The Ed Shaughnessy collection of kart racing pictures

Many years ago Ed Shaughnessy gave me a collection of negatives that he shot at kart races in the early 1960’s at Westwood Racing Circuit and the Richmond Kart Track. Ed was one of the founding members of the Westwood Karting Association. His family, two sons and a daughter, raced both enduro and sprint races into the 1970’s. Ed never raced himself that I remember but he did take pictures which we can be thankful for.

The idea was that I would make prints and have some sort of archive so members of the Westwood Karting Association and others could see what the beginnings of the sport looked like. Printing the negatives was a simple task despite them not being of the best quality. The problem was making them available for people to see. I had to wait until the internet was invented.

A lot of things in the sport have changed since the 1960’s and the pictures reflect a simpler time; direct drive twins, push karts, dry clutches, drum brakes, tires so hard they lasted two or three seasons, and powder puff races.

Some of the people you will see in the pictures include Bob Whitehead, his wife Madge Whitehead, Bob Randall, Hilda Randall, John Randall, Tony Craig, Terry Craig, Bev Craig, Tats Gatley, Frank Musil, Ralph Oakes, Ron Curties, Lloyd Jensen, Dennis Carsen, Ron Schmidt, Brian McGinty, John Leslie , the Johnson family of Len, Rick and Daphne, Bob Leffler and Bob Lougheed. There are, of course, many more people in the pictures but I’ve forgotten their names. It was a long time ago. If you recognize anyone in these pictures or find mistakes please send me an email so I can make the changes.

The pictures are here at Miscellaneousphotographs.pixieset.com

Updated: September 16, 2020 — 6:41 pm