tiger karts history

TIGER HISTORY

"Roar of a Tiger"
The History of Tiger Fun Karts

For those familiar with go-karting in the Southwest region, the name Tiger Karts has long been synonymous with family fun. For thirty years the Grinning Tiger has blazed the hillsides and desert floors of Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico, delighting kids and parents of all ages.

David Royal Liberton, a racing enthusiast from northern Illinois, founded Tiger Industries in 1972. Dave moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1958 where he first owned Royal Karts, a racing kart fabrication company. He later opened Dave’s Kart & Cycle, to service and supply an ever-growing market. After years of building race karts he saw an opportunity to expand. At the time, the fun karting industry was saturated with poorly built karts, most too expensive for the working family. Dave wanted to offer an alternative, so he began production on what would be considered a timeless classic, the Tiger I. The response to Tiger was so great he immediately increased production to meet the public’s insatiable demand.

All of Dave’s Tigers were painted red with the Grinning Tiger logo placed below the steering wheel. The logo was created by Frank Irmel to match Dave’s request for a “tiger having fun.” The karts featured live and dead axles with 3.5-6 horsepower Tecumseh engines and a variety of brake styles. They were designed to accommodate people of all ages and financial backgrounds, making it possible for almost anybody to enjoy the thrill of driving. The name Tiger was reminiscent of Dave’s favorite stock car racer from back home-“Tiger” Tom Story, whose knuckle-whitening victories at places like Soldier Field were enough to make fans like Dave regular spectators at his races.

A labor-intensive market finally got to Dave in 1978 when he sold the business to Barry Jones, a local builder. Barry relocated from Los Angeles to Phoenix in 1975, leaving a position as operations manager for a large medical supply chain. Together with his father he purchased Tiger Industries from Liberton and continued production on some old models and development of new ones including the “Tiger I+II”, a 5hp two-seater, and even a series of concession “bumper” karts bought by a local theme park. By fabricating many of his own parts, including wheels, seats, and steering wheels, Barry added a personal element to the tiger name and reduced costs significantly.

Many people recall the wheels of Barry’s Tigers being a variety of exotic colors. To spice things up a bit, Barry would visit the paint shop, order a gallon of purple, red, black, and even green, then paint each production series wheel a different color. In the end, though, they settled on purple, but selected red for the frame color, as red was always the color of choice for a hungry tiger.

Barry’s pride was the Tiger III. It featured a live axle, split level frame, raised motor mount, 5hp Tecumseh engine and bucket seating. It was a truly inventive design. By adding the inclined motor mount, Barry was able to preserve the length of the kart—an important factor for owners with small pickups—while providing more legroom for the driver—vital for owners with long legs. And the frame was indestructible.

Only twenty Tiger III’s were made with the now mandatory brush guards before Barry closed up shop in 1998. After twenty years of creating family fun, Barry decided to retire, much to the disappointment of his dealers and their customers. A closed sign was hung in the door of his Mesa, Arizona production facility and the remaining tigers were swept off the dealers' floors by fans of his wonderful karts.

Tiger Industries' production floor stayed idle for months, while Barry casually looked for a buyer. In the meantime, an East Coast fun kart manufacturer saw the opportunity to expand on this hungry market and hurried to build a regional warehouse. Many dealers who had once counted on Tiger were left scrambling to assemble boxed kits, spending their holiday seasons trying to throw together karts to meet their customers’ demands, instead of being home with their families.

When local aerospace engineer and kart racing veteran John Scott received a phone call one day regarding an investment opportunity, he put action to words and started digging. Being a kart-racing fan and Arizona native, John had seen his fair share of Tigers, and even knew the former owners. He purchased the Tiger Karts name and logo from Tiger Industries in January 2001, and set up shop in the heart of industrial Phoenix. Virtually all outsourcing needs could be fulfilled in a 2-3 mile radius from the shop, and it was close enough to service all the regional dealers personally. His approach to the business was one unlike any the fun karting industry had ever known. By applying his roots in aerospace engineering and project management to the business, he ensured a quality product capable of meeting modern standards for safety and fun.

The principle behind every Tiger made today is one of quality, safety, and service. Offering customers options like preference paint, custom seat design, and upgradeable equipment at an affordable price are just a few things Tiger is doing to improve their product. All karts are personally delivered to the dealer fully assembled and ready to roll out the door, and by offering a warranty, Tiger has shown they will stand behind their products one hundred percent.

To the makers of Tiger Karts there is nothing more important than safety. Custom-built machinery guards, three-point retractable seat belts, single motion kill switches, and welded brush guards ensure the driver will be safe while having fun. What parent wouldn’t want all that for their future race stars?

Today the Tigers of old can be seen running side-by-side with the new. While many things have changed, one thing remains the same--when you buy a Tiger, you’re buying it for your kids and their kids, too. Three generations of owners now have continuously produced a fine-tuned, well-built, safe and attractive fun kart, and it seems to only improve with time.

Next time you have that itch to hop behind the wheel and experience the rush of driving, feel free to contact one of our authorized dealers, and visit a desert floor or dirt road near you to experience the “roar of a tiger”.