The wonderful efforts of Pros, participants, sponsors, and volunteers resulted in an incredible (and never imagined in the early years) $185,000 check to Johns Hopkins All Children’s to help them save kids’ lives, bringing our total contribution to just under $600,000.

As we prepared for another great year in 2020, it was interesting to note that 25 participants in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona volunteered their time to help Kart 4 Kids raise money for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. We absolutely could not do this without the wonderful support of the professional racecar driver community. We cannot thank our participating Pros enough.

Only by extreme luck of timing was 2020’s race even able to be run. Within 36 hours of completion, not only was our host, The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete, postponed until an undetermined fall date, but virtually all live sporting events were either cancelled or radically postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sabre Cook, Dalton Kellett, and Oliver Askew joined the ranks of the generous Pro Drivers who have helped Kart 4 Kids help All Children’s. Garage Italia, Boland Mannari, Fresh Kitchen, and Cali came on board as team or major sponsors.

Our total of $155,000 was the second best year ever, and was appreciated even more by All Children’s, as Covid-19 also shut down all live fundraising events.

Our efforts were further enhanced in November by $26,500, when excited passengers paid for the privilege of hot laps in Neil and Jen Valk’s new Corvette C-8 piloted by Sebastien Bourdais just prior to the delayed Firestone Grand Prix of St Pete.

Having been blissfully unaware of the extreme societal changes the COVID-19 pandemic would create, the planning for 2021 began with the basic question of could we or even should we have a race? After much deliberation, we decided to have the race, but it could not be on the St Pete GP grounds, and many of the INDYCAR pros would not be able to risk a COVID quarantine by joining us. (Sebastien Bourdais, our Chairman, being the brave exception)

We would go back to our co-sponsor, Andersen RacePark, on Saturday, April 10 without any conflict from the St. Pete Grand Prix schedule.

Our initial trepidation began to dissolve as the support both from sponsors, and pros from all facets of motorsports began to roll in. Perennial team sponsors, Cardio Access, Firestone, Rally Stores, SB Tactical, Inter Yachting, Downs Food Group, Main Street Car Wash, Hooters, Renaissance Greens, Pinstripe Marketing, and Porsche of Tampa were joined by Reichert Brother’s Sausage, Team Longtails, K Air Leasing, Cyndeo Wealth Partners, and Dynasty Financial.

Pros joining for the first time included Tristian Nunez, Kyle Kirkwood, Selin Rollan, Eric Filgueiras, Conner Morrell, Luke Gabin, Nabila Tejpar, Jacob Loomis, Michael Mallardi, and Tyler McIntyre.

Race day started off with a bang, when the youth drivers from the Mottaz Sport Kart Team fulfilled lap pledges and raising $10,560 for the cause. The money was huge for a bunch of kids who had just come up with the idea the week before, but the smiles on their proud faces was indescribable.

When the dust settled at the end of the day, a record total of just over $214,700 was raised to help Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. That put our cumulative total over the ten years at $989,700, tantalizingly close to the $1,000,000 mark.

But we were not finished yet! An additional memorabilia auction in conjunction with the Indianapolis 500 raised another $23,250 taking us over the mark to $1,012,950.

But there is more! Founding co-chair, Page Obenshain, a veteran yacht broker, took a boat in need of repairs, fixed it up, sold it, and donated the profits to Kart 4 Kids for an additional $34,500 to help the kids! That brings our total raised to date to $1,044,200. The generosity of everyone involved coming off the COVID shutdown has been incredible. A huge thank you to all involved.

2022 had us once again at beautiful Andersen Racepark with first time pros; Newly crowned IndyCar Champion, Alex Palou, Felix Rosenqvist, Jacob Abel, Aaron Jeansonne, and Dante Tornello, joining returning Pro’s; Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward, Kyle Kirkwood, Tristan Vautier, James French, Dalton Kellett, Kyle Masson, Sellin Rollan, and Oliver Askew.

Traditionally, All Children’s has, each year, enticed a current or past patient to create an artwork from which 2 large framed copies are made for the pros to sign. One is given to the artist’s family, and the other is one of our most prized auction items.

This year the artist was actually a kart racer, Jack Chmura, who was concussed in a racing accident and needed the services of the Kart 4 Kids Concussion Initiative, run by Dr. Patrick Mularoni, as part of his treatment. A talented artist, Jack’s story as he told it at the auction, not only touched auction bidders hearts, but put why we all do this into vivid focus.

The Motaz Kart Team once again fulfilled pledges with demonstration laps, while Howard Jacob’s Porsche GT3RS driven by Tristan Vautier joined Neil and Jen Valk’s Corvette piloted by Sebastien Bourdais giving hot lap rides around the St Pete GP track the following day to auction winners.

As the sun began its descent toward setting and totals were tallied, we had raised $300,000 to help Johns Hopkins All Children’s better the prospects of critically ill children. That brought our cumulative total to $1,344,200.

Mario Andretti! Yes, that Mario Andretti, graciously agreed to join Sebastien to drive Dennis O’keefe’s Porsche GT3RS for the auctioned “Hot Laps” at the ST Pete GP track the day after our race. With Sebastien driving Amy Riches’ Porsche GT4CS, it was a fitting climax to another successful Kart 4 Kids Pro-Am Kart Race.

First time pros: Roman Grosjean, Kiffin Simpson, David Malukas, Sting Ray Robb, Devlin DeFrancesco, Connor Zillich, Hanna Zellers, Gray Leadbetter, and Elliot Cox, joined returning pros: Sebastien Bourdais, Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, Kyle Kirkwood, James French, Connor morrell, Felix Rosenqvist, and Jacob Abel led teams sponsored by Presenting Sponsor Cardio Access, Downs Food Group, Csi Construction services, SB Tactical, Renaissance Greens, Interyachting, Valk Racing, Hooters, Dynasty Financial, Longtail Racing, Tampa Bay Auto Museum, New Wave, Smith & Associates, and Firestone.

Once again, a victim of a concussion who needed the expertise of The Kart 4 Kids Concussion Initiative was featured. Chance Rabin, daughter of All Children’s Foundation Executive Vice President, Jenene Rabin, who was concussed during a soccer game, not only attended, but drove on the 3rd place Kart 4 Kids Team.

The race format had gradually evolved over the years, to its 2023 form, which consisted of 7 sprint races, each with its own score, which were then combined for final standings. This made for a much easier to run race, with far better spectator viewing.

After a great auction, and a spirited race, the final tally was $282,000 raised for All Children’s.

But, we were not finished. In the fall, after finally managing to auction off the 1964 Lotus Cortina replica race car, which had been so generously donated by Robert Tornello, we were able to increase our donation to All Children’s to $300,000. That brought our cumulative total donated to $1,644,200.

March 6th dawned with an ominous weather forecast. Could our record of 12 years of great weather, marred only by one race shortened by a stint, be broken this year?

First time pros Marcus Armstrong, Linus Lundqvist, Lindsay Brewer, Hayden Bradley, and Chase Buscaglia joined returning Pro’s James French, Pato O’Ward, Jacob Abel, Kyle Kirkwood, Kyffin Simpson, Tristan Vautier, Romain Grosjean, Glenn McGee, Sabre Cook, Marcus Armstrong, Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist, and of course, our Chairman, Sebastien Bourdais were ready to join teams sponsored by Cardio Access, Smith Realty, Downs Food Group, Wharf Restaurant, CSI Construction, Interyachting/Garage Italia, Bourbon Crashers, Tampa Bay Auto Museum, New Wave, Cyndeo Wealth/Dynasty Financial, Concussion Initiative, Compass Land Title, Intact Tech, O’Maddy’s, and AMD for our 13th Annual Kart 4 Kids Pro-Am Kart Race.

But first, our special guest, Maya reminded us just exactly why we were doing this. An outgoing, active, energetic 8 year old, one would never guess that she has had 2 heart transplants, one at 7 months, and one at age 7. The short video will give you the full story, and tear at your heartstrings.

Amateur practice was dry, as was pro qualifying, but our luck was not to last. After our drivers meeting and auction, the Pro’s started out on a dry track. It soon went rapidly from dry to wet, however. Keep in mind that these karts will not turn by steering on a wet track. The only way to get the kart to turn is to stab the brakes, let the kart begin to spin, then let off hopefully pointing in the right direction. The wildest race we have ever had was on!

All amateur stints were in various levels of wet conditions. Lap times were way up, as were spins. The Pro’s ended the race in a downpour, with Sebastien doing a beautiful pirouette as he was first across the finish line.

Despite the unpleasant conditions, there were huge grins all over the paddock as the overwhelming driver sentiment was that it was the most fun they ever had in a kart.

As the sun began to set (As if we could see it) and proceeds were added up, we had another record year at $330,000, putting us tantalizingly close to $2,000,000 cumulative donations to All Children’s.