Parts, karts and racing posters

If you’ve ever been involved with the Purdue Grand Prix, you’ll recognize the name of the karting store Fox Valley Kart.

Fox Valley is an integral part of the Grand Prix, supplying many teams with the parts and knowledge they need to compete in racing.

Located on 520 N. 9th St. Road, the store is decked out with parts, karts and racing posters. The floor has a finish-line-flag design, on the right is a wall covered with awards from various races and a mural of two go-kart drivers, along with partially assembled go-karts are scattered all over the store.

Behind the counter is the owner John Copeland, who has a long history with the Purdue Grand Prix.

“My first exposure to the Grand Prix was in 1968, when I came to Purdue,” he said, “and I knew right away it was something I wanted to be involved with.”

He was on the crew for fraternity Phi Kappa Psi and was a driver in 1972, his senior year.

He graduated with a bachelor’s in psychology and moved to Wisconsin, but three years later he moved back to Lafayette.

“I immediately started to run into people who were saying, ‘Can you help me with this? Where can we get this? How do we do this?’” Copeland said. “It grew into a little shop in the basement of my house, and then 44 years ago, I moved into this location. I've been here ever since.”

Being the primary source for parts in the Greater Lafayette area, Copeland interacts with almost every team in some capacity.

“We sell basically everything for a Grand Prix kart except for the cage and tanks,” he said.

With all this interaction, he’s had to work hard to educate teams about the art of go-kart construction.

“One of the challenges is that, because the turnover is so high in the student body, we’re constantly educating,” Copeland said. “I have a series of videos posted on YouTube … I could never have imagined how much exposure those videos were gonna have.”

With his many years of involvement in the Grand Prix, Copeland recognizes the important skills and experience students gain from being on a racing team.

“Grand Prix is kind of a unique thing in the university environment,” he said. “You have to learn how to manage your time, manage your resources, how to manage multiple priorities. Those are going to be hugely important skills for you when you get out of school, and you’re not learning that in any of your coursework.”

One of his favorite parts about the Grand Prix is watching students drive a kart for the first time at the rookie practice.

“I really like to see people react to their first experience in the car. The sensation of driving a kart, particularly driving it fast, is absolutely unique,” he said. “Nothing feels like that.”

Copeland is still looking forward to the next Grand Prix generation.

“I think Grand Prix’s got an incredibly bright future, there’s so much more that Grand Prix can be, it's wonderful now; it can be more,” Copeland said, “I can’t wait to watch that happen and provide whatever kind of support I can to help that happen.”

While the Grand Prix teams make up a large percentage of Fox Valley’s annual sales, Copeland said he has customers all over the country, and the world.

“A couple of years ago I had a customer in New Zealand that won the North Island Season Championship with one of my engines,” he said. “It’s always fun to hear from those folks.”

Recently, Copeland got a message from one of his former customers and a Purdue graduate.

“She said, ‘Did you know that there’s a Fox Valley Kart KT-100 engine in the 'Captain Marvel' movie?’” he said. “Isn’t that nuts? I don’t know what I’m gonna do with that information, but it’s incredibly cool.”

Reflecting on the time he invested in the Grand Prix, Copeland said he isn’t sure what his life would be like if he hadn’t gotten involved.

“I’ve had some fabulous experiences and met some marvelous people,” he said, “and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”