Blackhawk’s Benjamin Tavi is racing karts at the regional and national level, and he’s just getting started. Benjamin’s first time behind the wheel of a racing kart did not go well. He was eight years old at an Arrive & Drive day at the Sonoma Kart Track, and he had a cold. He spun out again and again and wasn’t very fast. “It is not as easy as it looks,” he says.
But something about it made him want to try again. Two years later, the fifth grader from Blackhawk is racing multiple series, including a national one, with podium finishes to his name and a dream that runs all the way to Formula One.Love That Grew
Kart racing didn’t win Benjamin over right away. A kart track can be intimidating, loud, and busy. But Benjamin has always loved motors and mechanical projects, and once he got the hang of it, he was hooked. “Imagine a bunch of eight-year-old drivers going 65 mph racing wheel to wheel, making split-second decisions on a professional kart track,” he says. “I absolutely loved it!” These aren’t the toy karts some people picture. Benjamin’s 60cc two-stroke machines are high-performance racing karts built from exotic materials with highly engineered parts.
They have no suspension and can pull up to 2.0 g in the corners. “It’s like Formula 1 for someone my age,” he says.
A Fast Start
In his first year and a half of racing, Benjamin earned 13 club-level podiums. He won the two-stroke championship and finished second in the four-stroke championship. This year he moved up to regional and national competition, with multiple series on his calendar, including ROK Triple Crown Sonoma, Champions of the Future America Series, and California Prokart. At Sonoma, he won the first ROK race and finished second in the next. In the Champions of the Future America Series, he finished 4th out of 54 drivers. In California Prokart, he finished 2nd out of 24 drivers, just 30 points away from winning the
championship. Because he had such a successful year, he entered his first Pro-Level national race, and the highlight was qualifying 4th among the fastest drivers in the country. His favorite memory of the season came at ROK Sonoma. Benjamin started sixth and had to pass experienced drivers, including the 2025 national champion, on his way to the win. He’s also proud of his first race in the rain. The slick track and a completely different kart setup meant a steep learning curve, but
he finished second.
The Hardest Corner
Ask Benjamin about the hardest part of racing, and he doesn’t hesitate: the first turn. With sometimes more than 30 karts lined up in two rows, the green flag brings what he calls “complete chaos… and excitement!” Drivers on the outside try to dive inside, while those on the inside drift wide for better corner speed. A good start can put you in the lead pack, and a bad one means a long race of gaining positions back.
His preparation is as disciplined as his driving. Before a race, he runs the track in his head, and if he knows it well, he can close his eyes and drive laps mentally. He also uses self-affirmations, and he has recently started working with performance coaches. When mistakes happen during a race, he relies on what he calls the 3 R’s: Recognize, Regroup, and Refocus.
A Family Team
Racing is a family affair. Benjamin’s dad raced when he was younger and introduced him to the sport. Today he serves as the family’s team principal and Benjamin’s primarily financial sponsor. His mom keeps Benjamin on track with fitness, diet, and hydration. At the track, he is also part of a larger team that includes a driving coach, a mechanic, an engine tuner, and a team principal who makes the setup and race strategy calls. He even has several teammates his age with whom he enjoys practice
days honing his race craft and drafting skills. Racing is a commitment that extends well beyond the driver—it’s a family endeavor that demands significant sacrifices of time, resources, and often other family activities like vacations in support of the journey. A typical race week begins on Wednesday, when Benjamin and his family arrive at the track and the work begins. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., he studies the circuit, works closely with his coach, and logs an extraordinary 150 to 175 laps around the one-mile course—more than 150 miles of driving in a single day. Friday brings official practice, followed by a full weekend of competition. Saturday and Sunday are filled with qualifying, heat races, the pre-final, and ultimately the final. If all that preparation pays off, there may be a podium ceremony at the end—but win or lose, the weekend finishes the same way: the team packs up, the family packs up, and they begin the long trip home, already thinking about the next race. In addition to working on karts, Benjamin and his dad have built racing jet skis, remote control cars, and various motors together. Most recently, they installed airbags in the family truck so it can tow the racing trailer. “I love taking things apart and learning how they work,” Benjamin says. “And I like spending time with my dad.”
Life Beyond the Track
Benjamin is homeschooled, which gives him flexibility in his week. Math is his favorite subject because solving a problem feels like solving a puzzle. He takes classes with his mom and with other homeschooled friends, along with extracurricular activities like ceramics, piano, tennis, Spanish, and Latin. He does CrossFit two or three times a week, which helps him handle the physical demands of racing. He mountain bikes on Mount Diablo and in Truckee, rides his OneWheel around the neighborhood, loves fishing, and trips to Lake Tahoe. His idea of a perfect day off starts with cooking breakfast with his mom, includes time in the garage or on the trails, and ends with homemade pizza and a family movie.
The Blackhawk community plays a part in all of it. The family has lived here since 2019. Benjamin loves that he can ride his bike from home straight to the Mount Diablo trails and that he can sometimes pedal downtown to the restaurants and his favorite bookstore, where he picks up graphic novels. He says the neighbors have been generous with encouragement and advice. “My next-door neighbors are very supportive,” he says. “They are always the first to reach out and ask how our race weekend went.” The Big Dream
Benjamin’s ambitions are set on Formula One. He admires karting stars Joe Turney, Blake Nash, Pauly Massimino, and Dalton Hanes, and in F1 he looks up to Kimi Antonelli. He isn’t sure whether he’ll end up as a driver, a powertrain engineer, or even a team principal, but he knows he wants to be around racing. If F1 doesn’t work out, he plans to design and build race cars or high-performance supercars. His mom, Nashelli, sees the same qualities that will help him on and off the track. “Benjamin is goal-oriented, focused, analytical, and driven,” she says.
She notes that while other kids play after the track closes, Benjamin is often working on his kart or helping others in the paddock. She also says the sport is emotional, with highs and lows, and that learning to handle both is shaping him into a resilient person.
When asked what advice he’d give another kid with a big dream, Benjamin’s answer is simple. “Just start. Doing something new can often be hard, but it is the hard things that make us better. My first goal was not to get lapped. We practiced every weekend we could, made mistakes, and got frustrated, but also met some great people who helped us along the way.” They lived by a saying of his mom’s: “We win, or we learn.”
To follow Benjamin’s racing season and learn more about the sport or ask about sponsorship, you can follow him on Instagram at @BenjaminTavi. You could also watch some of his races at Kart Chaser on YouTube, as many of his races were streamed live.
By Megan Scott, Resident since 2010
Photos provided by the Tavi Family