Kit Henry's Dart Kart
(Click an image to see full-size JPEG)
Kit Henry's Rupp Dart Kart is believed to be one of the very early models, and had been in the family since new. It is currently being disassembled to be rebuilt for use by the family's fourth generation of karters.The story behind the kart is as interesting as the kart itself and is told here in Kit's own words:own words
:
"My father Chuck Henry was an SCCA road racer in the 50's and 60's until his untimely demise in a racing accident in 1961 at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. He and Mickey Rupp knew each other through road racing. My father was a go-karter and owned a very nice paved go-kart road course on the edge of Bellevue Ohio. At the time he invited Mickey Rupp up to run the karts, he was selling Go Karts from California. Mickey became interested from this experience and patterned the Dart Karts after the Go Karts that my father was building and selling. My father then began building and selling the Dart Karts from Rupp Manufacturing in Mansfield Ohio.
This is the story as I know it, and supposedly the kart we have is to be one of the early models. I have never been able to verify this story as actually accurate, as many people including my parents are no longer with us."
Read an old article, with photos, about Chuck Henry's track:
Kit would like any information re Mickey Rupp. Is he alive and does anyone know how to contact him? (Post a message in the Vintage Karts Readers' Forum)
