The Big One is an event dedicated to remembering and preserving the karts and engines of American manufacture which were raced from 1956 to 1972, a period that many would say was the halcyon days of American karting. The gathering has been running continuously for seventeen years and is always held over the American Labor Day weekend holiday.

REPORT AND PHOTOS: FRANK WEIR

THE BIG ONE 2018 - Fremont Raceway Park Fremont Ohio USA, 1st and 2nd September 2018

THE 2018 BIGGIE WINNERS, L TO R, TED TINE 1967 MARGAY NEW BREED/MC91B1, BOB WATKINS 1960 YELLOW JACKET /WEST BEND 580, JOHN MCCORVEY 1959 DAVID BRADLEY RACER/CLINTON A500 AND KYLE MOODY 1961 EVANS FLYWEIGHT/ MCCULLOCH MC20.

Ted Tine’s Biggie Winner, a 1967 Margay New Breed/McCulloch MC91B1.

Jack Murray’s new original stock Percival Wildcat/Clinton A400 circa 1960.

What started out as a few enthusiasts getting together to enjoy their old karts in 2001 has become one of the biggest vintage karting events in America if not the world, and this year saw another bumper attendance. The meeting is two days of sideways sliding fun on the picturesque quarter mile asphalt track constructed in June 1961 by the Hasselbach family in the small town of Fremont Ohio roughly half way between Toledo and Cleveland. There’s no actual all out racing, just plenty of hot laps. Any American manufactured kart and engine up to 1972, as well as home built and replicas are welcome. The engine must be 2 cycle, located behind the seat and be fan cooled. Hard skinny tyres, dry shoe clutch and pipe or oil shoe clutch and can muffler are allowed. The event slogan is ‘Run em the way they ran em’.