Derek Daly, former Formula 1 and IndyCar driver and founder of the Derek Daly Academy, has created a new "Junior" program targeting young career-minded kart racers. The objective of the DDA Junior Program is to give direction to those young karters and their families and to best prepare the driver for the transition to racecars.
The program will be led by Nathan Brown, who has been a fixture of the North American karting scene for the past 20 years. Brown, who has been working internationally with young kart racers for the past 10 years, says he has witnessed many drivers and parents get lost in what they are trying to achieve in their kart racing, resulting in wasted time and money.
“I'm really excited about joining DDA and heading up the Junior program,” said Brown. “I respect what Derek is trying to achieve with his career development program and the next logical step was to include the young kart racers to ensure that they can take a shortcut to the knowledge and experience that they need when it comes time to move into the next phase of their career.”
The focus of the Junior program is to help prepare kart racers and their families for the transition from karting to racecars. Working with karters age 12 and up, the DDA Junior Program is about knowledge and experience transfer and helping to make good decisions in the final years of kart racing. It explains the steps that can be taken to ensure that a kart racer makes the most of his or her transition from karting to racecars. DDA is essentially making 40 years of experience available to a select few kart racers who have a dream of being a professional racecar driver.
“The Junior program is the brainchild of DDA partner Jeff Grist. I really like what the program can do for kart racers before they make the transition to racecars,” said Daly. “This is a very complex and difficult sport to succeed in at the highest levels. Parents tend to make emotional decisions when it comes to their kids and racing, especially in karting, mainly because of their lack of knowledge and experience. DDA wants to make that knowledge and experience available.
"Nathan is the ideal person as he has proven he really understands karting and how to move a driver from karts to racecars. Getting the athlete and the parents pointed in the right direction is so critical for the return on their investment. We have all seen far too many young racers fall short of their goals.”
For more information about the DDA Junior Program, call (905) 328-7458, or log on to www.derekdalyacademy.com.