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Pete Johnston is considered
to be the most exciting driver in outlaw sprint kart racing
today. Well liked by his fellow drivers, especially the
youngsters in the lower classes, Pete has a driving style that
reminds many of Jac Haudenschild or Tim Kaeding in sprint cars.
“Pistol Pete,” as he is known, is compared to the aforementioned
drivers because he gives everything he has every lap. As a
consequence Johnston has won well over 50 features events in a
career that began at the age of 7 in outlaw kart racing’s
beginner class, box stocks.
With a modest beginning in box stocks,
Johnston’s talent began to appear in the significantly more
powerful 125cc division. The Red Bluff, California native won
his first championship at the age of 14 when he captured the
very competitive Red Bluff Winter Indoor Series. Victories
began to mount as he won both the Win River Casino Bash and the
Yamaha Cup Perpetual Trophy at Red Bluff in the late nineties.
At the age of fifteen Johnston moved into
the top outlaw kart class, the 500cc Open division, where the
power to weight ratio compares to a 360 sprint car, and
continued to win there. In the Open Division, Johnston fast
developed a knack for passing and coming from the back as he has
become legendary for making runs from the E or F main at Red
Bluff and making the A-Feature. In fact, in 2004, the Pistol
completed the feat with a run from the F-main to the win in the
A-main over the toughest competition on the west coast.
In 2001, at the age of 16, Pistol Pete
tried his hand in the IMCA Modified Division at the paved Shasta
Speedway quarter mile track in Anderson, California, and was
able to garner a feature win in only five attempts. In 2002 Pete
returned full time to the outlaw karts and began an amazing run
with the Gary Owens Motorsports team as, at one point, he won
four out of five main events at the fastest outlaw kart track,
Cycleland Speedway, near Chico, California, where speeds
approach 90 mph.
Along the way Johnston has earned a
reputation for being very adept at qualifying as he has held
many track records over the course of his career. He is also
well known for doing whatever it takes to finish a race as he
has driven with one hand while holding his wing on, again
steering with one hand while pulling on the throttle cable when
the cable broke at the pedal, and incredibly advancing from 22nd
to 3rd with the front left tire and wheel missing.
During 2004 Pistol Pete split his time in
outlaw karts with his first foray into sprint cars, racing
weekly at the famous Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, where the
World of Outlaws contend each September to be crowned the
prestigious Gold Cup Champion. Driving the Garth E. Moore
Insurance and Financial Services sprint car that lacked a
regular crew chief, Pete, nonetheless, was able to show his
considerable talents as he won several heat races and earned
many top tens at California’s only weekly 410 sprint car track.
Unfortunately, the sprint car was sold at
the end of the season and Pete has returned to his roots, the
Outlaw Sprint Karts. Luckily for Johnston, he has landed a top
ride in the karts as he is now a part of the newest factory team
in outlaw sprint karting, SKE – Sprint Karts Enterprises.
Joining with SKE house kart driver 5 time champion Tyler Reddick
(box stock/125cc) and OKS Illinois Nationals champion Kyle
Beattie (open division) Pistol Pete is primed to have a banner
year in 2005 with the driver eyeing championships at Cycleland
Speedway and on the All Star Tour, the west coast’s outlaw
sprint kart’s version of the World of Outlaw Tour. Also, this
year Johnston and the SKE team will make an all out effort to be
crowned the champions of the biggest of all events, The Knoxville
Outlaw Kart Nationals, at English Creek Speedway, during the
week of the Knoxville Sprint Car Nationals in August.
SKE is proud to have a driver of Pete’s
caliber join the team and looks forward to an exciting
association that should see Pistol Pete Johnston and SKE Outlaw
Sprint Karts in victory lane many times in 2005.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1995 Chico Golden
State Championship race 125cc - 3rd Place
1997 Red Bluff
Winter Indoor Series 125cc Yamaha Trophy Winner
1998 Red Bluff
Winter Indoor Series 500cc Open Intermediate Win River Winter
Bash
1998/99 Red Bluff
Winter Indoor Series 125cc Champion
1999 Cycleland
Speedway 125cc Champion
1999 Cycleland
Speedway 500cc Open Intermediate – 2nd Place
1999 Oregon
Indoor Nationals 125cc Champion
1999 Oregon
Indoor Nationals 500cc Open – 3rd Place
1999/2000 Red
Bluff Winter Indoor Series 125cc Champion
1999/2000 Red
Bluff Winter Indoor Series 500cc Open Intermediate – 2nd
Place
2003 Cycleland
Speedway 500cc Open Division – 4th Place
2004/2005 Red
Bluff Winter Indoor Series 500cc Open Division – 4th
Place
TRACK
RECORDS
1998/99 Red Bluff
Winter Indoor Series 125cc
1998/99 Red Bluff
Winter Indoor Series 500cc Open Intermediate
1999 Cycleland
Speedway 125cc
1999/2000 Red
Bluff Winter Indoor Series 125cc
1999/2000 Red
Bluff Winter Indoor Series 500cc Open Intermediate
2001 Red Bluff
500 Open Division
2004 Red Bluff
500 Open Division
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