Todd Olcott oral history interview, 2025 February 11

Oral history interview with Todd Olcott conducted by Claytee D. White and Stefani Evans on February 11, 2025 for the Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Olcott recalls his early years in Las Vegas, and his later years getting involved with off-road racing and go-karting. He remembers his first introduction to go-karts in elementary school, witnessing a neighbor race one around his neighborhood. Around 1983 he ventured into off-road racing, creating his own track near Tenaya and Sahara to race his truck after high school classes with friends. This led him into the world of Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts (S.N.O.R.E.), racing in events like the Mint 400 and Twilight 200. In the late 1990s, Olcott was introduced to a long-time member of S.N.O.R.E., Don Dayton, who was also one of the founding members for the Las Vegas Kart Club. Don was able to get Olcott to join the Las Vegas Kart Club, located behind the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and helped him find his love for go-kart racing. The Las Vegas Kart Club ran biweekly races at their tiny track, being one of the only go-kart tracks in the country made with concrete and not asphalt. He also discusses how the track was initially paid for via loan by Fletcher Jones Jr., and the kart club slowly paid him back for the loan. Olcott spent many years at the go-kart track, learning how to race and build go-karts, sometimes traveling out of state for various races as well. In the early 2000s, the kart club disbanded and the track gradually fell into disrepair. The location was later bought by Speed Vegas, a local company that focuses on driving luxury sports vehicles in Las Vegas, but was later sold again and the property was returned to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Today, the track sits empty around a huge lot of parking spaces, completely abandoned. Olcott talks about how the community that was built around off-roading and go-karts has mostly left Las Vegas, but he has hope that there will be more permanent tracks added to the Southern Nevada area, revitalizing the community that has been part of Las Vegas for so long. Digital audio available, no transcript available.