When LSU biology senior Steven Rougeou says he races karts, he’s not referring to the Mario variety. Steven just wrapped up the WKA (World Karting Association) Modified 125 Shifter Road Race title for 2011.

Rougeou is a professional kart driver, and he’s just one person in a self-acknowledged “gear-head” minority at LSU that combines a passion for driving and engineering to create and race vehicles with average speeds of 120 mph. His journey began with a circular dirt track, a red kart and an interest. Rougeou said when he was in sixth grade his father bought the kart from a co-worker out of mere curiosity.

The father-son duo practiced driving every day until a family friend recommended they enter a race in nearby Hammond, Louisiana. “In my first race, I flipped over and ended up with a concussion and a broken arm. My mom said I had to stop racing after that,” Rougeou said with a chuckle. “But I didn’t.” Rougeou said he and his father continued to practice in secret, calling the sessions “sneak races.” After weeks of practice, Rougeou returned behind the driver’s wheel to race again. “[It] turned out we were pretty good. I was the youngest in my class and I kept up with the experienced racers,” Rougeou said excitedly.

But it wasn’t until Rougeou finally won his first race later that year that he and his father revealed the “sneak races” to his mother. “By that time, she was OK with it. Or at least she said she was,” Rougeou said.

Throughout middle school, Rougeou remained on dirt tracks, accumulating several disqualifications along the way. “We had no idea what was legal and what wasn’t. The officials accused us of cheating, so I moved to open class racing where I could drive whatever one cylinder engine I wanted.”

With time, Rougeou graduated to road racing on open shifter karts — karts that lack a safety cage around the exterior, making them more dangerous. Road racing, he described, is a mix between long racing, which contains different turns, and short racing, which emphasizes sprinting. In these 30-minute races, karts can reach speeds of 120 mph. “We weren’t even close to the best,” Rougeou laughed as he described his first shifter kart race. But Rougeou and his father quickly learned the rules of the road, and once Rougeou graduated from high school, the two began to travel more and more.

Rougeou credits his relationship with his father as a driving force in his passion for racing. “Without my father the races couldn’t happen. He’s the main sponsor, truck driver, trip planner, kart-owner and engine tuner … he even sold his ’55 hot-rod to pay for a new kart. My dad makes everything happen,” Rougeou said.

Today, Rougeou races in the World Karting Association Dunlap Road Racing Series presented by Mazda. The seven-race series takes place on tracks across the nation from May until October, with this year’s finale in Ohio. Since entering the WKA last year, Rougeou won three races and continues to improve his finishes at every race.

While Rougeou’s primary role of driver might be more familiar to non-racers, his second job as the self-proclaimed “chassis guy” is equally, if not more, important. The chassis is the internal framework of the vehicle. It controls how a kart turns, which plays a large role in the strategy of kart racing.

For Rougeou, the first thing he does after arriving to a race is learn the track. By either asking other racers or walking the course, Rougeou determines how to change his chassis for optimum speed. According to Rougeou, another strategy is location in the race; “I don’t care what they say. A race is won or lost in the first lap,” he said.

Racers are lined up according to ranking for the first five karts, then by registration order. After the first lap, the real race is among the first pack of cars, Rougeou said. One racing tactic is a process called “bump drafting,” where drivers use physics to defy air resistance. Rougeou explained when one kart pushes another in the race, it helps both karts by decreasing air resistance for the pusher, and increasing the speed of the pushed. Although this practice is illegal, Rougeou said race officials often overlook it. Finally, some of the most important strategy is carried out off the track and away from the races. Whether it is a new type of tire or steering wheel, racers look for different ways to improve their vehicles. “There’s a difference between the innovators versus the monkey-see-monkey-do types,” Rougeou said. “Everyone’s looking for an advantage somewhere.”

Some of the racers get this in the form of small-scale sponsorships. In exchange for wearing a particular logo or pasting a sticker to a kart’s side, drivers can get free food, equipment or parts. In fact, Rougeou’s sponsorship with Kevin Kelly of Mezzo Technologies gave him an advantage in the form of a cutting-edge radiator, which was designed by LSU student Nathan Roberts. “With parts costing thousands of dollars, sponsorships are a great way to improve your kart,” Rougeou said. In addition to expensive kart parts, Rougeou said the current economy is taking a toll on kart racing. “With gas prices at $3.50 a gallon, travel costs are stopping lots of drivers. For some trips, it can cost more than $1,000 in gas money to bring the karts there and back. And that’s not even counting registration fees and extra parts,” he said.

As Rougeou’s racing career accelerates, he described the difficulties in juggling school and driving. In his time at LSU, Rougeou said many instructors haven’t accepted kart racing as a valid excuse to miss class or assignments. “Racing has to fit in there somewhere,” Rougeou said with a shrug after describing an incident last year where he flew directly from a race in North Carolina after his car broke down in order to sit for an exam. “I’ve had teachers make comments. One of my professors told me ‘There are lots of choices in life; make sure you’re making the right one,’” Rougeou said. “I don’t feel as if [instructors] think [racing is] a legitimate sport.”

Despite Rougeou’s experiences, racing does have a legitimate place in LSU’s curriculum. The College of Engineering’s Society of Automotive Engineers offers Formula SAE — a national design competition where engineering students design, build and race a Formula One race car as a capstone class every year. Team Captain and mechanical engineer senior Roberts, who was also the student who designed Rougeou’s radiator, explained that the program has two stages. During the first semester, the team of mechanical and electrical engineers focuses on fund raising and design, while the second semester is spent building and testing the car. The project culminates with a race at the Michigan International Speedway in May. At the Michigan International Speedway, the cars go through a series of three tests. The first is a static event that judges the safety of the vehicle. Second is a design event where judges break down the cars’ fundamental designs to determine complexity and craftsmanship. Last is a race event where cars are tested in acceleration, lap time, break time and, most recently, fuel mileage. “To be honest, many times the tests are there to determine if the car falls apart or not,” Roberts said laughing. “The cars have to be built so quickly that many times they won’t even finish.”

While the best professional race-car teams take about three months to complete a car, LSU’s team intends to build theirs in a single month. “We want to have more time to practice driving the car, as well as have an unveiling for our investors in February,” Roberts said. Much like Rougeou, the LSU team is forced to find sponsors to fund their vehicle. “The school doesn’t fund our team,” Roberts said, as he listed the team’s past sponsors, which include international companies like Exxon Mobil and Shell. But despite the difficulties of the program, Roberts maintained the sacrifices are “worth it.”

“This program is why I came to LSU,” Roberts said. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Roberts said he became interested in auto-engineering after his own experiences racing shifter karts, and echoed Rougeou’s statement that many professional race-car drivers begin on the kart track. Despite working with different types of vehicles, both men share a passion for racing. For Roberts, the thrill comes from designing a high-speed vehicle, while Rougeou said he enjoys the thrill and prestige that comes with winning races.

“When you’re going that fast,” Rougeou said, “there’s a feeling of freedom.”

Article source: LSU Legacy Online Magazine: http://www.lsulegacymag.com/2011/11/06/driving-force