Driven to Go Further

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ext Level Karting traces its roots back to 2021, when three friends named Giovanni, Gavyn, and David met racing wheel-to-wheel at K1 Speed Phoenix. What started as friendly competition quickly became a shared passion for karting that none of them could shake.

Looking for the next challenge, the group made the jump from electric arrive-and-drive racing to outdoor gas-powered karting. After testing the waters at Phoenix Kart Racing Association (PKRA), Gio and David purchased used COMPKARTs and began competing, with Gavyn joining shortly afterward.

The name Next Level Karting represented exactly what they were doing: taking their passion for racing to the next level. As a nod to their K1 Speed roots, the red, black, and white colors became part of the identity that NLK still carries today.

But as the years passed, their paths in motorsports began to take different directions.

Gavyn found success in sim racing, earning multiple iRacing championship titles. Giovanni continued pursuing electric and rental karting, eventually becoming a K1 Speed U.S. National Champion and earning podium finishes on the world stage.

David stayed at PKRA.

And that decision ultimately transformed Next Level Karting into something much bigger.

From a Racing Name to a Race Team

As David became increasingly involved at PKRA, he began spending more time helping newer drivers and families navigate the sport. What started informally with offering advice, helping at the track, and coaching young racers, gradually revealed an opportunity to do something different.

Karting is one of the purest and most accessible forms of motorsports, but “accessible” is relative. Buying a kart is only the beginning. Equipment, safety gear, maintenance, coaching, race entries, transportation, and countless other expenses can quickly make competitive racing difficult for families to sustain.

David saw talented kids falling in love with the sport while also seeing just how easily cost and complexity could prevent them from going any further.

So he began reimagining what Next Level Karting could become.

Rather than building a traditional race team centered around expensive team fees, David set out to create a program focused on lowering barriers, developing young drivers, and helping grow grassroots motorsports in Arizona.

The goal wasn’t to create another business that made karting more expensive.

It was to find ways to make racing more attainable.

Building a Different Kind of Race Team

Drawing on his professional background in the automotive industry and years of experience around motorsports, David began approaching companies with a different kind of sponsorship pitch.

Instead of simply asking businesses to put their logos on a kart, he asked them to invest in young racers.

Sponsorship dollars could help provide things families would otherwise have to pay for themselves. Partners could help outfit drivers in professional race suits, build a proper team pit with branded canopies, support coaching and development, create special experiences, and give young racers the feeling that they were part of something bigger than themselves.

That approach became one of the foundations of the modern Next Level Karting team.

There is no fee to join NLK.

That’s intentional.

The program was built around the belief that being part of a race team shouldn’t automatically mean another large bill for a family already investing heavily in their child’s racing. Instead, David has worked to develop partnerships, sponsorships, and resources that add value for drivers while keeping the focus on development, commitment, and being a good teammate.

Every new sponsor has helped strengthen that model.

Every new driver has helped prove that it can work.

And what began as a few racers wearing the same shirt at the track on race days has grown into one of the largest groups of young drivers in the PKRA paddock.

Creating Opportunities Beyond the Racetrack

For David, Next Level Karting has never been only about what happens on race night.

His background in the automotive and motorsports industries has given him the opportunity to experience parts of the racing world most young drivers only see from the outside. Building NLK has given him a way to share those experiences with the next generation.

That means looking for opportunities to make motorsports feel real and attainable to a kid.

Team events, professional driver meet-and-greets, sim racing competitions, facility visits, unique driving experiences, contract signing events, and other special opportunities have become an important part of the Next Level experience.

They’re fun, but there’s a bigger purpose behind them.

David wants a young driver to walk away from an NLK event thinking, “Maybe I really can do this.”

Putting on a professional race suit for the first time can matter.

Standing on a podium can matter.

Meeting someone who races professionally can matter.

Signing a driver contract surrounded by your teammates can matter.

Walking through a professional motorsports facility and realizing the people working there once started exactly where you are can matter.

Those experiences create memories, but they can also change the way a young person sees their own possibilities.

Growing the Sport by Growing the People in It

Winning matters at Next Level Karting. The team shows up to compete, and its drivers have earned race victories, championships, track records, and countless podium finishes.

But trophies were never the entire point.

The bigger mission is to use karting as a vehicle for mentorship, confidence, teamwork, STEM education, responsibility, friendships, and personal growth.

Some NLK drivers may dream of reaching IndyCar, NASCAR, IMSA, or Formula 1. Others may race karts for a few years before discovering an entirely different passion.

Both are successes.

Because the lessons learned at a racetrack extend far beyond it.

The vision for Next Level Karting is ultimately about creating the kind of environment that makes kids want to work harder, support one another, learn how things work, recover from failure, celebrate success, and believe ambitious goals are worth chasing.

And if the team can help introduce more families to karting while doing it, the entire sport benefits.

The Next Level

Next Level Karting may have started as a name shared by three friends who wanted to take their own racing more seriously, but what that name represents today has evolved dramatically.

Under David’s leadership, Next Level has grown into a youth racing program built around a different idea of what a karting team can be: one where sponsors help create opportunities instead of simply buying advertising, where mentorship matters as much as lap times, and where the goal is to lower barriers rather than create new ones.

There’s still much more to accomplish.

More kids to introduce to karting. More families to welcome into the paddock. More partners to bring into the mission. More drivers to develop. More races to win.

And, most importantly, more unforgettable memories to create.

Because sometimes all it takes is an opportunity for a kid to discover what they’re capable of.

Less screen time. More seat time.

This is Next Level Karting.