EMMICK KART

Express

Arrow III

Elite

Gary Emmick most likely started designing and developing his own kart chassis in the 1971-72 time-frame, but the first documented showing for the Emmick Lightning karts was at the 1973 Quincy Nationals where Ron brought home an IKF National Championship (Later known as a Duffy) in rookie Jr (number 1 of 40 total IKF National Championship wins), Linda finished 3rd in Rookie Sr, and Gary finished 8th in C-Open.

A side by side comparison of the mid sixties Tecno kart and the first year Lightning clearly reveals the inspiration for the first Emmick European style sidewinder chassis. The first Emmick Lightnings were very similar in design and dimensions of the Tecno kart but included some seat mounting design elements of the then recently imported 1972 Zip Californian . From 1968 to 1972, Emmick Enterprises was sponsored by Margay. Prior to Margay he drove the vastly superior Italian designed Tecno karts, which influenced his future Lightning chassis designs. Unfortunately, Gary passed away on a business trip in 1985 leaving Linda and Ron to carry on Emmick Enterprises.

Last but not least, We need to take time to acknowledge the Team Emmick members and drivers that performed the day to day business of fabricating, assembling and testing this fantastic line of racing karts and whom also brought home many wins and national championships. Here's just a few of them:

1967-1975 Larry Tobin, initial co-owner and team driver in the founding of Emmick Enterprises during the Margay sponsorship years. Larry spearheaded the Emmick McCulloch engine program and was a top contender in B-Stock for many years. In 1971 he won the Eastern Sprint Winternationals in B-Stock taking all three heats racing against the likes of Art Lipp, Pearl Gamble, and Lou Smiley among other top contenders. Upon leaving Emmick Enterprises in 1975 he started Larry's McCulloch Service in Pasco, Washington.

1972-1977 Steve Kemp, Team Driver, fabrication and welding. Steve bent up and welded every Emmick chassis from Lightning to the Thunder. He is also the 1975 125cc Mac IKF National Champion.

1979-2006 Vince Puleo, Team Driver, fabrication & welding, engine building & modification, and prototype/production chassis testing. Vince was certainly the longest serving employee/team driver at Emmick Enterprises, in addition to driving under the Emmick banner, he worked as a chassis builder for the first year building the Lightning II and then Arrow I chassis'. During his tenure at Emmick Enterprises Vince won 8 IKF National Championships and won the WKA Road Race at Daytona International Raceway. He also has many other significant wins that are not mentioned here.

1974-1993 Ralph Stern, Machinist, Fabrication, welding, parts expediter, chassis production and assembly

19??-19?? Doug Sharp, Team Driver

19??-19?? Greg Peterson, Team Driver, Expansion chamber fabricator

19??-19?? Tim Green, Team Driver, 1975 IKF National Champion

1964-2006 John Rugani, Team Driver, engine and chassis development, 2004 Hawaii State Champion, 82 IKF Regional Champion, many club championships and local wins.

1985-1996 Joey Hand, Team Driver, 6 IKF National Championships, Emmick Enterprises was his first step into a successful professional auto racing career.

***Many thanks to the following contributors***
VKA member Ron Emmick
VKCA member Frankie Schaffier
VKA member Jeff Brown   jeffbrownvintagekarting.com

**All the presented information has been put together from personal knowledge, advertisements (of which there are very few), Emmick employee's themselves, and various bits and pieces of  info gleaned from many forums. Every effort is made to insure the information provided on this site is as close to 100% accurate as possible. If you would like to help with this project, please email me through the contact page with your information.**

THE EMMICK CHASSIS TIMELINE

Note: All 1973 Lightning through 1979 Lightning II Emmicks were available in short, standard, & long configurations. All subsequent chassis's from Arrow on were one size. (excluding cadet and kid karts)

73-75 Lightning

All 1" axle, 23" between kingpin centers, standard model has welded front bumper, pro model is bolt on front bumper, stainless steel front & rear bumpers, 73 uses bronze upper steering bushing, 73 fuel tank mounted behind seat, 73 inverted gull wing tie rods, 73 outer frame rails narrow towards the front. 74-75 Seat Struts & floor mount fuel tank, 74-75 straight tie rods, 74-75 third rail design changed, 74-75 has heim joint upper steering attachment,Early 75 had curved steering column like 74, was later straight column. 74-75 frame rails are straight

76-77 Thunder

23" between kingpin centers, 1" axle, narrow curved removable steering column uprights, heim joint upper steering attachment, stainless steel front & rear bumpers, wrap around side nerf bars, seat struts, floor mount fuel tank

78-79 Lightning II

Virtually identical to the Thunder, straight removable steering column uprights, Emmick aluminum wheels standard, seat cover has two single Lightning bolts.

79-81 Arrow I, II, III

Totally new chassis design from previous models. Arrow chassis was designed after concepts picked up from 1979 Hong Kong race. Chassis's available in one size only. Very early Arrow had a 1" axle, the later production Arrow came standard with a 1.25" axle and were known as the Big Axle kart. 23" between kingpin centers, bolt on front & rear bumpers, center mounted 3rd bearing & brake mount, very early Arrow's used Lightning II aluminum tank, all other Arrow's had floor mounted plastic fuel tank, nylon upper and lower steering bushings, seat cover had one red downward pointing arrow.

82-84 Star

1.25" axle, 26" between kingpin centers, chassis stamped w/ID, K bars added to center section of chassis, third rail design change, aluminum fuel tank (early Star's had Arrow plastic tank), long nerf bars midway thru production, seat cover had a red star.

84-85 Elite

28" between kingpin centers, chassis stamped w/ID, nerfs to accommodate side pods

86-88 Express

28" between kingpin centers,chassis stamped w/ID, has tubular 5/16" gusset welded in on the front of the axle bearing hangars, adjustable front seat mounts. Small number of chassis's built with 4th rail and center brake, used with high HP and axle clutch.

    89-90
   Talon SL Hard Tire, 24 1/4" kingpin centers, winter chassis, got soft in summer heat, difficult to handle
Falcon 26" Kingpin centers, 2 bearing hangers, welded waist K bars, Hard tire
  Pro International    Open Tire, 3 bearing hangers, Adjustable waist torsion bars
   Pro 125   Open Tire

  91-93
   Cobra                     Open Tire
   Monza Open Tire, Unique 2 position caster adjuster
   Falcon II 2 bearing hangers, Adjustable waist torsion bars
   Pro International    3 bearing hangers, Adjustable waist torsion bars
   Pro 125    3 bearing hangers, Adjustable waist torsion bars
   Top Gun Road Race sit-up, 42" Wheelbase

  94-95
   Firebird    SL hard tire. Basically Express chassis except 26" kingpin centers, entry level budget chassis.

  96-98
   Firebird    Same as above. Entry level budget chassis
   Cobra Open tire
   Viper I Open tire
   Viper II    SL hard tire. w/torsion bar
   Viper III SL hard tire/3 Bearing & 80 3Bearing Open tire
   Top Gun   Road Race sit-up 42" Wheelbase

98-99
   Python    Good summer chassis, good on warm track

00-01 Venom I    Open tire

01-02 Venom II Hard Tire

03-04
   Eagle                        Open tire
Intimidator 125    Open Tire

  05-06 Patriot             Open Tire

  07-08 Avenger          Open Tire

  2009 Eclipse Pro, Open Tire
                                                              Ron & Linda close operations at Emmick Enterprises
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  2010 New ownership: David Gwin DBA: EMMICK COBRA RACING & EMMICK/GSR RACING
      2010 Cobra
2011 Eclipse, and GSR Pro (all metric chassis)
2012 Outlaw Pro

Note: Invader, Emmick, & Trackmagic used 1 3/8" axles from approximately 1997-1999 before moving to the more popular 40 mm axle.
Emmick blue chassis color: Pontiac Bristol Blue

IDENTIFYING EMMICK CHASSIS

From the 1973 Lightning until the 1979 Lightning II, all Emmick chassis' were available in three sizes, Short (to 5'6" driver), Standard (5'6" to 6' driver), & Long (over 6' tall) and could be built with one of three different front bumper styles. The early chassis' '73 to '77 with bolt on front bumpers are Pro Lightnings and Pro Thunders, the welded bumpers are considered the standard chassis. There was also a couple different steering column/hoop styles on the Lightnings and Thunders. Starting with the Arrow, the chassis' were of one common size. There were always plenty of prototype chassis leaning against the walls. Most of the time these prototypes ended up being sold and are one offs from the standard production chassis. Some may still be out there to be recovered.

All the early Emmick karts used the small side nerf bars until the longer nerf bars started showing up on the later 1981 Arrow III's. Emmick started stamping an ID number on the left bearing hanger and/or steering up rights starting in 1982 with the Star series i.e. S123, Elite series i.e. EL-861 etc. The earlier chassis may or may not have any identifying stamps.

*According to Linda & Ron, the serial numbers were obscured if possible to prevent being ground off by thieves. In most cases they will be on the left bearing hanger or on the brake caliper mount. Linda said that the ID’s on the steering hoop of earlier chassis's were frequently ground off or obscured by multiple repaints….

Left Bearing Hanger. I.D. code = EL-866 This is an ELITE chassis.

Stamping on a 76-77 Emmick Thunder Twin.

Stamping behind brake caliper if not found on left bearing hanger. This is an Emmick Falcon chassis.

Stamping on bearing hanger of a Emmick Cobra chassis.

On chassis's from 1982 forward the Identification stamp can be found on the brake bearing hanger or behind the brake caliper. The stamping "KIC 90" usually found on the right bearing hanger refers to the Karting Industry Council and is not an I.D. marking.

IDENTIFYING EMMICK BEARING HANGERS

Vintage Emmick Chassis ID Stamp Location
1973-1988

L   (Lightning) (Steering column if stamped)
TD  (Thunder) (Right side of steering column stub)
AC (Arrow I, II and III) (Steering column bar or cross-member)
AD   (Arrow III Twin)         (Steering column bar or cross-member)
S   (Star) (Brake Bearing Hanger)
EL (Elite)        (Brake Bearing Hanger)
                                                       EX (Express)    (Brake Bearing Hanger)
---------------------------------------

Classic to Modern Emmick Chassis ID Stamp (Located on the brake bearing hanger)
1990-2009

EK (Kadet Mini Kart) Cadet class 35.5 wheelbase
T (Talon) winter chassis, chassis got soft in summer heat. Difficult to handle
ES  (Top Gun) Road Race Sit-up chassis
C (Cobra)
M   (Monza) 2 position caster adjustment feature
F   (Falcon & Falcon II) 2 bearing hangers, 26" King pin center hard tire The Falcon features solid waist K-bars, while the Falcon II offers adjustable waist clamps.
FP (Falcon Pro International-Chassis) has 3 bearing hangers
FB (Fire Bird)
V (Viper I) soft tire chassis
VV   (Viper II SL) YDS hard tire, (Viper III SL) with 3rd bearing for axle clutch, YDS hard tire (Viper III 80cc Shifter) soft tire
YE (Euro Viper) (Viper derivative chassis designed for German racing team, 7 examples built)
KY ( Similar appearance to Venom, not 100% sure what this chassis is)
Y (Venom)
P     (Python) Soft tire chassis, good summer chassis, good on warm track
EL   (Elite)
EH  (Eagle)
EE (Eagle 80cc Shifter)
EX (Express) 28" King pin center soft tire
I & IN  (Intimidator 125) soft tire
PA (Patriot)
A (Avenger)
EY (Eclipse)
EP (Eclipse Pro)

VINTAGE & CLASSIC EMMICK REFERENCE PICTURES

1973 EMMICK LIGHTNING

1975 EMMICK LIGHTNING

1978-79 EMMICK LIGHTNING II

1979 EMMICK LIGHTNING II

1979 Lightning II. Stock with exception of painting on tank and floorpan.

1979 Lightning II

Dave Borkowski's rare Howard Combee
Early Production
1979 EMMICK ARROW I

1982-83 EMMICK STAR

1974 EMMICK LIGHTNING

1976-77 EMMICK THUNDER

1979-81 EMMICK ARROW I, II, III

1983 EMMICK STAR WEIGHT JACKER

1984-85 EMMICK ELITE

NEWER CLASSIC TO MODERN EMMICK CHASSIS 1986 - 2009

1986-88 EMMICK EXPRESS

1991-93 EMMICK MONZA

1991-93 EMMICK COBRA

1994-95 EMMICK FIREBIRD

1996-98 EMMICK VIPER I

2001-02 EMMICK VENOM II

2003-04 EMMICK INTIMIDATOR

2009 EMMICK ECLIPSE PRO

EMMICK SEAT COVERS

1990-93 EMMICK FALCON & FALCON II

1996-98 EMMICK COBRA

1996-98 EMMICK TOP GUN

1996-1998 EMMICK VIPER III

2001-02 EMMICK VENOM I SL

2005-06 EMMICK PATRIOT

1989-90 EMMICK TALON

1991-93 EMMICK PRO INTERNATIONAL

1996-98 EMMICK "Y code" EURO VIPER

1998-99 EMMICK PYTHON

2003-04 EMMICK EAGLE 80 SHIFTER

2007-08 EMMICK AVENGER

Emmick Advertising & Photo's

EMMICK Website captures 1995-2005

1994 EMMICK CATALOG