Rev Your Engines: Elkhart Grand Prix Returns For Another Year

ELKHART, Ind. -- The weather almost pumped the breaks on the fun for this year’s Elkhart Grand Prix.

Just a few hours ago, racers completed the first official pro competition race of the weekend.

Dried out, green flags waving, some racers have been waiting eagerly for this moment.

“It’s a bucket list race for me. Getting the trophy and tonight there’s a little bit of cash on the line in the pro race so I’d love to make a little extra dough,” says Joseph Rapp, a competitor from this evening.

Joseph Rapp has been racing go karts for the last eleven years. Rapp doesn’t regret the decision to leave sports as a kid for the racetrack.

The track gave Rapp a chance to do something that fits his qualifications.

“Cheapest amount of fun you can have and the most amount of on track time you can have is in a go kart,” Joseph Rapp continued.

Out of the 200 completion drivers, some racing fans might recognize a few of them.

“Today which is the best day of them all. We have the mayors race,” Rod Roberson, Mayor of Elkhart laughed.

Bragging rights were up for grabs as the twelve local mayors from across the region hit the track to start the weekend off.

The weekend drives traffic to the area with 6 to 10 thousand visitors each year.

“We can get upwards to at least a couple of millions of dollars of impact to our city,” Roberson says and credits it to the people staying in the hotels and supporting local businesses and restaurants.