After suffering a devastating loss during the Superkarts! USA (SKUSA) SpringNationals in early May at the Dallas Karting Complex (DKC), CRG West has been hard at work rebuilding their premier Western Canadian operation. With an electrical fire sparking a large fire within the team’s stacker trailer, the damage was significant enough to declare the trailer a total loss. Also losing their tent, equipment, inventory and personal items within the trailer, CRG West has vowed to rebuild, and plans are already underway as the team continues to support their loyal customers and continues to attend events on their 2014 calendar.
Team CRG West owners, Danny and Amy Kacic, would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped during this ordeal.
Kacic stated, “The sport of karting tends to bring out the worst and the best in people, racing is a very emotional sport and racers wear their emotions on their sleeves; during this ordeal we definitely got to see the best of people. It was actually a little bit shocking to us to see how many people genuinely cared and wanted to help. We want to give a special thanks to Claudio Valiante, from Italian Motors, who took some of our customer chassis back to the Northwest for us. Mr. Valiante even missed his flight to take the extra time to help us pack the chassis. Thank you also to Rhonda Mims-Brown, whom we had never met before, for going out of her way to drive us to a hotel the night of the fire and then come back and drive some of our family members to the airport the next day. A very special thank you to Daryle Redlin for letting the team use his personal trailer for all our races until we get our trailer situation sorted out. We also would like to give a special thanks to the staff at the Dallas Karting Complex as well as the SKUSA staff.”
CRG West’s recovery efforts are already underway, with a new team trailer on order with a sleek new graphics design. The team has also been back on track at West Coast Kart Club (WCKC) and Can-Am ProKart Challenge events, functioning without their normal setup.
“Obviously this has been a difficult time for CRG West, however, we have vowed that this setback will not slow us down,” continued Kacic. “Team CRG West will still be attending all the same events originally scheduled back at the beginning of the year. We will not be missing any events because of this fire. The rebuilding of CRG West is well underway and we are taking this opportunity to rebuild bigger, better, and stronger. The new hauler should be ready in the next few weeks and the team will have the opportunity to use it for the first time at the SKUSA SummerNationals in Modesto, California.”
Looking on the bright side, CRG West and the Kacics have used this unfortunate incident to refocus on their business and the sport they love, and also re-evaluate how to run their operation efficiently and productively.
“We are very happy with the way things have been going over the last five years but that does not mean that we cannot do some things better,” concluded Kacic. “We have taken time since the fire to completely re-evaluate our trailer functionality. We have decided to take this opportunity to re-design the new trailer so we can be more efficient and provide a better track side support system to service our race team and retail customers at a much higher level.”
As CRG West continues to evaluate internally, more exciting changes are to come and will be announced soon. Photos and videos of the fire can be seen on CRG West’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/CRGWest and additional videos can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_TJwnUtEHY.
For more information on CRG West, dealer inquires, CRG West services including insurance and storage, tuning services, driver support system, transportation services, driving training and leasing programs, or for more information on CRG West’s product lines, please visit them online at www.crgwest.ca, or contact them at info@crgwest.ca or call 250.979.8051. Also be sure to ‘like’ the CRG West Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CRGWest.
