Jan and Rick Wanzer, who have owned and operated Traxx Indoor Raceway for 24 years, sit in two of their karts outside the raceway in Mukilteo. Now, with young grandchildren and hobbies they wish spend more time focused on, the Wanzers are riding off into retirement. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The race track running for 24 years needs a buyer and new site. The deal includes 32 karts, Corvette couches and more.
MUKILTEO — The other Mukilteo speedway is for sale.
After 24 years, the owners of Traxx Indoor Raceway are seeking a buyer for the go-kart entertainment complex.
“We are one of the longest-running tracks in the country and one of the first,” co-owner Jan Wanzer said.
The deal comes with the 32 go-karts, 66 helmets and all the trimmings for the quarter-mile track with 17 turns. The price is undisclosed and the new location is elsewhere.
Not included is the 36,000-square-foot leased warehouse at 4329 Chennault Beach Road, a block off the city’s main drag. The buyer will have to move the business to a different site.
Wanzer said a slightly smaller space should do the trick for the racing center with concessions, billiards and a climbing wall.
What else does it take?
“Someone younger to move the business and take it to the next step,” said Wanzer, 69.
Traxx is open over 100 hours a week, closed only on Christmas and Thanksgiving.
“Some weekends we would do 25 birthday parties,” Wanzer said. Not to mention team-building, bachelor and bachelorette parties. Drivers pick out their helmets before hitting the track at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
Drivers pick out their helmets before hitting the track at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
It’s predominantly male, she said.
“Only 20% of females get their ya-yas out of going fast,” she said. “There’s hardly a guy who doesn’t like it.”
There is a “Leading Ladies” record wall.
Charlee Carson, 10, of Snohomish, aims to be on it someday.
She said she likes “everything really” about karting. She has a kart at home that she takes to Evergreen Speedway in Monroe for practice. At Traxx, she uses a kid-sized kart.
Drivers as young as 6 can get behind the wheel solo at Traxx. The fleet of karts includes 18 for adults, 10 for kids and four super-fast “beast” karts.
The sales deal includes everything it takes to run the business. “All the decor, all the office things, four party rooms, cafe, timing systems, the Corvette couches and antique gas pumps,” Wanzer said.
“We bought all that stuff back before man caves were a thing and people weren’t scooping up that stuff,” she said. A young driver receives instruction during a training session at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
A young driver receives instruction during a training session at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
The track was mandated to close twice during the pandemic.
“People came pouring back in. They were starved for something to do. Sales are higher this year than they’ve ever been,” Wanzer said. “It’s kind of a time out. It’s very intense. You have to focus on the 4 feet in front of you and that’s it.”
She credits loyal staff and customers.
“We have a huge database, 35,000 emails for customers,” she said.
The manager, Chris Kruse, has been with the company for 23 years. In 2018, he helped save the life of a customer having a cardiac arrest, delivering the first jolt with the defibrillator in the office before medics arrived. The defib comes with the sales package, but Kruse does not.
Wanzer hopes the business reopens in the county. There are indoor go-kart tracks in Redmond and Tukwila. The Blue Fox Drive-In in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island has an outdoor track. A racer speeds through the track at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
A racer speeds through the track at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
She and her husband Rick never intended to open a race track. She ran gymnastics centers. He was an industrial designer for Precor exercise equipment.
The idea struck when they were on a vacation in Greece in 1998 without their three children, then 6, 10 and 16.
“We rented mopeds and were speeding around the island of Paros and we saw these flags at the top of the hill. It was an outdoor track and it had these really fast go-karts. My husband did it and he said, ‘Oh my gosh, if you would bring these go-karts to the United States people would go crazy,’” she said.
“The clincher was when we were in Amsterdam and we saw an ad for an indoor karting center. That was the serendipitous moment. We saw it and it just blew us away.”
A month or so after returning to Mukilteo, they went back to Europe to shop for timing systems and kart manufacturers.
“It was a whirlwind,” she said. Chris Kruse, manager at Traxx Indoor Raceway, gives a safety rundown before visitors take a driving course. Kruse has been with the company for 23 years, working for the Wanzers since nearly the beginning. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
Chris Kruse, manager at Traxx Indoor Raceway, gives a safety rundown before visitors take a driving course. Kruse has been with the company for 23 years, working for the Wanzers since nearly the beginning. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
Her husband designed the track.
“We used to change the track layout all the time for our regulars and then they hated it because they were working on their track time and it was a different track,” he said.
“The final lap will be Oct. 30,” she said.
Serious buyers can inquire at jan@traxxracing.com.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown. Talk to us You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing newstips@heraldnet.com or by calling 425-339-3428. If you have an opinion you wish to share for publication, send a letter to the editor to letters@heraldnet.com or by regular mail to The Daily Herald, Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206. More contact information is here. Gallery Drivers pick out their helmets before hitting the track at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo A young driver receives instruction during a training session at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo A racer speeds through the track at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo Chris Kruse, manager at Traxx Indoor Raceway, gives a safety rundown before visitors take a driving course. Kruse has been with the company for 23 years, working for the Wanzers since nearly the beginning. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo Kids play pool and air hockey while waiting to race at Traxx Indoor Raceway on Friday. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo JJ Leonard watches over a race before waving the blue flag at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo Track records are posted on the wall at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo People watch as a young girl finishes her final lap at Traxx Indoor Raceway on Friday. (Ryan Berry / The Herald) Purchase Photo
Drivers pick out their helmets before hitting the track at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
A young driver receives instruction during a training session at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
A racer speeds through the track at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Chris Kruse, manager at Traxx Indoor Raceway, gives a safety rundown before visitors take a driving course. Kruse has been with the company for 23 years, working for the Wanzers since nearly the beginning. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Kids play pool and air hockey while waiting to race at Traxx Indoor Raceway on Friday. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
JJ Leonard watches over a race before waving the blue flag at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Track records are posted on the wall at Traxx Indoor Raceway. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
People watch as a young girl finishes her final lap at Traxx Indoor Raceway on Friday. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
State Auditor Pat McCarthy presented the award during the most recent Everett City Council meeting.
The veteran Democratic lawmaker will address recent legislation passed by Congress and other topics.
The hospital group has pushed back against the notion that Providence “intentionally takes advantage of those who are vulnerable.”
A search warrant points to Shayne Baker, 26, as the suspect in the killing of Scott Pullen at a storage facility in Everett.
About 160 Snohomish County tradespeople take the apprentice classes in Burlington center. There’s ample room to grow.
About 80% of the plane, including the engine, was recovered using remotely operated vessels.
Around 1 p.m., students reported a classmate with a gun at Edmonds-Woodway High School.
Mount Pilchuck is one of the most beloved hikes in the region. The 7-mile pothole-riddled road to get there? Not so much.
The highway was blocked off earlier this week as the fire spread.
City officials hope roundabouts, sidewalks and more will turn 2 miles of busy road into a neighborhood street.
The move to let children ride ferries for free is the latest result of Move Ahead Washington legislation.
A search warrant points to Shayne Baker, 26, as the suspect in the killing of Scott Pullen at a storage facility in Everett.
About 80% of the plane, including the engine, was recovered using remotely operated vessels.
About 160 Snohomish County tradespeople take the apprentice classes in Burlington center. There’s ample room to grow.
The highway was blocked off earlier this week as the fire spread.
Specifics about what ignited the flames remained under investigation. Meanwhile, all evacuation orders have been lifted.
© 2022, Everett Herald and Sound Publishing, Inc.