By David Million World Staff Writer
2/21/2007

Sisters follow their dad's lead into kart racing

Karting isn't just for boys. Just ask Bailey Ring, a competitive 10-year-old from Collinsville.

"One of the things I like most about racing, besides the speed, is beating the boys. Some even cry when they get beat by a girl," said Bailey, one of three sisters who races Karts.

"It's not uncommon for boys to throw Gatorade or bottled water at me after a race. I have nothing against boys. They make good pit crews."

Bailey said competitiveness comes naturally.

"I am competitive in everything I do, from racing karts to selling Girl Scout Cookies, even my grades," she said. "It's fun to challenge myself."

Bailey has been racing karts since she was 5, the minimum age to race with the Tulsa Kart Club. Her 9-year-old sister, Megan, has three years racing experience, and her 5-year-old sister, Stevie, is almost ready for her first kart race.

The girls hone their skills and compete at the Tulsa Kart Club's JRP Speedway, an asphalt sprint track at 5920 W. 51st St. in Tulsa.

Their mother, Jana Ring, is the club's secretary-treasurer.

"We're really proud of the track. It's one of the nicest

in the Oklahoma-Texas-Missouri-Kansas area," Ring said. "So nice that the KART national event was held here last year, and they asked to come back this year."

Karters of America Racing Triad, one of several national karting associations, set its national event this year for June 19 through 23.

"This is a very big event. More than 300 attended last year's nationals. We're expecting even more this year," Ring said.

The Tulsa club built a new track a couple of years ago -- grandstands are being added this year -- which follows a national trend, she said.

"Karting is big," Ring said. "It's one of the fastest growing sports. Many of the Indy and NASCAR drivers started racing karts."

The Ring sisters, who have expressed an interest in racing at the Indy and NASCAR level some day, followed their father's lead in kart racing.

Steve Ring began his racing career with karts. Since then, he advanced to become the micros champion in Tulsa the past five years. He has participated in races in many states and competed in several nationals, he said.

Bailey's entry into racing was a natural progression, her mother said.

"She thought her daddy hung the moon," Jana Ring said. "She loved watching him race. She'd sit in his car and pretend she was driving.

"When Bailey started driving, Megan would get frustrated at her. She'd tell Bailey she was going too slow and to get out of the kart so she could show her how. Megan hadn't even driven a kart at that time."

The two have earned dozens of trophies.

Bailey's top 2006 honors include Tulsa Kart Club Tag Cadet championship; KART Mid-American Series Jr. I, fifth place; KART Southern/Mid-American Series Regional Tag Cadet, third place.

Megan's 2006 honors include Tulsa Kart Club Kid Kart, second place; and three KART kid kart nationals awards -- third place restricted, fifth place super and fifth place super sumo.

Even though the Tulsa club's season won't begin until March 4, Bailey is getting noticed.

"She set the fast time in qualifying to earn the front spot in a kart race a few days ago in Denton, Texas, and finished second," Steve Ring said. "She also finished second in tag cadet."

Jana Ring said others are talking about her daughter.

"I hear people whisper, 'That's Bailey Ring,'" Jana Ring said. "One lady at Denton came up to me and asked if I was Bailey's mother. I'm now known as Bailey's mother rather than her being known as Jana Ring's daughter."

Stevie is preparing for her first race with the season opener.

"She didn't want anything to do with kart racing. She was scared of it," Jana Ring said. "That is until we needed another person for our entry in the Bixby Christmas parade. Once she put that racing suit on, that was it. She's in it all the way now."

Their father acknowledged that his daughters may go further than he has in racing.

"Some parents play basketball, for example, through their kids. I don't do that," he said. "Jana and I support our girls in their desires to race. We let them decide what they want to do, what races they want to enter. We don't push them."