As the summer rolls along, the high-speed corners of Rimrock Raceway in Odessa are providing a fun experience for racing enthusiasts in West Texas.
Since its grand opening in 2019, Rimrock Raceway has brought high-level, open-to-the-public karting back to the area for the first time in many years.
“My grandparents actually did rentals back in the 90s, so I decided to jump in,” Rimrock Raceway owner Scott Cherry said. “We went out, tried to find somewhere to watch and there wasn’t anything, couldn’t get into bowling, so I was like, ‘Let’s do a go-kart track.’
“Here we are.”
The raceway features imported rental karts from Italy that run between 50-60 miles per hour, which allows anyone to get a taste of speed.
In addition to club races through the West Texas Karting Association, Rimrock Raceway also hosts a series that everyone can get in on.
“We do league night [Thursdays], and I’ve got a group that’s here almost every week,” Cherry said.
While the track has been around for many years, Cherry and his team have made numerous adjustments to better the experience for racers.
“I’ve added to the track, lighted it, made some runoff room, made a lot of improvements,” Cherry said. “We’ve made a lot of improvements. From day one to now, you’d never believe it.”
One of the facility’s latest improvements is its Victory Lane Bar, which was completed in 2020.
The venue allows attendees to escape the West Texas heat while enjoying a drink in the racing-themed establishment.
In addition to that, the facility also has been hosting live music every weekend to give patrons another enjoyable aspect as they cruise around.
Like many small businesses, Rimrock Raceway has had to overcome a number of challenges since it got up and running.
Getting the word out has been one of those issues.
“Just getting people to be aware that we’re out here. Facebook, Instagram we’ve done a lot of,” Cherry said. “We’ve done radio, but it’s hard.”
Cherry added that many members of the community were shocked when they found out that Odessa offered something like Rimrock Raceway when it first opened.
“They were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have a go-kart track! I didn’t know we had a kart track, I didn’t know y’all were open,’” Cherry said. “Every day I had new customers.”
The racetrack also had to get through the struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID, getting karts, getting stuff from Italy is not easy,” Cherry said. “Getting stuff now is worse, I can’t get some of my parts and it’s scary.”
Despite the challenges sparked by the pandemic, the track was able to stay afloat and thrive.
“I don’t know how we stayed open, but we did,” Cherry said. “We still stayed open, we worked on more karts and sold more parts, and that’s what pretty much got us through.”
Rimrock Raceway is located at 12412 W. Highway 80 in Odessa.
More information is available online on Rimrock Raceway’s Facebook page.
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