The Long History of the SKUSA Supernats

Over the past few years, the SuperKarts! USA championship, also known as SKUSA, has established itself as one of the most competitive karting championships in the world alongside the CIK-FIA European and World Championships, and one-make championships such as the IAME series. Furthermore, it has also become the premiere karting event in North America with over 500 drivers competing in different classes every year. But while Formula 1 has the Monaco Grand Prix, IndyCar, the Indy 500, and NASCAR with the Daytona 500, SKUSA too, has a crown jewel race held annually. That race is known as the SKUSA Supernats or Supernationals.

But before we dive deeper into the long history of the prestigious race, we must first learn how SKUSA, the organization that has created this race, managed to establish itself as one of the leading organizers of karting championships across North America.

SKUSA would be established in the east coast of the United States and make its start in 1994 with the help of motorsports commentator Ken Getchell, who took a liking to shifter karts that at the time, were only just being introduced to the American motorsport community. Ownership of SKUSA would later be passed down too many people who each have made significant improvements to SKUSA. One of these people is Tom Kutscher, who established the southern California based championship known as the ProKart challenge, which to this day is still being held. However, before Tom Kutscher, it was Don Janowski who was in charge. During his time, he sought the assistance of Tim Murley. And it was through their partnership that they created the SuperNationals race in 1997, the race that we all know today,

Every year, drivers from all over the world gather in Las Vegas and race for victory, glory, and a massive payout, with the winner in the senior class winning over $15,000 in 2022! This race has seen many big names participate in this race over different classes. The biggest name in Formula 1 history, is none other than Michael Schumacher who raced in the KZ category back in 2009. In fact, newly crowned IndyCar champion Will Power competed in the 23^rd running of the SuperKarts SuperNationals and will once again be competing in this year’s event. Two names who you may recognize have also competed in this race, that being Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. While they did not face each other on track, both were able to achieve incredible results winning races, but a mechanical fault robbed Verstappen of the win. Professional karters who have not climbed the motorsport ladder beyond the karting stage, have too seen success in this event including Danny Formal, Ryan Norberg, Marjin Kremers, Marco Ardigo and David Sera achieving wins and podiums.

Nowadays, the championship is being ran by Tom and Patti Kutscher, with the former being the same person who organized the ProKart challenge all those years ago. And in just a few weeks from now, SKUSA will once again hold the Supernationals for the 25^th time. The event will be held over the course of 4 days from November 16 to November 20 at the Rio-All Suites Casino.

If you want to learn more about the race, all information relevant to this event can be found at https://www.superkartsusa.com/national/skusa-supernationals.html