PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
BEHIND THE SCENES … Cole Huard stands beside his go-kart chassis in his indoor garage following the O’Reilly Auto Parts National Indoor Kart Championship held over the Thanksgiving Day weekend in Batesville, Mississippi.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
Cole Huard has made quite a reputation throughout the go-kart racing circuit, where he’s steadily established himself among the best drivers in the United States.
Having been involved in the sport since 2017, the Edgerton High School senior is coming off one of his best performances over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, competing in the prestigious 35th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts National Indoor Kart Championship, which took place in Batesville, Mississippi.
Currently, he has amassed over 180 career victories in the sport and broke several records in the National Indoor Kart Championships last year.
The road to success for Huard began as a seventh grader at Edgerton Middle School, where he played basketball, football, and baseball for the Bulldogs, but his mindset changed when he decided to pursue go-kart racing.
His passion for go-karts blossomed when his father, Tony Huard, who is a race enthusiast and a huge fan of the NASCAR and Indy Racing Series, would take him to the former Stateline Speedway in Edon to watch the races.
“My dad took me over there (Stateline Speedway) a few times before, and we watched some of the races,” said Huard. “It was neat to see because my dad was big into racing, and it was always pretty big in the family.”
Getting his start in go-kart racing was important because his father knew a couple of his racing buddies who said they could help him out with his new venture.
“At the time, my best other sport was baseball,” Huard said. “I made a decision either to do travel baseball or do the racing thing.
“Then my mom (Sara) kind of stood up and said, ‘You’re getting older’ because I was seven years old at the time, which is an average age to start racing.”
After he decided to give a shot at go-kart racing, his successful racing career got underway in 2017.
In his first two years, he competed in a caged go-kart that had a roll cage above it and a six-point seat belt before moving up at the end of his second year to a flat car for the first time, which he currently drives.
“You lay down more in the flat car despite not having any seat belts, and you’re going about sixty miles an hour,” he said.
“If you flip, you’re supposed to get launched from it, so you’re not getting trapped in it and get rolled on top of it.”
One of the key aspects of go-kart racing involving the car itself, as well as parts and other equipment, is tires, which Huard uses two different brands of tires, Burris and Maxx, for racing purposes.
“In the Midwest, we run Burris tires, and then on the East Coast we run Maxx tires, and each tire is different,” he said.
“A Maxx tire is more like made of like plastic materials, so you must use these chemicals to wipe on the tires, so you’ll be out in the shop and (the tires will) be wiped with a prep pad.
“Some tracks are raced on real bright red clay, so you’ll have to use this chemical on the tire to stick. When we race at Daytona, it’s mainly sand, and you must use all this other stuff. We just got back from Batesville, Mississippi, and it was pretty sandy and rough dirt down there.”
Competing in the prestigious O’Reilly Auto Parts National Indoor Kart Championship, Huard described as the biggest in the world.
“It’s one of my favorite tracks to race,” said Huard, who had also competed in Batesville in 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
He pointed out that there were 1,500 entries competing over the Thanksgiving weekend, with 100 entries in each class.
Huard competed in the Clone Light Division, in which the weight of the driver and go-kart had to weigh 325 pounds.
“Since I’m lighter and when I get into the go-kart, I’ll add a bunch of LED pucks everywhere on the side of the seat and meet that requirement,” said Huard. “Most of the main event stuff, like the pro races, are 350 or 375.”
Huard said that he had a pretty good weekend in Batesville, where he competed in five different classes featuring between 50 and 70 entries in each class.
It was a busy weekend where Huard competed in five races on the first day, four more races on the second day, and three Colone elite races on the final day, which also paid $3,400 to win.
On the first day, he qualified fourth in the Lite Division and ended up with a championship; qualified sixth in the Medium Division with a fifth-place finish.
He followed up with a pair of second-place qualifying finishes in the Elite Medium and Elite Heavy divisions, where he finished seventh and third, respectively.
In the Medium Division, he qualified sixth and was fifth in the Lite Division before ending up with a pair of runner-up finishes in both divisions.
“We did pretty good for again there being 50 or 60 go-karts in each class,” said Huard. “It wasn’t as great as last year.
“Last year, we won all three races on the first day and won like $11,000, which is something that nobody has ever done there before.”
Being a highly successful pro go-kart racer doesn’t go unnoticed for the younger Huard, but he credits his father (Tony), his mother (Sara), and his younger sister (Elle) for providing the support he needs to become successful on the go-kart track.
“They definitely helped a lot,” said Huard. “My dad (Tony) started this off, and then my mom (Sara) has always been there to support me and all the races. She’s come to pretty much all of them until last year or two.
“She was there last weekend (Batesville), and she might be able to go down to Daytona. With my sister, Elle, who is involved in high school sports, it’s really hard to leave the house and leave our pets alone, not having anybody home for almost five or six days.
“Sometimes her (Sara) and Elle would stay home and just run Elle around with her sports. It’s just hard for her (Elle) to go to the track sometimes, but she still goes to the bigger races if she can.
“She (Elle) always supported me and knows what I like. If I ever want to stop doing it, she wouldn’t be mad because as long as I’m happy.”
He then added, “If you had somebody that does your tires and just works on everything, just as much you want to race, then you’re going to be really successful.
“Because I know a lot of kids that love it, but their parents are just kind of lazy and don’t want to do it.
“That’s why their parents won’t really be involved if they just have the money and pay somebody to do their tires and work on the go-kart and keep it at their house instead. Thankfully, Dad loves it just as much as I do.”
Huard has already been approached about potential future driving opportunities involving sprint cars, midgets, and late model cars.
“I definitely want to keep racing and still like to keep doing the dirt track stuff,” he pointed out.
“Whether it’s like a dirt late model or an asphalt late model or asphalt sprint car, it doesn’t really matter to me.
“If somebody is going to give me that offer, that’s fine, and I’ll take it and be very thankful to take that, and just all the people that helped me, like 40 or 50 plus sponsors.”
