INVADER KART

G.W. NELSON INVADER KART

THE INVADER STORY

The U.K produced Zip Kart Californian was the inspiration for the first INVADER karts and were imported to the U.S. by Jerry Knapp of Manteca Motors Sales (MMS). Rich Burton, who was the chief engine builder and tuner for MMS, traveled to the U.K. to scout out emerging karting technology. He was able to observe the Zip kart in action and a deal was cut to import them to the U.S.. The MMS team drove the Zips for the '72 competition year with success but were unimpressed with the durability of the chassis. The MMS team members, which included Jerry & David Knapp, Gary Nelson and Rich Burton decided to manufacture a chassis based on the ZIP design and the MMS INVADER kart was born. The Invader name was derived from the Douglas A-26 Invader ground attack aircraft from WW II. The 1973 Invaders were similar in design to the basic Zip chassis but the use of 4130 chromoly tubing and other design improvements made it a more durable kart. Invaders karts made their debut at the 1973 IKF Grand Nationals at Quincy and took home 3 Grand National Championships (Duffy's) and many 2nd place finishes.

Rich Burton left MMS in 1974 and went on to produce the Magnum kart which was a basically a Invader clone design with improvements. In 1975 the chassis side of the business at MMS was acquired by Gary Nelson who was doing business as G.W. Nelson and its subsidiary Nelson Manufacturing. All subsequent Invaders karts were built by the Nelson's. Under Gary Nelson leadership and later his son, Jeff Nelson, Invader karts went on to win numerous IKF and WKA Sprint, Road Race, Speedway national championships in the U.S. as well as the 1974 Hong Kong International World Championship with Howard Combee driving. Jeff Nelson became 1 of 5 drivers to win IKF National Championships in all three divisions, sprint, road race, & speedway. All of these were driving Invader chassis.

All G.W. Nelson (Nelson Manufacturing) Invaders were constructed by hand from 4130 chromoly aircraft quality tubing and the majority of all components were manufactured in house by CnC machinery. At one point, all of Emmick billet components were manufactured by Invader as well (contrary to all the talk of Invader and Emmick Enterprises being bitter enemies, they actually enjoyed a very good business relationship).

Invader did not stamp identification letters or numbers on their chassis's. The company did name the different chassis designs and this continued until the end of production in 2006. In approximately 1997-98 time frame they did start affixing a build-sheet/I.D. label that identified the year, make, and chassis model. Unfortunately, the labels were often removed by the owner, or fell off and few karts have them these days. A diagram on how to decode the label is listed below.

In 2007, most of the Invader tooling, tubing, and surplus weldments were purchased from Jeff Nelson by Jerry Van Deusen Jr of Van Deusen Racing. Included in the deal was the three Invader chassis fixtures for the Sprint/Road Race chassis, Cadet chassis, and Kid Kart. As part of a agreement among friends, Jerry would keep the Invader chassis fixtures in trust so that it would be available to the Nelson family should they want to resume manufacturing karts again in the future. After the purchase, Jerry reproduced a number of NOS 1980 vintage twin Starflex chassis's and some modern 2006 style Pro Works 025 chassis's.

In 2013, Jeff's son, Cole Nelson (Cole Nelson Racing), repurchased the Sprint chassis fixture from Jerry and started constructing new 025 Pro Works Invaders on a limited basis that were constructed to meet contemporary standards. These new Invaders have proven to be as potent on the track as any of the newer European style karts and as of August 2016, won a Grand National Championship (Duffy) in the 4 cycle Briggs & Stratton Masters class in Denton, Texas with Joe Senna driving. Presently and for the foreseeable future, Invader karts will continue to live on as a third generation Nelson leads the charge.

INVADER CHASSIS TIMELINE

Note: 024, 025, 026, 027, and 029 refers to the front width center to center of the king pins

1973- 80 Invader Sprint & Invader Pro - Std had welded front bumper, Pro was bolt on. Late 74 and early 75 had 2 curved tube lower steering mount, mid year 75 went to straight tube steering mount.

1981-88 Pro Invader, Dark Star, Star Flex

1989-90 Dark Star RT (often called a "waist chassis) (restricted tire) /SS (open tire),
Mirage KA (Kyle Adkins), Mirage AC (axle clutch), Mirage WC (world class)

1991-94  Pro 91.5 RT (2 rail restricted tire), Pro Works (3 rail), Mirage AC (3 rail), Ascot Speedway Chassis)

1995-99 (3 rail design) Pro Works 024, Pro Works 026, Pro Mirage, Pro AS/Speedway LTO, Pro IRP LTO)

2000-02  (3 rail design) Pro Works 024, Pro Works 025, Pro Works 026,
     Gear Works 80 & 125 (32 mm chassis)

2003-05  (new 4 rail design) Pro Works 024, Pro Works 025, Pro Works 026 (32mm front axle), Gear Works 80 & 125, (32mm chassis)

2006 Same as 03-05 models but have updated pedal, bumper mounts, and body work
Nelson Manufacturing Ends Production and closes shop after 33 years

2007   Van Deusen Racing, Jerry Van Deusen Jr acquires Invader tooling and produces a limited number of
   twin Starflex and Pro Works 025 chassis.

  2013-present   Cole Nelson Racing, Cole Nelson reacquires the frame fixture and starts producing limited production runs of the Invader Pro Works chassis updated to the current cik/fia standards)

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

Gary Nelson

Joe Senna's pole position SCREAMING EAGLE & DUFFY won on board an INVADER at the 2016 IKF Grand Nationals held at Denton, Texas. Tuner & Crew Chief: Cole Nelson.

Cole & Jeff Nelson

INVADER IDENTIFICATION 101

Please note, the info below is for standard Invaders as advertised and sold to the racer between 1973 and 2006. Occasionally there are exceptions because of R&D modifications and customer specified requirements. We own two such chassis's but generally speaking the info below will cover about 98 percent of all Invaders built. New 2014 and newer Invaders use different weldments and are not included.

1970's INVADERS:
Bearing Hanger Is One Piece flame cut and is designed for a 1" Axle flange. The flange bolt holes are 3" on center.

1980's INVADERS: There were three different hangers used in the 80's, I only have two to show for now. The first four bearing hangers above are flame cut, 3 pieces for 1 1/4 axles. The flange bolts are 3 5/8" on center. The bearing hangers on the yellow chassis are stamped steel and the brake caliper mount is a separate piece.

1990's INVADERS: Bearing hangers are stamped steel and are designed for bearing cassettes and support 1 1/4" - 1 3/8" axles. Brake caliper mount left bearing mount are one piece.

2000-2006 INVADERS: Stamped steel hangers for cassettes, 40mm - 50mm axles. Brake mount is Separate piece, All have lightening holes.

Vintage (73-88) & Classic (89-99) Invader Chassis Pictorial Timeline

INVADER IMPOSTERS

Home Of The World's Most Imitated Kart

Hey Buddy, wanna buy an Invader?

It would be an gross understatement to say Invader karts were "popular" in the karting world back in the early 70's through the 90's. Invader karts were so successful and selling so fast that some manufacturers began building near copies of the kart and marketing under their company name. Some are so close that even the people that were closely associated with Invader still get fooled or have to take a second hard look.

Here's just a few of the usual look alikes that pop up on the Facebook vintage sites...

INVADER ADVERTISING

VAN DEUSEN BUILT INVADER CHASSIS

Van Deusen Invaders were fabricated by Jerry Van Deusen Jr and built on the original Invader chassis fixture constructed by Gary Nelson. The fixture (pictured below) is totally reconfigurable that allows the fabricator to build any Invader chassis from 1973 to 2006, sprint & enduro. The chassis fixture was later sold back to the Nelson family and is in use today as Cole Nelson carries the Invader name into the future. We still own the Invader Cadet and Kid kart fixtures.The Cadet fixture has been converted to build full size Invaders like the original fixture for our future needs.